Visual & Interactive Computing

Visual and Interactive Computing (VIC) addresses the boundaries between humans, computers, and real and artificial worlds: what people see and how they interact with what they see. Effective research in VIC integrates many areas of Computer Science.

Computer Graphics and Information Visualization stress how we can represent information, model objects and processes, and craft their effective and beautiful visuals - animated and static, realistic and abstract.

Human Computer Interaction focuses on how both groups and individuals can interact with those visuals, how we can understand what people really need, and how we can make sure our software is actually usable.

Ubiquitous and Tangible Computing situates information and interaction within our physical environment, where digital information is encapsulated in physical devices or even as robots.

Computer Vision analyzes and processes images and video streams so they become yet another rich sensing device - a computer's 'eye' into the world. Scientific Computing provides methods for building visual representations and simulations of real world artifacts and processes in order to deepen our understanding of them.

Software Engineering tackles the problem of building systems that encapsulate all the above ideas, from requirements analysis to actual programming methodologies to packaging and testing such systems. No single area has all the answers; it is the interplay between the various specialized groups within VIC that adds a cross-discipline richness to its research.

VIC research is naturally collaborative, and includes many combined projects within our Computer Science groups as well as external collaborations with other disciplines such as biology, mathematics, physics, medicine, geography, physiology, communications, design, and fine arts. If you are interested in visual thinking and designing systems for people, VIC is for you.

Jeffery Boyd:

Computer Vision, Human Motion, Surveillance, Interactive Art

Sheelagh Carpendale:

Information Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Collaborative Interfaces, Interaction Design, and Non-Photorealistic Rendering

Mario Costa Souza:

Illustrative Visualization, Non-Photorealistic Rendering, Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling, Volume Graphics.

Marina Gavrilova:

Computer Graphics; Visualization in Geographical Information Systems, Image Processing, Biometric Modeling, and Scientific Computing

Saul Greenberg:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work, and Embodied Interfaces

Frank Maurer:

Digital Table Applications and Frameworks, Agile Methods and Interaction Design

Przemyslaw Prusinkiewcz:

Computer Graphics; Modelling, Simulation, and Visualization in Biology

Faramarz Samavati:

Computer Graphics, Geometric Modeling, Interactive Games and Graphics, 3D Imaging and Modeling, Scientific Computations

Jonathan Sillito:

Empirical Software Engineering, Program Comprehension and Programming Tool Support. I am currently researching how archived project information can be used to improve software development.

Ehud Sharlin:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs), Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and physical interfaces