COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vita Berezina-Blackburn has been at Ohio State for nearly 20 years, first as a student and currently as an animation specialist.

What You Need To Know

  • Vita Berezina-Blackburn has seen the evolution of virtual reality technology and its use in a training environment

  • Berezina-Blackburn's application is called MCIV, used on the Oculus Quest 2 system 

  • The system is geared towards preparing first responders for a mass casualty incident

  •  Her goal is to complete the project this summer and begin testing with students at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center

She's seen the evolution of virtual reality technology and its use in a training environment. 

“We can have virtual characters be driven in real-time, through our motion capture system. And also recording some of their movements and incorporating them into these virtual reality experiences, which allows us to quickly prototype what type of interactions with virtual characters we want,” Berezina-Blackburn said. 

Berezina-Blackburn's application is called MCIV, used on the Oculus Quest 2 system and is geared towards preparing first responders for a mass casualty incident. 

“Firefighters, police officers, medical students. Anybody who would have to be on the scene of a mass casualty incident and have to quickly attend to a number of people who are critically injured and are at the risk of dying from mostly bleeding very quickly. And they may have three tourniquets, and so much gauze, so they have to look around and very quickly determine who needs help the most,” Berezina-Blackburn said. 

Berezina-Blackburn said to set up this type of training in physical reality is very expensive. You need a large set and actors to take part . . . that's why VR presents a very personal scenario. 

She said her goal is to complete the project this summer and begin testing with students at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center. 

“Hopefully this prototype, and it is a very advanced prototype at that, it would be possible to find a commercial partner that would help keep it going over the years,” Berezina-Blackburn said.