About me

I’m Cristiane (Cris) Kauer Brazil, Ph.D., an Industrial Engineer and researcher based in Berlin, Germany, with a background spanning human factors, virtual reality, data analysis, sustainability, and applied engineering.

Throughout my career, I have worked across research, industry, education, and program leadership. Although these experiences may look diverse, they are connected by a common interest: understanding complex systems and using technology, data, and engineering to make them work better for people.

Today, I am especially interested in human-centered interactive systems, HCI, human factors, extended reality (XR), and emerging technologies that connect people with digital and physical environments.

Human-Centered Technology & Research

I earned my Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Kansas State University, where my dissertation explored the use of virtual reality for assessing activities of daily living.

My doctoral research examined whether immersive virtual environments could reproduce aspects of real-world human performance and potentially support new approaches to cognitive and functional assessment. This work combined virtual reality development, experimental design, human-subject research, statistical analysis, and human factors.

My research has also included projects in cognitive aging, event perception and memory, ergonomics, and neuroimaging. As part of the Memory and Aging Laboratory at Kansas State University, I contributed to NIH-funded research involving older adults and supported fMRI data processing and analysis in collaboration with the University of Kansas Medical Center.

My broader research interests include the ways people perceive, learn, interact with, and adapt to technology, particularly in immersive and interactive environments.

Alongside my Ph.D., I completed a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics, strengthening my background in quantitative analysis, experimental methods, and data-driven decision-making.

Applied Engineering & Sustainability

From 2022 to 2025, I served as a Pollution Prevention Specialist and Program Lead at Kansas State University’s Pollution Prevention Institute.

As Principal Investigator, I managed three U.S. EPA-funded programs totaling more than $1 million, coordinating budgets, workplans, technical projects, stakeholder relationships, performance reporting, and program strategy. I also helped secure more than $500,000 in additional grant funding.

My work brought me directly into industrial facilities, where I supported projects involving energy and resource efficiency, water conservation, emissions reduction, hazardous materials, waste reduction, and process improvement.

One of the projects I especially enjoyed brought my technical and human-centered interests together: collaborating with K-State’s Extended Reality Lab to develop a virtual-reality training experience for pollution prevention education.

These experiences reinforced my interest in using engineering not only to analyze systems, but also to design better ways for people to understand, interact with, and improve them.

Teaching, Communication & Leadership

Education and communication have also been an important part of my career.

At Kansas State University, I taught and supported courses including:

Industrial Ergonomics
Engineering Economics
Industrial Project Evaluation
Big Data Analytics
Manufacturing Information Systems
Work Environments
Sustainability and Pollution Prevention

I have also delivered workshops, technical training, conference presentations, and invited lectures for audiences ranging from university students to engineers, industrial professionals, government agencies, and community organizations.

Beyond teaching, I have served in professional leadership roles, including Chair of the EPA Pollution Prevention Region 7 Roundtable, and as a reviewer for academic journals including Virtual Reality and Ergonomics.

What I’m Exploring Now

My interests increasingly sit at the intersection of engineering, human behavior, and interactive technology.

I am particularly interested in:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Human Factors & Ergonomics
Virtual and Extended Reality
Interactive and Intelligent Systems
Physical Computing and Prototyping
Human-AI and Human-Robot Interaction
Applied Statistics and Experimental Research
Technology for learning, cognition, and human performance

I enjoy problems that require moving between disciplines: understanding the human side of a problem, analyzing the underlying system, experimenting with technology, and figuring out how all of the pieces can work together.

That curiosity has been the most consistent theme throughout my career, from industrial engineering and sustainability to cognitive research and virtual reality.

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