Maribeth Coleman Named Regents’ Researcher

Maribeth Coleman, director of Research and associate director of Interactive Media for the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), was named a Regents’ Researcher by the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents (BOR).

Regents’ distinctions may be granted to outstanding faculty members for a period of three years by the BOR and are awarded only after unanimous recommendation from the president of the recipient’s university, their chief academic officer and dean, and three additional members of the faculty who are named by the university president. Approval by the chancellor and the BOR Committee on Academic Affairs is also required. These distinctions are given to those who make outstanding contributions to their respective institutions.

Coleman received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in computer science from Georgia Tech. She has more than 23 years of experience as a research faculty member in catalyzing, funding, and conducting transdisciplinary research programs in the areas of computer science and human computer interaction, with a focus on augmented/virtual reality and wearable technologies applied to healthcare, assistive technology, education, and the future-of-work.

In 2017, she received the GVU 25th Anniversary Impact Award. In 2022, she was one of three finalists for an Atlanta Women in Technology award in recognition of her research contributions as well as her record of supporting historically underrepresented groups in the technology field. Additionally, she presented a TEDx talk on the importance of diversity in teams in the context of her NASA-funded augmented reality research program.

She currently leads a team of a dozen full-time research faculty within IPaT, along with a large community of student assistants. In her role as director of research, she is charged with developing processes to help connect principal investigators and teams across campus with research faculty to provide continuity and capacity to their research programs.