CACHE Team Honored with Georgia CTSA Presidents’ Award of Distinction for Innovative Public Health Research

Andrea Horsman on May 5, 2025

Michael Schmidt (center), a CACHE faculty affiliate with the Department of Kinesiology, and Grace Ahn (far right) demonstrate a VR project while Allan Tate, CACHE director of biostatistics, epidemiology and research design, looks on.

A multidisciplinary research team from the Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems (CACHE) at the University of Georgia has been awarded the prestigious Presidents’ Award of Distinction by the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (Georgia CTSA). The honor was presented at the Georgia CTSA’s annual conference in March 2025.

This award recognizes innovative, high-functioning research teams whose collaborative efforts have significantly advanced clinical and translational science and are poised to make a lasting impact on human health. The CACHE team, known for its groundbreaking work using immersive media technologies, was recognized for its impactful interventions in behavior change and public health communication.

“For the past 15 years, our research has demonstrated that immersive media technologies can be powerful tools for translational science,” said Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, OIBR distinguished scholar, founding director of CACHE, and professor in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “We are honored to have our collaborative efforts recognized and look forward to continuing this work with communities across Georgia.”

CACHE’s work spans multiple colleges at UGA, including Journalism, Engineering, and Public Health, and focuses on using virtual, augmented, and mixed realities to address real-world issues, ranging from vaccine hesitancy and physical activity to storm preparedness and indoor air quality.

Highlighted projects include:

  • Virtual Fitness Buddy, a mixed-reality game promoting youth physical activity, supported by a $3.3 million NSF grant.

  • Weather the Storm, a VR simulation educating users on storm surge impacts, released with NOAA funding.

  • Collaborative research with Emory’s School of Nursing through the Center for Children’s Health Assessment, Research Translation, and Combating Environmental Risk.

OIBR affiliate Dr. Allen Tate, and CACHE director of biostatistics and associate professor in the College of Public Health, emphasized the long-term significance of this research: “The teamwork of CACHE challenges current approaches in preventive medicine and will have transformative effects on public health translational research over the next decade.”

The Georgia CTSA is a partnership among Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Tech, and UGA, and is supported by the National Institutes of Health.