Dr. Victoria Austen is an Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois. She has researched the history of the Spurlock’s plaster cast collection through archival resources; she has also published two articles on the use of digital technologies within the classroom, and is one of the producers for Peopling the Past— a Digital Humanities initiative that hosts free, open-access resources for teaching and learning about the ancient world. As co-PI, she will be leading the development of contextualizing materials, conducting research about interaction with replicas, and engaging with stakeholder communities.  

Dr. Elias Petrou is an Assistant Professor and Librarian for Classical, Medieval, and Modern Greek collections at the University of Illinois. His experience in Digital Humanities stems from his long-standing service and contributions to various digital projects, such as the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. He has worked closely with the Greek Consulate in Chicago and the Greek community to support workshops on the Greek language and classical art, aimed at the Greek diaspora. As co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), he will lead community engagement initiatives, contribute to the development of contextualizing materials, conduct research on interaction with replicas, and develop grant proposals to sustain and expand the project in collaboration with local and international partners.

Maria Moulita is a Ph.D. student in Classics at the University of Illinois. She earned a B.A. in Greek Philology from the University of Patras and an M.A. in Language Education for Migrants and Refugees from the Hellenic Open University. She is interested in migration and diasporas in antiquity, representations of the East in Greek and Latin literature, and emotions in ancient Greek literature, especially in relation to migration and displacement. She is also interested in multicultural and inclusive Classics pedagogy.