Alberto J. Cañas
Associate Director & Senior Research Scientist Emeritus
Alberto J. Cañas was born in Costa Rica. He is co-founder and an associate director of IHMC.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, and a M. math degree in computer science and a Ph.D. in management science, both from the University of Waterloo, Canada. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Castro Carazo, in Costa Rica.
He has taught at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Tulane University, INCAE (in Costa Rica), and was part of the Computer Science Department at the University of West Florida (UWF).
For many years, Prof. Cañas has been involved in the use of technology in the K-12 area. Before going to UWF, Prof. Cañas was the Director of IBM’s Latin American Education Research Center in Costa Rica. Prof. Cañas is interested in understanding the pedagogical aspects of using technology, and taking advantage of his Computer Science background to come up with innovative solutions. He is interested not only in the theoretical aspects, but also in the implementation details and scalability of the use of computers in education. His research include: uses of computers in education, knowledge management, knowledge acquisition, information retrieval, and human-machine interface.
His IHMC research projects include: Knowledge Modeling and Sharing, Performance Support Systems with Embedded Training, Collaborative Tools for Education and for Research, Multimedia-based Knowledge Construction and Browsing Tools, Distance Education, and Corporate Memory. Prof. Cañas has published extensively and has lectured throughout many countries in North and Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
