Daniel Pillis is an interdisciplinary researcher and artist who specializes in performance capture, mixed reality, and interactive computer graphics. Currently, Pillis’s research is focused on creating novel interfaces that enhance memory visualization. At Emerson, he leads the Human Interaction Simulation Lab (THIS), conducting creative research that explores the impact of simulations on the nature of the human experience. Pillis holds an MS in Tangible Media from the MIT Media Lab and an MFA in immersive media from Carnegie Mellon University. He was previously a student of both Dr. Ivan Sutherland, a preeminent figure in computer graphics, as well as Dr. Hiroshi Ishii, a founding figure in human computer interaction. He held previous posts as a research assistant at the CMU Robotics Institute and as a Research Assistant Professor of Immersive Environments.

Daniel Pillis was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, a specialist in performance capture, mixed reality, and interactive computer graphics. While working with the Tangible Media Group under Dr. Hiroshi Ishii, Pillis is focused on exploring telepresence in the past through projects focusing on TeleAbsence, remote time, and collaborative mixed reality.

An active member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity & Inclusion committee, Pillis is dedicated to ensuring that research and community is accessible, equitable and engaging to all. Pillis holds an MFA focusing on Virtual Reality and Immersive Environments from Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked with the father of computer graphics, Ivan E. Sutherland. Prior to joining the Media Lab, Pillis was a researcher in residence in the soft robotics laboratory of Dr. Christopher Atkeson in the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, and taught courses in art and engineering at Virginia Tech and Princeton University.