Dennis Kappen

Dr. Dennis L. Kappen is a Professor at Humber College, where he teaches user experience design and human-centred innovation techniques within the realm of product design and technology applications. He teaches industrial design, interaction design studio courses, and computer-aided industrial design courses. 

His research focuses on the application of assistive technology to motivate older adults to empower their physical, emotional and cognitive skills. He has been involved in using Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed-Reality (MR) systems for multi-modal interactions in semi-autonomous vehicles. Dr. Kappen has more than 25 years of hard-core product design and development experience in various fields including new technology, consumer products, kiosks, internet technology devices, medical products, wearable technology products and handheld electronic devices.

He is a keen researcher in the domain of game science, persuasive technology, assistive technology and interaction modalities. He was the co-recipient of the Humber President’s Medal for Excellence in Research (2019) for his contribution towards the applications of Augmented Reality in a parametric dashboard for onboarding paramedics in emergency vehicles. In 2020, he was also the co-recipient of the Humber President’s Extra Mile Award for helping the industrial design faculty team to create an online portal for the industrial design thesis show 

Research interests:

1. Application of assistive and persuasive technology to motivate older adults to empower their physical, emotional and cognitive skills.
2. Gamification and persuasive technology applications
3. AR and semi-autonomous/autonomous vehicles 
4. AR and MR applications in health and wellness domains
5. Wearable technology and interaction modalities
6. Games User Research methodologies