Dr. Mar Gonzalez-Franco is a leading computer scientist and neuroscientist working at the intersection of immersive technologies, human perception, and artificial intelligence. She is currently a Senior Research Manager at Google, where she leads the Blended Interaction Research and Devices (BIRD) lab within Google AR & VR. Her team explores next-generation multimodal experiences and device ecosystems, using AI/ML to enhance 2D and 3D interactions.

Before joining Google, she was a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research from 2016 to 2022, contributing to projects like Microsoft Teams avatars, Together mode, Soundscape, HoloLens, and Xbox. Her work on avatars became one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2022 and reached over 270 million users. In 2022 she was awarded the IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality new significant researcher award.

Dr. Gonzalez-Franco holds a double major in Computer Science and Multimedia Engineering, a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Immersive Virtual Reality and Clinical Psychology. Her academic work focused on how virtual experiences affect human body representation and cognition.

She has authored over 100 publications, holds 40+ patents, and has released several open-source toolkits for avatar and immersive systems. Recognized by IEEE and the NAE for her groundbreaking work, she continues to advance the field of immersive interaction with real-world impact.