Cyan DeVeaux

Email: cyanjd@stanford.edu Role: Ph.D. Student Affiliation: Stanford Department of Communication · Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL), PI: Jeremy Bailenson VHIL profile: https://vhil.stanford.edu/people/cyan-deveaux

Background

• Interdepartmental B.A. in Computer Science and Visual & Media Studies, Duke University
• Former Software Engineer at Google prior to graduate school
• Research focus: educational AR/VR experiences, identity in immersive/social VR environments

Relationship to Reuben

• Seed grantee — “Dancing through Time” (MR experience for Black dance history), see projects/seed-grants/deveaux-dancing.md
• Reuben is her point of contact for Studio support
• Flagged being “very under water” on her plate (Oct 21, 2025) — lead with empathy and light touch

Key Context

• Engineering background — she can go deep on technical questions; don’t over-simplify
• Works in VHIL, so she already has world-class MR/VR expertise — Studio’s value-add is on learning design, partnerships, research dissemination, prototyping logistics (not teaching her XR)
• Her grant project connects VR/MR with Black dance history — intersects cultural preservation, identity in immersive spaces (a VHIL research theme), and K-12/public education reach

Communication History

Date	Channel	Summary
2025-09-23	Email	Reuben offered to have Moraima schedule time; asked about her internship
2025-10-21	Email	First Studio-support meeting scheduled; she flagged being “very under water”
2025-12-03	Email	Reuben offered pre-winter-closure time, flexible scheduling
2026-01-13	Email	New Year check-in: “wanted to find a time to get together as we start Winter”
2026-04-23	Meeting	Dissertation VR study check-in (Zoom, 43 min, w/ Josh + Joe). Focus: intergenerational recruitment beyond Stanford + Unity dialogue/captioning. Reuben to broker intros (Kathy Kerns, Brian Brown, Cathy Chase, Tech Interactive, Joyful Learning) and set up 4–6wk recurring.

Publications (selected, VHIL-linked)

Extensive publication record with Bailenson group on immersive/social VR, avatars, embodiment, and identity. Examples:

• DeVeaux, Markowitz, & Bailenson (2024). Presence and Pronouns: An Exploratory Investigation into the Language of Social VR. Journal of Language and Social Psychology.
• DeVeaux, Han, Landay, & Bailenson (2023). Exploring the Relationship Between Attribute Discrepancy and Avatar Embodiment in Immersive Social Virtual Reality. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 26(11).
• Contributor on ~12+ VHIL papers 2023-2025 spanning proxemics, group behavior, avatar identity, MR passthrough, VR creativity.

Full list on VHIL profile page.

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