CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC STUDIES IN THE ARTSA COLLABORATION BETWEEN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AND THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

Maria Kokkori joined the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts at Northwestern University in August 2022. She is Associate Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (courtesy Art History) and Senior Scientist at the Center. Her work bridges museums, universities, and national laboratories to advance scientific research in cultural heritage and to develop innovative tools for the study and preservation of art. Prior to joining Northwestern, she spent ten years as a scientist in the Department of Conservation and Science at the Art Institute of Chicago and, from 2016 to 2022, was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. There, she developed and taught courses introducing students to the methods, theories, and strategies underpinning scientific approaches to the study of art objects, with particular emphasis on material-based methodologies, their modes of interpretation, and their scholarly implications. She also co-teaches a PhD seminar as part of the Chicago Objects Study Initiative (COSI), an inter-institutional program that provides graduate students from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago with advanced training in object-based art historical research. Kokkori received her PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, followed by postdoctoral research at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam, the Courtauld Institute, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her research has been supported by the Courtauld Institute, European research programs, the Getty Research Institute, and the Malevich Society, New York. She has authored more than 70 publications, including books, peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, and museum catalogs on artists’ materials and techniques, and has organized international workshops and conferences on the application of analytical methods to the study of artworks. Her research and teaching focus on the investigation of artists’ materials and techniques, the characterization of visual and material change, color and light theories, and the intersections of art, science, and technology.