Dr. Robert LiKamWa
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Rice University + Houston Methodist
Dr. Robert LiKamWa directs the Experiential Pixels (EXP) Lab at Rice University, where his research spans real-time systems for XR, including adaptive visual sensing pipelines, mobile-to-cloud streaming pipelines, multi-sensory perceptual interfaces, spatial interaction frameworks, and AI-assisted content production tools. Focused application areas have included STEM education, K-12 career discovery, sports training/injury prevention, worksite safety, planetary science, and medical informatics.
He also holds an appointment as an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Cardiovascular Surgery at Houston Methodist Research Institute. Through the Bookout Center, he helps advance XR integration into medicine through collaborative research, technology development, and clinical integration.
Dr. LiKamWa's research has been published in venues including ACM MobiSys, IEEE VR, ACM UIST, ACM ASPLOS, and the Proceedings of the IEEE. He is an inventor on eight U.S. patents in image sensing, haptics, and immersive audio/visual systems. His work has been recognized with the NSF CAREER Award and the Google Faculty Scholar Award, and has been supported by the NSF, Samsung, Komatsu, and the U.S. Army.
Before joining Rice, Dr. LiKamWa was a faculty member at Arizona State University, jointly appointed in The School of Arts, Media and Engineering and The School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. He earned his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S.E.E. from Rice University, where he was advised by Prof. Lin Zhong.
Contact Info
Email
likamwa-at-rice.edu
Office
Duncan Hall 2017
Research Interests
- XR Systems & Platforms
- Real-time Media Streaming
- Spatial Computing
- Visual Computing Systems
- Interactive Media
- Collaborative Tools
The LiKamWa Surname
Most Chinese descendants have single character surnames, such as 王(Wang), 黄(Huang), or 唐(Tang). In fact, if not for my Mauritian lineage, my surname would be 李(Li). But instead, I have a unique last name which is only held by descendants of my great-grandfather.
LiKamWa is a rough European transcription of my great-grandfather's full name, which is 李金華(li3 jin1 hua4 in Mandarin pinyin). This was taken down as his surname when he emigrated from Southern China to the African island Mauritius.
I am proud of my name and I am proud of my heritage. I prefer to have my last name spelled "LiKamWa" with no spaces, but capitalization on the syllables.
Wikipedia has more info on Sino-Mauritian culture and identity.