Dr. Maria Roussou is an interaction and virtual reality designer, researcher, educator, and consultant, engaged in combining innovative technology with education and culture. She is founder and co-director of makebelieve, an experience design and consulting company. Previously, she established in the Fall of 1998 and directed (for four+ years, 1998-2002) the Virtual Reality Department at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), a cultural heritage institution based in Athens, Greece. At FHW she was responsible for recruiting a team of artists and programmers, setting up the VR exhibits & infrastructure, and managing the research, design and development of the VR programs and the overall visitor experiences. Previously, from 1993 to 1997, during her extensive work with the CAVE® at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory in Chicago, she focused on the design, application, and evaluation of virtual and digital media environments for education and the representation of cultural information. She has also collaborated with many museums, including contemporary art museums such as the Walker Art Center, to design and create interactive art education material for the Internet. Her projects and collaborations have been featured internationally at events such as SIGGRAPH (since 1993) and the Ars Electronica festival (with her artwork as part of the permanent collection of the museum), she has been a regular member of the program and organizing committees of numerous exhibitions and conferences, has lectured extensively, and serves as Expert Evaluator to the European Commission FP5 - FP7 IST Programmes. She is also on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for the Visualization of History, Massachusetts, USA, on the International Advisory Board of the Child Art Foundation, Washington DC and on the Editorial Board of the ACM Computers in Entertainment journal.
Maria teaches the New Technologies & Museums course at the interdisciplinary Master of Arts program in Museum Studies of the University of Athens. She holds a PhD in Computer Science (VR/HCI) from the University of London (UCL), a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Electronic Media from the School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, a Masters of Science (M.Sc) in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the same university, and an undergraduate degree in Applied Informatics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. She has work experience in Greece, the USA, and the UK, and is a member of ACM, IEEE, ICOM, AAM, AACE.
Maria teaches the New Technologies & Museums course at the interdisciplinary Master of Arts program in Museum Studies of the University of Athens. She holds a PhD in Computer Science (VR/HCI) from the University of London (UCL), a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Electronic Media from the School of Art and Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, a Masters of Science (M.Sc) in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the same university, and an undergraduate degree in Applied Informatics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. She has work experience in Greece, the USA, and the UK, and is a member of ACM, IEEE, ICOM, AAM, AACE.
