Socrates Dimitriadis
I was born and raised in Kilkis, a small town in Central Macedonia, but over the years I’ve collected a few other “homes,” including Ioannina, Xanthi, Heraklion, Providence, Boston, and Washington, D.C. I’m a computer and cognitive scientist with a research background in vision science and professional experience in web development. I also have a love for sports — road running in particular, having completed the authentic Athens Marathon and the historic Boston Marathon — and a passion for traveling (who doesn’t?), especially when it involves outdoor adventures like hiking, snowboarding, swimming, or boating.
Education
I studied computer science at the Universities of Ioannina and Crete before transitioning to cognitive science at Brown University. As a child, I spent many years learning foreign languages — French, German, and Italian — which I no longer speak, but whose cultural influence still resonates with me. Earlier, I earned a private pilot license for single-engine aircraft, along with a seaplane rating, and more recently, I completed an MBA. I have always been fascinated by the process of learning, both academically and personally, and I am a strong advocate of lifelong education.
Hellenic Open University
[MBA thesis] Consumers’ response to online businesses’ drifting towards the subscription business model
Brown University
[PhD thesis] Visual Recognition with a Large Scale Network of Dynamical Systems
[MSc thesis] A Network of Networks Approach to Computational Modeling of Pop-out Phenomena in Visual Attention
University of Crete
[MSc thesis] An Image Retrieval Platform Based on a Biologically Inspired Architecture
University of Ioannina
[BSc thesis] Human-Computer Interaction with Gesture Recognition
Business
Founder & Full-Stack Developer
It started as a hobby while I was in grad school and ended up becoming a fully fledged business. A combination of right timing and risk-taking made Greek-Movies the first search engine dedicated exclusively to Greek video streaming, serving one million visitors per month at its peak. As a full-stack developer, I took care of everything, from system administration and back-end development to front-end responsive design, advertising, and regulatory compliance. While this may no longer be the prevailing trend, it gave me the privilege of experiencing web development to its fullest extent, and I loved it. Working on every aspect of a website shaped my understanding of how technical, business, and regulatory forces intersect on the Internet.
Teaching
George Mason University, Department of Computer Science
- Essentials of Computer Science: F2021, F2022, S2024, F2024, S2025, F2025
- Introduction to Computer Programming (Python): F2018, S2019, F2019, S2020, F2020, S2025
- Object Oriented Programming (Java): S2019, F2020, S2021, F2021, S2022, F2022, S2023
- Data Structures: S2021, F2023, S2024, F2025, S2026
George Mason University, Department of Computational and Data Sciences
- Modeling and Simulation: S2018
Brown University, Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
- Neural Modeling Laboratory: S2005, S2006, S2007, S2009
- Cognition: F2006
- Quantitative Methods in Psychology: F2004
- Visualizing Vision: F2005
6th Technical High School of Heraklion, Greece
- UNIX Operating System
- Multimedia
- Computer Applications
University of Crete, Department of Computer Science
- Computational Vision: S2002
- Computer Networks: F2001
- Intelligent Systems: S2003
Vocational Training Institute of Kilkis, Greece
- Programming in C: S2001
- Sound Processing and Synthesis: S2001
Research
I initially worked on neural networks because I found it an excellent approach to start understanding (and implementing) intelligence. Then I did research on computer vision because I thought it offered the perfect testbed for experimenting with computational intelligence theories. Finally, I switched to cognitive science because I came to believe that deciphering intelligence requires the devoted study of the computational aspects of the human mind. I'm fascinated by large scale dynamical neural networks and I hope they will help us discover many of the answers we're looking for.
Advertising vs subscription business models for the web
School of Social Sciences
Use of structural equation modeling to study the consumers’ behavior when online content providers (streaming services in particular) are transitioning from the advertising to the subscription business model.
Computational modeling of human visual recognition
Ersatz Brain Group
Modeling of visual recognition based on large scale integration of dynamical neural networks. High performance computing with MPI and C++ on an IBM 166-node linux cluster. Watch a few visualizations of a system that models several features of the human visual recognition process. Each of these simulations models about 1 billion neural synapses and requires about 100 CPU cores for several minutes.
Visual detection of urban and landscape changes
Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems – Computer Vision
Use of satellite imagery for the detection and evaluation of landscape and urban changes
Computational modeling of human visual depth perception
3D Shape Perception Lab
Bayesian modeling of visual depth perception for inference under limited cognitive resources
Computational modeling of human visual attention
Ersatz Brain Group
Modeling of popout phenomena in visual attention with a network of dynamical neural networks. Watch two visualizations of the network dynamics that model the Müller-Lyer illusion and the popout phenomena in visual attention
Content based image retrieval
Computational Vision and Robotics Laboratory
Development of a content based image retrieval system based on a multi-agent architecture
RoboCup
Computational Vision and Robotics Laboratory
Development of a robotic soccer platform including the mechanical, electronic, and software components. Watch the first stages of a prototype robot that was developed from scratch
Distance learning by video conference
Test and evaluation of video conference platforms for distance learning
Neural networks
Development of web-based Neural Network simulators for a distance learning course. Try the following NN web simulators; the code is 20 years old but still working (if your browser allows Java applets)
Gesture recognition
Development of a gesture recognition system for the translation of the Greek Sign Language. It uses a 5DT data glove interface and is trained with a neural network.
Projects
Several small side projects I have been working on in my free time.