Faculty & Staff

Nicholson School of Communication and Media

Biography

Dr. Maria C. R. Harrington is an American information scientist and artist. She is an associate professor of Digital Media at the University of Central Florida. With an undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Economics and Art and a Ph.D. in Information Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, her research focus is on the design of human-centered computing applications, and in the creation of applications for both art and science.

Using augmented and virtual reality, she investigates the design, development, and evaluation of immersive learning environments. She pioneered data visualization methods of natural habitats with interactive computer graphics models and used them for her research studies on learning. By combining botanical and ecological datasets from geographical information systems in computer game engines, she created some of the first realistic models of nature that are interactive and semantically linked to information to support and encourage learning.

Using a human-centered co-design approach, her interdisciplinary projects created educational impact for students, programs, and cultural institutions. Many of these models are also presented as works of art. Evaluation of the applications used a mixed-method research design to measure the emotional, usability, and learning outcomes of the software.

When applied to achieving educational, social, economic, and cultural objectives, these new immersive applications show complex causal chains of environmental, technical, and social co-constructed realities, where beauty, information fidelity, and free choice in exploration are important factors in the effectiveness of the design. Such applications are expected to influence scientific, human, social, and cultural transformations of our world.

She is director of The Harrington Lab, where she leads research projects focused on virtual nature 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. The lab is highly collaborative with several active multidisciplinary partnerships.

Find her publications on:

Research Interests

  • Virtual nature as a data visualization of natural landscapes using augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR/XR).
  • Human-centered design using digital media, AI, and immersive technologies for educational and learning application design, development, and evaluation research.
  • Technology supported emergent co-creativity, co-design, and decision support
  • Art and technology in both AR and VR as an aesthetic medium

Education

  • Ph.D. in Information Science from University of Pittsburgh (2008)
  • M.S. in Information Science from University of Pittsburgh (1990)
  • B.S. in Economics and Art from Carnegie Mellon University (1988)

Honors and Awards

  • 2024 University of Central Florida, College of Sciences, Teaching Incentive Award ($5,000 + $5,000 to base salary): The UCF Research Incentive Award program is a competitive award that recognizes outstanding research, scholarly, or creative activity that advances the body of knowledge in a particular field, including interdisciplinary research and collaborations.
  • 2024 University of Central Florida, College of Sciences, Research Incentive Award ($5,000 + $5,000 to base salary): The UCF Research Incentive Award program is a competitive award that recognizes outstanding research, scholarly, or creative activity that advances the body of knowledge in a particular field, including interdisciplinary research and collaborations.
  • 2024 University of Central Florida, Spring 2024 Office of Research Mentoring Program for Assistant/Associate Professor
  • 2022 University of Central Florida, College of Sciences, Excellence in Research Award2022 University of Central Florida, Nicholson School of Communication and Media, Outstanding Creative Activity Award
  • 2021 Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Learner Engagement Division, Outstanding Digital Learning Artifact Award
  • 2021 Museum and Web International Conference, MW21 GLAMi Award, Finalist in Resources for Scholars and Researchers Category
  • 2020 Museum and Web International Conference, MW20 GLAMi Award, Finalist in Exhibition Media or Experience: Immersive Media (AR/VR/Environmental)
  • 2019 Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Research Associate (Invited, three-year appointment)
  • 2018 Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Powdermill Nature Reserve, Artist in Residence Award
  • 2017 University of Central Florida, Office of Research and Commercialization, Mentoring Program Award2006 University of Pittsburgh, 30th Annual Honors Convocation, Outstanding Graduate Student Award
  • 2005 University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences, Allen Kent Award

Selected Publications

Published Journal Articles (Peer-Reviewed)

  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 13, 2023). Virtual Nature Makes Knowledge Beautiful. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 4. Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540, URL = https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540/full
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T. ( 2021). Designing a Virtual Arboretum as an Immersive, Multimodal, Interactive, Data Visualization Virtual Field Trip. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(4), 18. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5040018
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R., Tatzgern, M. Langer T., Wenzel, J. W. (2019). Augmented Reality Brings the Real World into Natural History Dioramas with Data Visualizations and Bioacoustics at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Curator: The Museum Journal, 62(2), 177 – 193. First published in Wiley Online Library (April 19, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12308
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2012). The Virtual Trillium Trail and the Empirical Effects of Freedom and Fidelity on Discovery-based Learning. Virtual Reality, 16(2), 105 – 120. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-011-0189-7
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2011). Empirical Evidence of Priming, Transfer, Reinforcement, and Learning in the Real and Virtual Trillium Trails. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 4(2), 175 – 186. https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/lt/2011/02/tlt2011020175/13rRUxjQyrq
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2009). An Ethnographic Comparison of Real and Virtual Reality Field Trips to Trillium Trail: The Salamander Find as a Salient Event. In Freier, N.G. & Kahn, P.H. (Eds.), Children, Youth and Environments: Special Issue on Children in Technological Environments, 19(1), 74 – 101. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.19.1.0074?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Published In Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)

  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (August, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Application Design for Immersive Learning Research Using Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful and Accessible with Information Fidelity. In Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Talks (SIGGRAPH ’20 Talks), Virtual Event, USA, August 17, 2020; ACM: New York, NY, USA, 2 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3388767.3407318
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June, 2020). Virtual Dioramas Transform Natural History Museum Exhibit Halls & Gardens to Life with Immersive AR. In Proceedings of ACM SIG CHI The ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2020: Demos & Art Exhibition. London, UK. June 21 – 24, 2020: Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 276 – 279. https://doi.org/10.1145/3397617.3402036
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June, 2020). Connecting User Experience to Learning in an Evaluation of an Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama in a Natural History Museum & the Importance of Story. In Proceedings of the IEEE, iLRN 2020: 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network. San Luis Obispo, California. June 21 – 25, 2020. DOI: 10.23919/iLRN47897.2020.9155202 https://origin-ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9155202
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March, 2020) Observation of Presence in an Ecologically Valid Ethnographic Study Using an Immersive Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama Application. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), Atlanta, GA, USA (virtual), March 22 – 26, 2020; 813-814. DOI: 10.1109/VRW50115.2020.00257   https://origin-ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9090465
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Dioramas and Arboretums for Museum XR Exhibition Engagement and Learning Design as a Lightning Talk. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual MuseWeb Conference MW20: MW 2020. Los Angeles, CA. March 31 – April 4, 2020. Harrington, Maria. Published March 28, 2020. Consulted March 28, 2020. https://mw20.museweb.net/proposal/augmented-and-virtual-reality-dioramas-and-arboretums-for-museum-xr-exhibition-engagement-and-learning-design/
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (April, 2019). Virtual Dioramas Inside and Outside Museums with the AR Perpetual Garden App. In Proceedings of the Annual MuseWeb conference MW19: MW 2019. Boston, MA. Published online February 14, 2019. Consulted March 13, 2019, April 2 – 6. https://mw19.mwconf.org/paper/virtual-dioramas-inside-and-outside-of-museums-with-the-ar-perpetual-garden-app
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3 – 4, 2017). Ripples in a Pond: How Virtual Reality may be a Tool of Impact for the Humanities. In Proceedings of the HASTAC 2017, UCF, Orlando, FL.
  • Portnoy, F., Smith, L., Harrington, Maria, C. R., Kremer, K., Nichols, T., & Zammitto, V. (September 19 – 23, 2011). Facing the Human Factors Challenges in Game Design: A Discussion Panel. In Proceedings from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55(1), 520 – 524. Las Vegas, Nevada. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1071181311551106
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (May 13-15, 2011). The Virtual Trillium Trail — An Educational Simulation of the North American Forests. In Proceedings of the iED Summit: Immersive Education Initiative: Boston Summit 2011. Boston College, Boston, MA.
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June 3 – 5, 2009). Meta-ontologies for Learning in Virtual and Augmented Realities. Presented at the ACM-SIGCHI IDC09: The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children Workshop on Children and Mobile Technology: Interface Development for Mobile Touch Devices. Como, Italy.
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 10 – 13, 2008). A Demonstration of Virtual Trillium Trail, a Simulation of a Fourth Grade Field Trip to a Wildflower Reserve for Ecology Education. In Proceedings of the Open Learning Interplay Symposium 2008. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (July 30 – August 3, 2006). Situational Learning in Real and Virtual Space: Lessons Learned and Future Directions. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Educators program (SIGGRAPH ’06). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 48 – es. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1179295.1179344
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June 28, 2006). Trees of Life: Models of Children’s Creative Processes. In Proceedings of the ACM DIS 2006. State College, PA.
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (September 14 – 18, 2005). Virtual Beechwood: Simulated Ecological Environments for Education. In Proceedings of the Conference on Spatial Information Theory 2005. Ellicottville, New York.

National

  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 22 – 25, 2018). Improving Psychophysical Well-being and Performance in Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments with Head Mounted Virtual Reality Photorealistic Simulations of Earth Based Natural Environments. In Proceedings of the 2018 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop HRP RESEARCH: THE GATEWAY TO MARS, Galveston, TX.
  • Larson, S. and Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 1 – 4, 2012). A Survey of ABET Accredited, Information Systems, Undergraduate Programs in the USA. In Proceedings of the Information Systems Educators Conference (ISECON). New Orleans, Louisiana. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.296.7010
  • Gennari, J., Harrington, Maria, C. R., Hughes, S., Manojlovich, M., & Spring, M. (June 15 – 17, 2003). Preparatory Observations on Ubiquitous Knowledge Environments: The Cyberinfrastructure Information Ether. In Proceedings from NSF Post Digital Library Futures Workshop. Chatham, MA.

International Published in Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)

  • Martin, Fred and Harrington, Maria (in press, 2023). “Learning and Emotional Outcomes in an Immersive Omnidirectional Pilot Study,” 2023 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Orlando, Florida, November 30, 2023.
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Jones, Chris, Peters, Crissy. (August, 2022). “Course on Virtual Nature as a Digital Twin: Botanically Correct 3D AR and VR Optimized Low-polygon and Photogrammetry High-polygon Plant Models.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference 2022 Courses (ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Courses). Vancouver, Canada and Virtual Event, USA, August 7 – 11, 2022; ACM: New York, NY, USA. DOI 10.1145/3532720.3535663.
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. (August, 2021). “Virtual Nature.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference 2021 Birds of a Feather (ACM SIGGRAPH 2021 BOF). Virtual Event, USA, August 9 – 13, 2021; ACM: New York, NY, USA. https://s2021.siggraph.org/presentation/?id=bof_136&sess=sess429

Invited Talks

  • Harrington, Maria C. R. (August, 2021). “Virtual Nature.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference 2021 Birds of a Feather (ACM SIGGRAPH 2021 BOF), Virtual Event, USA, August 9 – 13, 2021; ACM: New York, NY, USA. https://s2021.siggraph.org/presentation/?id=bof_136&sess=sess429
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. (June 23, 2021). “Creating Immersive Augmented Reality Applications for Learning.” Serious Play 2021 Conference, Virtual Reality/Mobile: Cutting Edge Apps For Training, Education – Interactive Session. Virtual, June 23, 2021 (invited). https://www.seriousplayconf.com/2021-program/
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in AR, MR & VR, for Data Visualization, Learning & Decision Support.” Presented at the UCF ORC The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) Poster Session, Orlando, FL, June, 25, 2019 (invited).
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “AR and VR Virtual Nature Models Ideal for Informal Learning,” Presented at Serious Play 2019 Conference, UCF FIEA, Orlando, FL., July, 24 – 26, 2019.
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in Augmented reality and Virtual reality for Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences. Pittsburgh, PA. Dec. 2018 (invited). https://pitt.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=4b0724b6-4309-4960-a27f-a9af01247fe8
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Reality matters in virtual reality for learning sciences research: The Virtual Trillium Trail empirical data and future fMRI studies.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA; Pittsburgh, PA, April 2010 (invited). http://halley.exp.sis.pitt.edu/comet/presentColloquium.do?col_id=700
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail: The value of Freedom and Fidelity in the child-computer-environment interface.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute Seminar Series, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. September, 2008. https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2008/09/virtual-trillium-trail-value-freedom-and-fidelity-child-computer-environment-interface
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Simulated ecological environments for education: Past and future realities.” Presented to the Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2008 (invited).
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Tips and Tricks of Building Simulated Ecological Environments for Education: User Centered Design, Activity Analysis, Prototyping, and Techniques.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology Center, Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 2008 (invited).
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail: What if you could fly over your favorite park, and explore the ecosystem from any vantage point that you wished?” Presented to the Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Chapel, PA, July. 2008.
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design.” Presented to Art Institute of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 2008 (invited).
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Trillium Trail and Opportunities for Education in Metaverses and Virtual Environments.” Presented to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Phipps Education Committee, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2007 (invited).
  • Harrington, Maria C. R. “Generating High Fidelity, 3D Computer Graphic Models from Transects and Plot Population Data for Trillium Trail.” University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences: E&E Seminar, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2007 (invited).

Art Shows

  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2017). EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2017. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Aug. 2017
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2016). EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2016. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Oct. 2016
  • Harrington, Maria, C. R. LOST AND FOUND 2006. Garfield Artworks Art & Performance Space, Presented six works of computer art, and a multimedia collage, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2006

News Media Coverage

Press Coverage with National or Economic Impact

Press Coverage with Regional Impact

Creative Works as a Principal Investigator

  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016-2018).  The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project (Version 1.0).Unreal Game engine level complete October 2018.  https://the-harrington-lab.itch.io/the-virtual-ucf-arboretum
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016-2018).  The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project (Version 1.0).VR complete November 2018.
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016- 2018). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Website (Version 1.0) Launched October 2018. Available from UCF:  https://arboretum.ucf.edu/virtual/
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016- 2018). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Website (Version 1.0) Launched January 2019. Published on PBS Learning Media https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/virtual-ucf-arboretum/virtual-ucf-arboretum/?fbclid=IwAR3Sur3GVnALQadQY1SLAOCrIIvxdMGBceGPcEOWG5nKjz8BzBI_Txa1oW4
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Wenzel, J. W., Tatzgern, M., Langer T., Oliver, M., Isaac, B., Guffey, A., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Dinic, R., and Tiefengrabner, M. (2017-2018). The AR Perpetual Garden Apps. Published on Apple iTunes App Store (Version 1.2) Launched October 25, 2018. Available from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ar-perpetual-garden/id1438086490?mt=8
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Wenzel, J. W., Tatzgern, M., Langer T., Oliver, M., Isaac, B., Guffey, A., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C.  and Dinic, R. (2017-2018). The AR Perpetual Garden Apps. Published on Google Play Android Store (Version 6.6.6) Launched November 30, 2018. Available from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carnegie.garden
  • Harrington, Maria C. R., Wenzel, J. W., Oliver, M., Isaac, B., Guffey, A., Bledsoe, Z. and Jones, C. (2015-2017). The Virtual Garden Timeline Website. (Launch 2017. https://virtualgarden.powdermill.org/)