University of North Carolina  at Chapel Hill
[ research | courses ]

Enroled:   August 2000
Graduated: May 2002
Degree:    Masters of Science
Major:     Computer Science

Research

Research Group:   Geometric Algorithms for Modeling, Motion and Animation (Gamma) Research Group, which specializes in collision detection and proximity queries, haptics and applications, walkthrough of massive model, robot motion planning, physically-based modeling (simulation levels of detail, modeling of hair, liquid, deformable objects, paint media, etc.), real-time interaction with virtual environments, geometric and solid modeling, and various other topics. 

Research Advisor: Proffessor Ming C. Lin

Area of Research: Robot 3D Motion Planning

Courses Taken

Course Code Description Instructor
Fall 2002
COMP 238

Advanced Image Generation (audited)

Basic ray tracing, Stochastic ray tracing, Raytracing Acceleration, Image Based Rendering (Light Fields, Warping, Geometric/VDTM), Procedural shading, RenderMan, Shading on hardware, Radiometry, Radiosity, Monte Carlo Methods, Parallel Rendering, Volume rendering.

Please see the course homepage for a complete list of topics and resources

 Lastra
RUSS 001

Beginner Russian

Introductory courses designed to lay foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills. Four hours a week, through two semesters.

 Millis
Spring 2002
COMP 259

Physically-Based Modeling, Simulation and Animation

Physically-based modeling and simulation attempts to map a natural phenomena to a computer simulation program. There are two basic processes in this mapping: mathematical modeling and numerical solution. The goal of this course is to understand both of them. The mathematical modeling concerns the description of natural phenomena by mathematical equations. Differential equations that govern dynamics and geometric representation of objects are typical ingredients of the mathematical model. The numerical solution involves computing an efficient and accurate solution of the mathematical equations. Finite precision of numbers, limited computational power and memory forces us to approximate the mathematical model with simple procedures.

See the course homepage for a complete list of topics covered
 Lin
ART 16A

Sculpture 1

This course is an intermediate course in studio sculpture. The students work in a complete artist studio with tools for metal working, wood working, and clay sculpture, to produce various large and small scale pieces which are critiqued by the instructor and the class.

Logan
Fall 2001
COMP 290-079

Computational Geometry

The field of computational geometry seeks to design and analyze algorithms and data structures for problems that are best stated in a geometric form. It finds natural applications in areas such as graphics, CAD/CAM, robotics, GIS, and molecular biology. Computational geometry also illustrates paradigms of algorithm design and analysis, shows the importance of choosing correct computational primitives, and allows one to prove lower bounds and algorithm optimality. This course will give an overview of the concepts and methods of computational geometry and its applications using ``Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications,'' by de Berg, van Kreveld, Overmars, and Schwarzkopf (2nd ed, Springer Verlag, 2000). Supplementary papers are available on the class website.

See the course homepage for a complete list of topics covered
 Snoeyink
COMP 204

Software Design and Implementation

This course coveres: the principles and practices of software engineering, object-oriented and functional approaches, formal specification, implementation, verification, testing, and software design patterns

See the course hompage for a more detailed description of the course and a list of topics covered.
 Stotts
COMP 291

Technical Writing

This vourse provides an analysis of good and bad writing, as well as exercises in organization and composition. Each student will also write a thesis-quality short technical report on a previously approved project.

Halton
Spring 2001
COMP 236

Advanced Computer Graphics


This course covers: Transformations, Projections, Clipping, Visible Surfaces  and Scan Conversion, Curves and Surfaces, Solid Modeling, Light/Object Interaction, Mapping Techniques (texture mapping; enviroment mapping; view-dependant mapping; bump mapping), Ray Tracing, and Radiosity Methods.

See the course hompage for description of the course and a list of topics covered.
Manocha
COMP 290-082

3D Game Engine Design

This was originally proposed by several graduate students to cover the technical aspects of creating a 3D game engine. The topics covered included: scene graph design and management, streaming scene graphs to disk or across a network, collision detection for culling, picking and game object interactions, curves (arc length reparameterization, subdivision), surfaces: fast subdivision algorithms, animation (including keyframe animation using TCB splines), skin and bones systems, level of detail (both static and dynamic) using mesh symplification algorithms, game physics, object oriented programming issues. The grading for the course was 50% oral examination and 50% course project.

 Eberly
COMP 205

Numerical Analysis

Teach error analysis and efficiency analysis via a driving problem that requires geometric algorithms. COMP 205 will address this goal by touching on aspects of computational geometry (convex hulls, triangulations, Voronoi diagrams), numerical analysis (SVD, Gaussian Elimination, forward and backward error analysis, interpolation), and mathematics (linear algebra, differential equations).

 Snoeyink
Fall 2000
COMP 202

Algorithm Analysis


Lower bound proofs. Sorting, Amortization (Union-find, Fibonacci heaps, Planarity testing, or string matching or FFT), Computability and intractability, NP-complete and NP-hard problems, NP-completeness of 3-sat, Polynomial reduction, Other classes (Co-NP, NC, RNC), Quicksort (average complexity), Random search trees or skip lists, Primality testing or integer factorization, Traveling salesman problem.

See the course hompage for description of the course and a list of topics covered.
Plaisted
COMP 206

Computer Architecture and Implementation


Basics of machine organization, Principles of instruction set design, Computer arithmetic, Pipelining (instruction level parallelism), Out of order execution, speculative execution and precise interrupts, Multiple issue (superscalar and VLIW) processors, Vector processors, Memory hierarchy, Autonomous I/O, Quantitative characterizations of CPU, memory and I/O performance, Quantitative principles of computer design, Measuring and reporting performance.


See the course hompage for description of the course and a list of topics covered.
Chatterjee
COMP 258

Geometry and Solid Modeling


Covering issues related to curve and surface representations, solid representations, surface reconstruction,  Boolean operations and robustness,  and Geometric constraint systems. Topics include: Curve and Surface Representations, Bezier Curves, B-Splines, Tensor-Product Surfaces, Triangular Patches, Subdivision Techniques, Solid Modeling and Boolean Operations, Medial Axis Transform, Geometric Constraint Systems, Robust Geometric Computations, User Interfaces for Modeling, Discretized Shape Representations (e.g. Distance Fields), Polar Forms, and Boolean Computations Using Graphics Hardware.

Please see the course hompage for a description of the course and a list of topics covered.

 Manocha