Broad Area Colloquium For AI-Geometry-Graphics-Robotics-Vision


Next Frontier in Graphics: Unleashing the Computer's Potential for Communication

David Salesin
University of Washington and Microsoft Research

Monday, February 3, 2003, 4:15PM
TCSeq 201
http://robotics.stanford.edu/ba-colloquium/

Abstract

In this talk, David Salesin claims that the real market for computers lies in their vast potential as a communications medium. Already, millions of PowerPoint presentations are made each day, hundreds of thousands of documents are archived online, and billions of Web pages are searched. Yet, so far, computers are used largely just to emulate the appearance of existing, physical media, such as slide transparencies or 8½"x11" sheets of paper. Drawing upon examples that range from computer-generated illustration and virtual cinematography to adaptive document layout and animated presentations, Salesin discusses some of the research challenges he sees in harnessing the power of the computer to create more powerful communications media than exist today.

About the Speaker

David Salesin is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1992, and a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research, where he has also worked since 1999. He received his ScB from Brown University in 1983, and his PhD from Stanford University in 1991. From 1983-87, he worked at Lucasfilm and Pixar, where he contributed computer animation for the Academy Award-winning short film, Tin Toy, and the feature-length film, Young Sherlock Holmes. During his years at Stanford, he also worked as an intern at the DEC Systems Research Center and Paris Research Lab. He spent the 1991-92 year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University. In 1996, he co-founded two companies, where he served as Chief Scientist: Inklination and Numinous Technologies (acquired by Microsoft in 1999). Salesin received an NSF Young Investigator award in 1993; an ONR Young Investigator Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow Award in 1995; the University of Washington Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement in the College of Engineering in 1996; the University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award in 1997; The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education Washington Professor of the Year Award in 1998; the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award in 2000; and he became an ACM Fellow in 2002. Salesin's research interests are in computer graphics, and include, in particular, non-photorealistic rendering, image-based rendering, and various topics in 2D graphics like color reproduction, digital typography, and compositing. His outside interests include Aikido, photography, printmaking, piano, saxophone, flying, traveling, cooking, old films, backpacking, skiing, mountain biking, and chocolate.
Contact: bac-coordinators@cs.stanford.edu

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