University of Central Florida
Maria C. R. Harrington Ph.D. is an American information scientist and artist. She is an Associate Professor of Digital Media, in the Games and Interactive Media Program, Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida with a secondary joint appointment in the UCF Learning Sciences Cluster. She is director of The Harrington Lab, where she leads research projects focused on virtual nature as digital twins using augmented and virtual reality, and investigates the design, development, and evaluation of immersive informal learning applications. Recent works continue to investigate the impact of the natural world on humans. She is a recipient of the UCF Excellence in Research Award, UCF Foundation GAP Fund Award 2022, Association for Educational Communications and Technology Learner Engagement Division Outstanding Digital Learning Artifact Award 2021, Epic Mega Grant Award 2020, Museum and Web MW21 and MW20 GLAMi Finalist Award, UCF Office of Research & Commercialization VPR Advancement of Early Career Researchers 2019 Award, and The Carnegie Museum of Natural History 2018 Powdermill Artist in Residence Fellowship Award. She has published over 35 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and conference proceedings including: Frontiers In Virtual Reality, Springer Nature, Virtual Reality, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, Curator: The Museum Journal, Museum and the Web, NASA Human Research Program, HASTAC, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, ACM SIG CHI, ACM SIG IDC, ACM SIGGRAPH, and IEEE Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, and has been invited to review grants for the NSF, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and an invited Editorial Board Member for Springer Nature, Virtual Reality Journal.
