Staff

Director
Dr. Kristinn R. Thórisson has been researching artificial intelligence for two decades, in academia and industry. His research centers on realtime interactive intelligences, complex cognitive systems and mind models. At MIT he pioneered new ideas in the area of communicative, multimodal intelligent agents. Recent projects include developing a cognitive architecture for the humanoid robot ASIMO by Honda Motor Corporation. He is the co-founder of CADIA, Iceland's first AI lab, and Radar Networks, a Semantic Web company in San Francisco. He has taught advanced AI courses at Columbia University, KTH and Reykjavik University, and consulted for NASA and British Telecom, among others. Kris has authored numerous scientific papers and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Artificial General Intelligence and the LNCS Transactions on Computational Collective Intelligence.

Associate Director
Dr. Stacy Marsella has been a Research Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, Associate Director for Social Simulation Research at the Institute of Creative Technologies and Co-Director of the USC Computational Emotion Group. He leads projects on virtual humans, social simulation, interactive drama, emotions and theory of mind.
Head of External Relations
Heida K. Helgadóttir
has held numerous coordination and leadership positions. She was Head of Public Relations for the City of Reykjavik's Peer Educations Program and a Coordinator at Reykjavik University's International Office. She has participated in several public speaking competitions and received awards of excellence for her performance. She has organized several public events including Man of the Year Award Ceremony for a national business publication and many other award ceremonies and conventions, as well as managed political campaigns. Heida Kristín holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Iceland.

Advisory Board

Dr. Rosalind Picard, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory. She has served on dozens of international science committees and recently chaired the National Science Foundations Committee of Visitors for the Information and Intelligent Systems Division. She has also worked as a consultant for companies such as Apple, AT&T, BT, HP, iRobot, and Motorola. Dr. Jörg Siekmann, Co-Founder & Scientific Director, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Dr. Siekmann was a founding Chairman of the German AI Society, a Fellow of the German Computer Science Society (GI), Chairman of the Collaborative Research Centre on Resource-Bounded Cognitive Processes, among others. Dr. Ipke Wachsmuth, Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF); Chair, Artificial Intelligence, University of Bielefeld. Dr. Wachsmuth has a strong multidisciplinary publications in several fields, including cognitive learning research, intelligent tutoring systems, virtual reality and multimodal interaction. He is former president of the German Cognitive Science Society and is co-director of the Collaborative Research Center “Alignment in Communication.” Dr. Finnur Oddsson, Managing Director, Iceland Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Oddsson works with many of Iceland's largest organizations, public and private, in various capacities. Prior to his current post he was Director of MBA Programs at Reykjavik University, and Director of Executive Education and Assistant Professors. Dr. Eythor Ivar Jonsson, DBA, CEO of Klak, Reykjavik, Iceland, directs one of he primary incubation outfits in Iceland. Before joining Klak he held an Associate Professor position at Copenhagen Business School. He is Chairman of the Board of over a dozen Danish companies.