Dr. María Alejandra Quirós Ramírez

MAQR is a Costa Rican scientist based in Upper Franconia, where she researches and teaches about the use of computational methods and tools for behavioral research and well-being, as well as the application of behavioral knowledge in Human Machine Interaction and eHealth interventions. She specializes in the use of avatars, virtual humans, Virtual Reality, and mobile technologies.

Currently, she is also a guest scientist at the Perceiving System Department, in the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen. She is also affiliated to the Virtual Environments and Social Cognition Lab, at the University of Coburg.

Research

Cultural differences in emotion expression

Cultural differences in emotion expression

HCI/UX
Stereotypes, Language & Virtual Humans

Stereotypes, Language & Virtual Humans

Virtual Humans
Virtual Humans and Mental Health

Virtual Humans and Mental Health

Virtual Humans | Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality in-the-wild

Virtual Reality in-the-wild
[under preparation]

Virtual Reality | Mobile
Meditation in VR

Meditation in VR
[under preparation]

Relaxation | Virtual Reality | UX
Mood contagion

Mood contagion
[under preparation]

Mobile | Mood

News

Mind Life Institute Summer School 2022 (June 6th - 10th)

I have been accepted to the Mind Life Institute's Summer Research Institute 2022: "Othering, Belonging, and Becoming". The Mind & Life Institute brings science and contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world.

The research institute is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and immersive opportunity for conversations around humanity’s response to the crisis of disconnection and othering — for researchers, contemplatives, changemakers, and anyone interested in this topic. I will be presenting a poster and talking on my work on meditation in Virtual Reality :) and how we designed a mobile VR experience to support the Loving Kindness Meditation


Eating Disorders and Virtual Reality (May 12th & 13th)

I will be joining the Workshop 'Virtual Reality - Possibilities in Eating Disorder Research'. I will be presenting a demo of my work on the use of Mobile VR for behavioral experiments in-the-wild, and talking about Participatory Design for clinical research.

The workshop will be held partially in English and partially in German in a hybrid format. The opportunity to join online is available! For more info check out the program here: flyer.


TEDxKonstanz 2022 (May 6th)

Infinitely far, and at the same time, infinitely close! I am thrilled to announce my participation in the next TEDxKonstanz 2022. Join me exploring whether VR can help us bridge the distance between one and other, through our new Loving-Kindness Meditation mobile VR experience :).


Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Our paper on the visualization of social perception of judgments and stereotypes based on political beliefs has been accepted in Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Resume

Education

2014
University of Tsukuba, Japan

Ph.D. in Intelligent Interaction Technologies

“Cross-Cultural Emotion Recognition Based on Facial Cues and its Application to Human Machine Interaction”

2011
University of Tsukuba, Japan

M.Sc. Computer Science

“Representation of shape by medial axis in the cerebral cortex”

2008
Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica

B.Sc. Computer Engineering

Experience

Nov. 2018 - current
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen

Guest Scientist

Perceiving Systems Department

Oct. 2020 - Mar. 2021
University of Konstanz

Independent researcher

Zukunftskolleg (Associated Fellow)
Department of Computer and Information Science

Apr. 2019 - Sept. 2020
University of Konstanz

Researcher and Lecturer

Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience
Department of Psychology

Aug. 2018 - Mar. 2019
University of Konstanz

Researcher and Lecturer

Virtual Reality for Collective Behavior Group
Department of Computer and Information Science

May 2015 - Oct. 2017
Max Planck Institute of Intelligent Systems, Tübingen

Postdoctoral scientist

Perceiving Systems Department

Dec. 2014 - Apr. 2015
University of Cambridge

Research Associate

Faculty of Economics

Contact

alejandra.quiros [at] tue.mpg.de

Upper Franconia, Germany