Computer Graphics Symposium

Christopher Batty PhD'10

Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo

Bio: Christopher Batty is an Assistant Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. His research is primarily focused on the development of novel physical simulation techniques for applications in computer graphics and computational physics, with an emphasis on the diverse behaviors of fluids. Elements of his work have been adopted by the visual effects industry and in commercial software such as Side Effects' Houdini and Maya's Bifrost. Christopher received his PhD from UBC in 2010, and was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University from 2011-2013. Prior to his academic career, he developed physics-based animation software at former Canadian visual effects studio Frantic Films from 2003-2005, contributing to water and smoke effects on films like "Scooby-Doo 2", "Cursed", and "Superman Returns".

Felix Heide PhD'16

PDF Stanford

Bio: Felix Heide is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and the CTO of Algolux. He is interested in the theory and application of computational imaging and vision systems. Researching imaging systems end-to-end, Felix's work lies at the intersection of optics, machine learning, optimization, computer graphics and computer vision. Felix has co-authored over 25 publications and filed 6 patents. He received his Ph.D. in December 2016 at the University of British Columbia under the advisement of Professor Wolfgang Heidrich. His doctoral dissertation focuses on machine learning for computational imaging and won the Alain Fournier Ph.D. Dissertation Award and the SIGGRAPH outstanding doctoral dissertation award.

Doug James MSc'97 PhD'01

Professor, Stanford University

Bio: Doug L. James is a Full Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and is a consulting Senior Research Scientist at Pixar Animation Studios. He was previously an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University (2006-2015), and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University (2002-2006). He holds three degrees in applied mathematics, including a Ph.D. in 2001 from UBC. His research interests include computer graphics, computer sound, physically based modeling and animation, and reduced-order physics models. Doug is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and a fellow of both the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. He received a 2012 Technical Achievement Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for "Wavelet Turbulence," and the 2013 Katayanagi Emerging Leadership Prize from Carnegie Mellon University and Tokyo University of Technology. He was the Technical Papers Program Chair of ACM SIGGRAPH 2015.

Paul Kry MSc'00 PhD'05

Associate Professor, McGill University

Bio: Paul G. Kry is an associate professor at McGill University in the School of Computer Science where he heads the Computer Animation and Interaction Capture Laboratory. His research interests are in physically based animation, including deformation, contact, motion editing, and simulated control of locomotion, grasping, and balance.

He received his B.Math. in computer science with electrical engineering electives in 1997 from the University of Waterloo, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of British Columbia in 2000 and 2005. He spent time as a visitor at Rutgers during most of his Ph.D., and did postdoctoral work at INRIA Rhône Alpes and the LNRS at Université René Descartes. He is currently a director at large on the ACM SIGGRAPH executive committee, and is the president of the Canadian Human Computer Communications Society, the organization which sponsors the annual Graphics Interface conference.

Gene Lee PhD'01

Senior Software Engineer, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Bio: Dr. Gene Lee is a Senior Software Engineer in the Animation Technology Group at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He works closely with world-class artists to develops new tools and workflows for feature film development. Gene's film credits include the Oscar-winning features, "Frozen," "Big Hero 6," and "Zootopia." Gene is also a member of the Studio Patent Committee, and an active collaborator with both Disney Imagineering and the Distribution Technology Group. Prior to joining Disney, Gene was a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, where he was a finalist for the Killam Teaching Prize. Other previous work experiences includes positions at Apple Computer, Silicon Graphics, MIT Media Lab, Grumman Aerospace, and Dreamworks Animation. Gene is also an accomplished lacrosse player. He was a member of the two-time, national champion Vancouver Lacrosse Team. Gene received an Sc.B. from MIT and a Ph.D. from UBC, both in Computer Science.

David Levin PhD'12

Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

Bio: I love numerical simulation! My main research interest is in using new simulation techniques to allow artists, engineers and scientists to study and create -- everything from animations to machines. Currently I pursue this goal as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. I've also spent time as an Associate Research Scientist at Disney Research and a postdoc with Prof. Wojciech Matusik at MIT. Before my tenure in Boston, MA I studied Sensorimotor computation under Dinesh K. Pai at the University of British Columbia and spent 3-months at WETA Digital working on biomechanics based simulation. When not stuck in front of a computer I enjoy skiing, board games, crossfit, and am slowly learning to play the ukelele (emphasis on learning and slowly).

Kevin Loken MSc'07

Electronic Arts

Bio: Kevin Loken is the Head of Technology for EA Worldwide Studios Content, where he provides oversight to the selection and development of all technology related to content creation: from capture, to artist workflows, to pipelines. He has served as Technical Director on a number of different projects at EA, and his game credits include NHL, NBA Live, NCAA March Madness, FaceBreaker K.O. Party, EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, FIFA Soccer, and Need For Speed.

KangKang Yin PhD'07

Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University

Bio: KangKang Yin is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Computing Science at the Simon Fraser University. Her research interests include Computer Animation, Geometry Processing, and Human Computer Interaction. From 2010 to 2016 she was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore. She worked as an Associate Researcher at Microsoft Research Asia from 2008 to 2010, and obtained her PhD from UBC in 2007. She regularly serves on the program committees of all major computer graphics conferences including SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, Eurographics, SCA, among others. She is currently an Associate Editor of Computer Graphics Forum. She was the program co-chair for Pacific Graphics 2013 and SCA2017. She has won three SCA best-paper awards (2011, 2013 and 2015). She is a senior member of ACM and IEEE.