Sepehr Vaez Afshar
XR · GAMES · HERITAGE
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XR and UX researcher in serious games, digital heritage and museum technology.
Main quest: make cultural heritage playable. Side quests: serious games, XR and museum tech. Current boss fight: the Ph.D.
Character sheet: architect by training, informatics researcher by upgrade.
Current class: Ph.D. student in Informatics at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, advised by Prof. Laura Shackelford. Specialization: data analytics and information visualization.
Origin story: architectural engineering (Azad University), then landscape architecture (Istanbul Technical University), then historic preservation (Texas Tech). Along the way I unlocked two startups and a research practice built around serious games, XR and data-driven heritage.
Current party: Ph.D. researcher and, since fall 2026, research assistant to Prof. Laura Shackelford at the In/Situ lab; until August 2026 Associate Producer & XR Lead at the Game Studies and Design stu/dio; founder of the IMMERSE Graduate Student Council.
Ph.D. Informatics, UIUC (2024–now)
M.Sc. Architecture, Texas Tech (2024)
M.Sc. Landscape Architecture, ITU (2022)Quests completed: prototypes, games and exhibitions.
A web-based 3D/AR experience for a carved bamboo brush pot (a bitong) from the Spurlock Museum. Visitors open it from a QR code with no app install, tap numbered hotspots and read each detail’s story without leaving the scene. Built on Three.js/WebGL so that small museums can reproduce the whole pipeline without paid tools.
A low-resource, text-based game for the ethical digital representation of marginalized heritage sites. Developed under Prof. Shackelford; accepted at SIGraDi 2026.
An interactive map of the Trost & Trost buildings of El Paso: 60 selected entries (203 in the audited corpus) you can filter by type, condition and listing label, follow through a 1902–1939 timeline, and export. It began as a 2022 Processing prototype built from mined data, presented at APT 2023 Seattle with a student scholarship; the 2026 edition is a new, accessibility-minded web version.
NSF-funded VR simulation platform for archaeology education. As a research assistant I work on UX evaluation and playtesting, and I co-created the gamified field-season course app (GSD 282) with quests, a points planner and a semester map.
An immersive, simulation-based VR experience where students design and launch their own aircraft or rocket and watch real-time aerodynamics. At the stu/dio I coordinated production across three externally funded projects, this one among them.
A sponsored, interactive live-performance platform for real-time audience engagement. As associate producer at the stu/dio I owned scope, budget and the coordination with the sponsor and the team.
Digital heritage project led by Prof. Güzden Varinlioğlu with MIT's Design Computation Lab, funded by the U.S. Department of State. Photogrammetry, 360° imagery and VR experiences of Anatolian caravanserais.
A web-based gamified AR experience for the FabriCity pavilion on socio-environmental justice, exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale (ECC) for Texas Tech University. PIs: Prof. Mostafavi and Prof. Mehan.
Serious games on the Silk Roads: The Sericum Via (best presentation, ASCAAD 2021), Anatolian Journey (Ivan Petrovic Prize, eCAADe 2021) and Khan Game (CAADRIA 2022), plus SU and Online Footprint.
A web platform giving game designers, developers and artists a shared design language for virtual environments, based on landscape-architecture methodology (patented in South Korea). Funded by a $25,000 TÜBİTAK 1512 grant.
At JHP Architecture (Dallas): an interactive architectural visualization in Unreal Engine 5.2 with an AI-driven NPC, plus a proof of concept for moving projects from ARCHICAD to Twinmotion and Unreal.
A VR educational game and gamified virtual tours for historic preservation and public awareness, built at Texas Tech under Prof. Hadighi.
A single-file narrative game about ethical heritage representation at Mammoth Cave. Presented at SIGraDi 2026.
Off-duty inventory: what I play when I am not building, plus the one I am counting the days for. Box art belongs to the publishers.
Rocket LeaguePS5
Football with rocket cars. Easy to learn, endlessly deep. Played on PS5.
Astro BotPS5
Joyful, inventive and full of touch. Played on PS5.
GTA VIPS5 · Can't wait
Huge, satirical cities you can simply live in. Not released yet, and I am counting the days.
Mario Kart 8 DeluxeSwitch
Perfect drifts and wild items. Played on Switch.
AstroneerSteam · PC
Terraform colorful planets with friends. Played on Steam · PC.
NFS: Most WantedPC
Street racing and a rivalry that matters. Played on PC.
Cyberpunk 2077PS5
A neon city with stories worth getting lost in. Played on PS5.
Overcooked! 2Switch
Chaotic kitchens that test every friendship. Played on Switch.
The scroll archive: peer-reviewed articles, chapters and conference papers. Full list on Google Scholar
Varinlioğlu, Eshaghi, Vaez Afshar. In The Routledge Companion to Artificial Intelligence in Architecture (2nd ed.).
Mansourihanis, Hemmati, Afshar, Eshaghi, Varinlioğlu. Case Studies in the Environment.
Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi, Kim. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture (Digital Landscape Architecture Conference 2022, Harvard Graduate School of Design), 435–442.
Aytaç, Aluçlu, Dalay, Vaez Afshar. Journal of Design Studio 4(spi 1), 35–50.
Durmaz, Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi. SOCALLT 2026 (Southern California Association for Language Learning Technology).
Graves, Wang, Vaez Afshar. Playful by Design 2026, UIUC.
Round table with Eshaghi and colleagues. Playful by Design 2026, UIUC.
Vaez Afshar, Shackelford. Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics Conference 2026, Santiago, Chile.
Vaez Afshar, Hadighi. Arab Society for Computation in Architecture, Art and Design Conference 2026, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi, Hadighi, Varinlioğlu. Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe Conference 2024, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi, Kim, Afshar. Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design Conference 2023, Amman, Jordan.
Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi, Hadighi. Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe Regional International Symposium 2023, Tallinn, Estonia.
Eshaghi, Vaez Afshar, Hadighi. Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference 2023, Dallas, 297–305.
Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics Conference 2022, Lima, Peru.
Varinlioğlu, Vaez Afshar, Eshaghi, Balaban, Nagakura. Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia Conference 2022, Tokyo, 69–78.
Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics Conference 2021, Brazil, 523–532.
Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe Conference 2021, Novi Sad, Serbia, 273–280.
Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design Conference 2021, Cairo, Egypt, 306–316.
Symposium on Art and Design Education, Ankara.
With Shackelford. Association for Preservation Technology International Conference, Indianapolis.
IGSC: A Student-Led Hub for Immersive Computing at IllinoisWith Tiwari, Wang. Poster, IMMERSE Symposium, University of Illinois.
With Shackelford. Association for Preservation Technology International Conference, Providence.
National Council for Preservation Education Annual Conference, Milwaukee.
National Council for Preservation Education Annual Conference, New Orleans.
Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, European Cultural Centre.
Trophies, scholarships, and the classrooms where I played teacher.
Ethos of Care FellowshipInaugural cohort, Spurlock Museum & Humanities Research Institute, UIUC
Best Presentation AwardASCAAD, Cairo
1st Prize, Startup WeekendACCELERATION (Architect & Entrepreneur), Urmia
Herbert G. Schaefer ScholarshipUniversity of Illinois · $10,000
Mary Jane Neer ScholarshipUniversity of Illinois
Texas Tech scholarshipsHuckabee College, Payne, Louden, Sasser AIA, Robinson
TÜBİTAK 1512 ESP-BIGGOnline platform design tool for virtual landscape · $25,000
VRchaeology (GSD 282)Co-course creator & TA, Prof. Shackelford
The Video Game Development Process (GSD 405)Teaching assistant, Prof. Cermak
Texas Tech College of ArchitectureTA: Advanced Architectural Technology, Community Design & Development
Workshop: Introduction to VR in Video Games3rd Playful by Design conference, UIUC
Workshop: bo[AR]d GAMEDigitalFUTURES: photogrammetry, materials and character design
Invited talk: from architecture to XR and digital heritage
Gamification for Design ResearchMIT 4.550/4.570, Prof. Nagakura
Guild history: production, research and community roles.
Associate Producer & XR LeadGame Studies and Design stu/dio, University of Illinois (until August 2026). Associate Producer of Mo Sho (live-performance platform) and of VR Rocketry (opens in a new tab) (aerospace education), and XR Lead on VRchaeology (opens in a new tab). Scope, budget, QA and sponsor coordination.
Co-founder & CTOOyuNest Digital Game and Design Technologies, İTÜ ARI Teknokent, Türkiye.
Co-founder & R&D Team LeaderARTechi Startup: an augmented reality platform for architecture. Urmia Science & Technology Park, Iran.
Founder & Council Lead, IMMERSE Graduate Student CouncilCenter for Immersive Computing, University of Illinois.
DigitalFUTURES: Turkish-language team, workshops & technology coordinatorCHI 2027, GALA '26, eCAADe, CAADRIA, ASCAAD, SIGraDi, CAAD Futures, IJHCI, Behaviour & Information Technology, International Journal of Serious Games and others.
Open to Summer 2027 internships and full-time roles from mid-2028. Research collaborations, heritage and museum projects, and anything about XR and games are welcome too. Pick a channel below.
THANKS FOR PLAYING
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APT International Student Scholar Award
NCPE Student Scholar Award
Ivan Petrovic Prize
R&D Intern