Maureen Nappi is an artist and theorist committed to the thoughtful integration of the theory and practice of the creative use of advanced technologies. She helped found the first computer arts discipline category within arts funding in the US during her tenure on the Artists' Advisory Committee for the New York Foundation for the Arts. Nappi received her Ph.D. in the Critical Studies area of the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University for her work on the aesthetics of computer arts. As an AAUW Doctoral Fellow, Nappi's dissertation entitled Language, Memory and Volition: Toward an Aesthetics of Computer Arts constructs an aesthetic framework for computer arts based on the most fundamental operational components of the computer. For Dr. Nappi, the primacy of process within the computer is a reflection of "how we think we think" and as a meta-tool, is an integration of cognitive processes aligned with various skill sets.