The GVU Center is much more than Graphics,
Visualization and Usability - the initial mission that gave rise to its
name and first research directions. With more than a decade and a half
years of experience in interdisciplinary computing research, GVU is
dedicated to unlocking human potential through technical innovation.
This historical shift from monolithic mainframe systems to personal
computers and now to social and ubiquitous computing emphasizes
empowering people by augmenting abilities and enabling creative visions
that address society’s most pressing needs and opportunities. The sheer
pervasiveness of computing in all aspects of life presents great
opportunities and responsibilities to deeply examine the influence of
computing on many forms of daily human experiences.

The GVU Center brings together a research
community that is dedicated to meet these challenges. GVU now embarks
on a research agenda that engages the potential of people, through the
lenses of creativity, emotion, independence, learning, persuasion,
wellness, and trust, and that envisions technology as catalyst, enabler
and sustaining force for collectively inventing our shared future.

GVU’s goal is straight-forward; to shape the
future through our scholarship, our inventions and the future pursuits
of our graduates.

BIO: 

Elizabeth Mynatt is an associate professor in the
School of Interactive Computing and director of the GVU Center at the
Georgia Institute of Technology. The center brings together over sixty
faculty drawn from computer science, psychology, liberal arts, new
media design, history of science and technology, engineering,
architecture, management, and music.

Mynatt played a pivotal role in creating the College of Computing Ph.D.
program in Human-Centered Computing, integrating studies in
human-computer interaction, learning sciences and technology, cognitive
science, artificial intelligence, robotics, software engineering, and
information security.

In the last decade, Mynatt has directed a research program in
ubiquitous computing and technologies adapted to everyday life. With
work that began at Xerox PARC and has grown to fruition at Georgia
Tech, she examines the pervasive presence of computation in everyday
life.

Mynatt earned her Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in computer
science from North Carolina State University and her Master of Science
and Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech.