SIM Lab @ SIUE

About the Lab

01 — Overview

Who We Are

The SIM Lab @ SIUE is the research home of Dr. Alex P. Leith and his student collaborators at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The lab creates a shared umbrella for research in social and interactive media — allowing Leith and other Mass Communications faculty to pursue diverse funding opportunities while advancing project-specific work.

Dr. Leith is an Associate Professor (Tenured) in the Department of Mass Communications at SIUE and is Co-PI on a $1.6 million NSF initiative studying virtual reality and the future of work, in collaboration with the Beyond Meet Space research collective.

02 — People

The Team

Recruiting Students

We welcome students from all levels and disciplines to participate in social and interactive media research. There are roles in data collection, analysis, literature review, design, and more.

Get in touch

Past Students

Graduate

M. Onuche

Undergraduate

S. Baker
O. Buente
D. Creech
E. Gheen
K. Kasper

03 — Funding

Grants & Support

External Funding — Completed

FW-HTF-R: Collaborative Research: Virtual Meeting Support for Enhanced Well-Being and Equity for Game Developers NSF Co-PI — $1,599,851 (2021–2025)

External Funding — Pending

Future CoRe (HCC): Distributed AI Agents for Scalable Interaction Modeling and Feedback Aggregation in Technical Learning NSF PI — $496,521 (2026–2030)
AI- and IoT-Driven Innovations for Malaria and Insect Vector Surveillance and Control Wellcome/UNZA Co-I — $800,044 (2026–2030)
Collaborative Research: Improving Equity and Wellbeing in Virtual Classrooms via AI-Enhanced Avatars NSF PI (SIUE site) — $49,999 (2025–2028)

Internal Funding

New Faculty Incentive Program SIUE — $2,000
OER Adoption, Adaptation, and Implementation Incentive Program SIUE — $6,088

04 — Research Output

Publications

Leith, A. P., Lim, C., Foxman, M., Beyea, D., & Jeong, D. C. (2025). Stress and coping in VRChat: A mixed-method case study of the use of VRChat as a coping tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 20(100843). doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100843
Douzek, D., Foxman, M., Lim, C., & Leith, A. P. (2025). Balancing fun and professionalism in game development: The dark and light side of play in virtual meetings. Frontiers in Communication, 10. doi:10.3389/fcomm.2025.1609776
Beyea, D., Lim, C., Lover, A., Foxman, M., Ratan, R., & Leith, A. P. (2025). Zoom fatigue in review: A meta-analytical examination of videoconferencing fatigue's antecedents. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 17(100571). doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100571
Lim, C., Leith, A. P., Ratan, R., & Bouzek, D. (2025). Meeting needs: How social interaction anxiety, zoom fatigue, relatedness, and demographics predict virtual meeting feature preferences. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 18, 100673. doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100673
Lim, C., Ratan, R., Foxman, M., Beyea, D., Jeong, D., & Leith, A. P. (2025). Examining attitudes about the virtual workplace: Associations between Zoom fatigue, impression management, and virtual meeting adoption intent. PLOS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0312354
Ratan, R. A., Lin, Q., Lim, C., Park, R., Lover, A., Han, E., Jang, D., Leith, A. P., & Bailenson, J. N. (2025). Time matters in VR: Students benefit from longer VR class duration, but certain outcomes decline after 45 minutes, with large individual variance. Computers & Education, 14(3), 466–477. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105328
Foxman, M., Beyea, D., Leith, A. P., Ratan, R. A., Chen, V. H. H., & Klebig, B. (2022). Beyond genre: Classifying virtual reality experiences. IEEE Transactions on Games, 14(3), 466–477. doi:10.1109/tg.2021.3119521
Leith, A. P., & Gheen, E. (2022). Twitch in the time of quarantine: The role of engagement in needs fulfillment. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(3), 275–280. doi:10.1037/ppm0000372
Leith, A. P. (2021). Parasocial cues: The ubiquity of parasocial relationships on Twitch. Communication Monographs, 88, 111–129. doi:10.1080/03637751.2020.1868544

Lim, C., Leith, A. P., Foxman, M., Ratan, R., & Klebig, B. (2025, January). The Hyperpersonal Model of Communication in virtual meetings: Exploring the roles of fatigue, social interaction anxiety, muting, and avatar use in meeting engagement. Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. PDF
Milik, O., Jang, D., Foxman, M., Klebig, B., Beyea, D., Leith, A. P., & Ratan, R. (2024, November). Focusing on virtual groups: A method for focus group interviews in XR/VR group settings. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 2024.
Foxman, M., Bouzek, D., Lim, C., Ratan, R., Klebig, B., Leith, A. P., & Beyea, D. (2024, July). Making a virtual playground: Values-based game design in meeting platforms. Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2024 Conference: Playgrounds. Link
Lim, C., Foxman, M., Leith, A. P., Meshi, D., & Ratan, R. (2024, July). Wanting playfulness to counter fatigue from virtual meetings: Associations with social interaction anxiety and workaholism. Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2024 Conference: Playgrounds.
Foxman, M., Bouzek, D., Rata, A., & Leith, A. P. (2023, June). Virtually limited: Boundaries of play in virtual reality production. Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2023 Conference: Limits and Margins of Games.
Leith, A. P., Foxman, M., Onuche, M., Ratan, R., & Lim, C. (2023, June). Mixed feelings and realities: Joyful to nauseating sentiments about VR on Twitter. Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2023 Conference: Limits and Margins of Games.
Foxman, M., Leith, A. P., Beyea, D., Klebig, B., Chen, V. H. H., & Ratan, R. (2020, November). Virtual reality genres: Comparing preferences in immersive experiences and games. CHI PLAY '20: Extended Abstracts of the 2020 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 237–241). ACM. doi:10.1145/3383668.3419881

Leith, A. P., Lim, C., Foxman, M., Beyea, D., & Jeong, D. (2025, June). Stress and coping in VRChat: A mixed-method case study of the use of VRChat as a coping tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 75th Annual Conference. Denver, CO.
Leith, A. P., Foxman, M., Lim, C., & Beyea, D. (2025, June). What ASD finds in VRChat: The potential for VR to address the communication barriers faced by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 75th Annual Conference. Denver, CO.
Mlikik, O., Ratan, R., Chen, V., Swati, S., Foxman, M., & Leith, A. P. (2025, June). Looking beyond Meet Space: Presenting a research platform in VRChat. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 75th Annual Conference. Denver, CO.
Beyea, D., Lim, C., Lover, A., Foxman, M., Ratan, R., & Leith, A. P. (2024, June). Zoom fatigue? A meta-analytical examination of research on the antecedents of videoconferencing fatigue. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 74th Annual Conference. Gold Coast, QLD.
Foxman, M., Bouzek, D., Lim, C., & Leith, A. P. (2024, June). Playing from home: Identity, cohesion, and communication for remote game makers. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 74th Annual Conference. Gold Coast, QLD.
Lim, C., Foxman, M., Ratan, R., Beyea, D., Jeong, D., & Leith, A. P. (2024, June). Touch-up my Zoom fatigue: Positive attitudes about online meeting platforms are negatively associated with virtual meeting fatigue and positively associated with using impression management features. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 74th Annual Conference. Gold Coast, QLD.
Foxman, M., Leith, A. P., Ratan, R., & Bouzek, D. (2023, May). Playfully virtual: Finding authentic communication in videoconferencing and online meetings. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 73rd Annual Conference. Toronto, ON.
Leith, A. P., Foxman, M., Onuche, M., & Bouzek, D. (2023, May). Diffusion of gratification: The reception of VR as a modality for remote work and meetings. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 73rd Annual Conference. Toronto, ON.
Leith, A. P., Foxman, M., Ratan, R., & Lim, C. (2023, May). Feelings for meetings: A sentiment analysis of videoconferencing platforms a year apart. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 73rd Annual Conference. Toronto, ON.
Foxman, M., Leith, A. P., Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz, A., Beyea, D., Klebig, B., Graciano, L., Bouzek, D., & Ratan, R. A. (2022, October). Playing at work: Finding and designing play into virtual meetings. Presented at the 2022 International Conference on Meaningful Play. East Lansing, MI.
Foxman, M., Beyea, D. G., Leith, A. P., Ratan, R. A., Chen, V. H. H., & Klebig, B. (2021, May). Hardly just hardware: Understanding games and genres in virtual reality experiences. Presented at the International Communication Association 71st Annual Conference. Virtual.
Leith, A. P. (2020, May). When watching isn't enough: Human agents and their influence of gameplay and gamespace through synchronous chat. Paper presented at the International Communication Association 70th Annual Conference. Gold Coast, AUS.
Leith, A. P. (2019, August). The affective messaging of gameplay livestream viewers. Paper presented at the 2019 Digital Games and Research Association Conference. Kyoto, Japan.