Zhigang Deng, Ph.D.

Moores Professor of Computer Science
Director of Graduate Studies,
Director of Computer Graphics
      & Interactive Media Lab,
Department of Computer Science,
University of Houston, Houston, TX

Office:
Phillip G. Hoffman Hall (PGH), Rm 228
Houston, TX 77204-3010

Tel: +1 713 743 1018
Fax: +1 713 743 3335

Email (preferred way to contact me):
zdeng4 (at) central.uh.edu
OR zhigang.deng (at) gmail.com

Mailing Address:
Phillip G. Hoffman Hall, Department of Computer Science,
3551 Cullen Blvd, Room 501,
Houston, TX, 77204-3010

Teaching
Fall
COSC4370 Interactive Computer Graphics
COSC4358/6358 Introduction to Game Development (co-teaching)

Spring
COSC6372 3D Computer Graphics
COSC4359/6359 Advanced Game Development(co-teaching)

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Interest   Education   Employment   Teaching   Publications   Talks   Service   Mentoring   Awards   Media  



Research Interests

• Computer Graphics
• Computer Animation
• Virtual Humans
• Human Computer Conversation
• Human-AI Interaction
• Graphics Computing for Surgery and Biomedical Informatics


education

2006
Ph.D. Computer Science  University of Southern California

2004
M.S. Computer Science  University of Southern California

2000
M.S. Computer Science  Peking University, China

1997
B.S. Mathematics  Xiamen University, China


employment

09/06 - Present
University of Houston  Houston, TX
Moores Professor (9/2021 - ), Computer Science Department
Director of Graduate Studies (08/2015 - ), Computer Science Department
Founding Director (9/2006 - ), UH Computer Graphics and Interactive Media Lab
Full Professor (9/2016 - 8/2021), Computer Science Department
Associate Professor (09/2012 - 08/2016), Computer Science Department
Assistant Professor (09/2006 - 08/2012), Computer Science Department

04/14 - 8/16
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston  Houston, TX
Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics

06/13 - 09/13
Qualcomm Inc.  San Diego, CA
R&D Consultant

06/06 - 08/06
AT&T Research Lab  Florham Park, NJ
Summer Research Intern

09/01 - 05/06
University of Southern California  Los Angeles, CA
Graduate Student Researcher, Integrated Media System Center

01/01 - 05/01
Leyou.com Inc.,  Beijing, China
Software Engineer

07/00 - 01/01
Founder Research and Development Center  Beijing, China
Software Engineer

09/97 - 06/00
Peking University  Beijing, China
Graduate Student Researcher


teaching

Computer Animation and Simulation (COSC6356, University of Houston)
offered at: Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Spring 2009, Spring 2007

Advanced Game Development (COSC4397/6397, University of Houston)
offered at: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2009
co-teaching with C. Yun.

Introduction to Game Development (COSC4358/6358, University of Houston)
offered at: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013, Fall 2012, Fall 2011, Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Fall 2008, Fall 2007
co-teaching with C. Yun.

3D Computer Graphics (COSC6372, University of Houston)
offered at: Spring 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2015, Fall 2012, Fall 2011, Fall 2010, Fall 2008, Fall 2007

Introduction to Computer Graphics (COSC4370, University of Houston)
offered at: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014

Advanced Topics in Computer Graphics and Animation (COSC7397, University of Houston)
offered at: Fall 2009

Ubiquitous Computing (COSC4397, University of Houston)
offered at: Fall 2006
co-teaching with I. Pavlidis.


Publications
Summary
A total of 178 peer-refereed papers (98 journal papers + 80 conference papers) include 46 papers published on ACM/IEEE transactions and journals, 9 TOG/SIGGRAPH, 3 CHI, 14 TVCG, 18 EG/CGF/SGP/PG, 15 SCA/I3D, 7 ICMI/ISMAR/VR/VRST, 8 ICCV/ECCV/AAAI/MM/MICCAI, 4 ICRA/IROS, etc.

The public profile of my Google Scholar Citations

My DBLP Entry

Edited Book/Proceedings or Journal Special Issues
The Visual Computer, Special Issue on CGI 2024, Guest Editors: Nadia M. Thalmann, Jinman Kim, Bin Sheng, Jian Zhang, Zhigang Deng, Enrico Gobbetti, Ping Li, Daniel Thalmann, 40(7), July 2024, Springer Press.

Computer Graphics Forum, 42(7), Special Issue on Pacific Graphics 2023, Editors: Raphaelle Chaine, Zhigang Deng, and Min H. Kim, Wiley Press, October 2023.

Computer & Graphics, Special Issue on MIG 2022, Guest Editors: Aniket Bera, Claudia Esteves, Aline Normoyle, and Zhigang Deng, Volume 110, Jan 2023, Elsevier Press.

Proceeding of ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction, and Games (MIG) 2022, Editors: Aniket Bera, Claudia Esteves, Aline Normoyle, and Zhigang Deng, ACM Press, November 2022.

Handbook of Human Motion, Editors: Bertram Muller, Sebastian I. Wolf, Gert-Peter Bruggemann, Zhigang Deng, Andrew S. McIntosh, Freeman Miller, W. Scott Selbie, Springer Press, April 2018, total 3 volumes, 2500+ pages.

Proceeding of ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation (SCA) 2015, Editors: Jernej Barbic, Zhigang Deng, Stelian Coros, and Florence Bertails-Descoubes, ACM Press, August 2015.

Advances in Visual Computing (Proceeding of International Symposium on Visual Computing 2014), Editors: George Bebis, Richard Boyle, Bahram Parvin, Darko Koracin, Ryan McMahan, Jason Jerald, Hui Zhang, Steven M. Drucker, Chandra Kambhamettu, Maha El Choubassi, Zhigang Deng, Springer Press, Dec 2014.

Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, 25(3-4), Special Issue for CASA 2014, Editors: Zhigang Deng, Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann, John P. Lewis, Pierre Poulin, and Daniel Thalmann, Wiley Press, May 2014.

Multimedia Tools and Applications, Special Issue on Expressive Talking Avatar Synthesis and Animation, Guest Editors: Lei Xie, Jia Jia, Helen Meng, Zhigang Deng, and Lijun Wang, Springer Press, January 2015.

Multimedia Tools and Applications, Special Issue on Multimodal Joint Information Processing in Human Machine Interaction: Recent Advances, Guest Editors: Lei Xie, Zhigang Deng, and Stephen Cox, Springer Press, Nov 2013.

Refereed Journal Papers


CMPB

TOG/SIGGRAPH ASIA

TAP

TVC

TVCG

CVM

APIN

PRESENCE

CVM

TCSVT

IJHCS

TOG

TVCG

TVCG

CAVW

MRCAS

SEJ

JSHS

SCIS

TVCG

TITS

TSMC

MRCAS

CAVW

TVCG

CGF

CGF

TOMM

CAVW

TIST

TVCG

TAC

CGF

CVIU

CGF/PG

PACM/SCA

CAVW

CAVW

GMOD

AMHP

CAVW

CGF

TVCG

CGF/PG

CAVW

ACCESS

CAVW

GFH

C&G

TOG/SIGGRAPH ASIA

TVCG

CAD&CG

CGF/SGP

CGF

CAVW

OLEN

TOG/SIGGRAPH ASIA

TVCG

TVCG

GFH

TOG/SIGGRAPH

CG&A

TVC

CGF

CAVW

CAVW

JCST

TOG/SIGGRAPH

JCST

CGF

CG&A

CAVW

CAVW

CAVW

CIE

TOG/SIGGRAPH

TVCG

CG&A

THMS

Computer

TBME

TOG/SIGRAPH ASIA
Smooth Skinning Decomposition with Rigid Bones, Binh H. Le and Zhigang Deng, ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), Proceeding of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 Papers, 31(6), Article 199, Nov 2012, 199:1-199:10.
[The source code of our SSDR work can be found in this PROJECT PAGE.]
[Incorporated into mainstream Graphics/Animation packages including Maya, and Houdini, and used in many game studios including EA.]

TVCG

TIP

TVCG

TOMM

TMI

CG&A

TVC

CGF

CIE

CG&A

CGF

TASLP

CGF/EG

TVCG

CG&A

CAVW

Refereed Conference Papers


PG

ICMI

ISMAR

IVA

SIGGRAPH

MM

ICMI

ECBIOS
Acquisition and Remote Transfer of Operative Field View During Open Surgery, Malek Anabtawi, Jhasketan Padhan, Abdulla Al-Ansari, Zhigang Deng, Elias Yaacoub, Amr Mohammed, Nikhil V Navkar, Proceeding of IEEE 5th Eurasia Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Healthcare and Sustainability (ECBIOS) 2023, Tainan, Taiwan, June 2023, pp. 119-122.

ECBIOS
Telementoring System Assessment Integrated with Laparoscopic Surgical Simulators, Dehlela Shabir, Sarra Kharbech, Jhasketan Padhan, Elias Yaacoub, Amr Mohammed, Zhigang Deng, Abdulla Al-Ansari, Panagiotis Tsiamyrtzis, Nikhil V Navkar, Proceeding of IEEE 5th Eurasia Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Healthcare and Sustainability (ECBIOS) 2023, Tainan, Taiwan, June 2023, pp. 200-203.

CBMS

SeGAH

MM

BIBE

BIBE

BIBE

MIG

MIG

AVI

ISMR

ECCV

I3D

I3D

ICCV

I3D

I3D

VRST

CGI

I3D

AAAI

PCM

CHI

I3D

ACII

SCA

SIGCSE

CASA-W

ICRA

ICRA

SCA

BIBE

MICCAI

BIOROB

ICRA

CHI

MICCAI

GI

BIOENG

ISBI

MMVR

MMVR

VRST

GI

IPCAI

ITAB

SandBox

SCA

I3D

IROS

VR

MICCAI

CHI

ISBI

VR

HotPower

SCA

GI

PacVis

RESNA

SCA

I3D

IVA

I3D

CGI

ICMI

CASA

ETP

ICSLP

ICSLP

SIG Sketch

Conference Tutorials/Courses/STAR


SIGGRAPH

EG STAR

CASA
Real-time Skinning and Deformation, Daniel Thalmann, Zhigang Deng, and Binh Huy Le, CASA 2024 Conference Course, Houston, Texas, May 2014.

Refereed Conference Posters
One-shot Learning for Human Action Recognition, Hao Jiang, Zhigang Deng, Sijia Wang, Chang Gao, Chengyi Wei and Zhaoqi Wang, ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games 2018, Research Poster, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 2018.

Aperture Ratio Influences Action Boundary Perception Accuracy Performance, C. Connaboy, C.D. Johnson, A.D. LaGoy, G-J. Pepping, R.J. Simpson, Z. Deng, L. Ma(s), J. Bower, C.A. Alfano, NASA 2018 Human Research Program (HRP) Meeting, Conference Abstract, Galveston, TX, Jan 2018.

Sleep Deprivation May Influence Overall Performance in An Affordance-based Task, A.M. Sinnott, C. Connaboy, A.D. LaGoy, G-J Pepping, R.J. Simpson, Z. Deng, L. Ma(s), J.L. Bower, C.A. Alfano, NASA 2018 Human Research Program (HRP) Meeting, Conference Abstract, Galveston, TX, Jan 2018.

A Method for Planning Interventions in the Brain with Straight Access Paths, Nikhil Navkar, Nikolaos V. Tsekos, Jason Stafford, Jeffrey Weinberg, and Zhigang Deng. Conference Abstract 7162, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 2010 Annual Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, 2010.

An Approach for MRI based Pre-operative Planning of Cardiac Interventions via Trans-apical Access, Erol Yeniaras, Nikhil Navkar, Zhigang Deng, Mushabbar A. Syed, and Nikolaos V. Tsekos. Conference Abstract 4422, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 2010 Annual Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, 2010.

Coregistration and Visualization of Regional Perfusion from First-Pass Multislice Sets based on Independent Components Analysis, A. Sonmez, J. Milles, Z. Deng, N. V. Tsekos. Conference Abstracts, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 2009 Annual Meeting, Honolulu, USA, April 2009.

A Methodology for Mapping Mental Spaces of Game Gentres, JP Lewis, P. Fox, Z. Deng, Poster, SandBox: ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games 2006, Boston, MA, July 2006.

Unrefereed Preprints

Dissertations
Data-Driven Facial Animation Synthesis by Learning From Facial Motion Capture Data, Zhigang Deng. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Southern California, May 2006.

Design of 2D Vector Animation Algorithms for Hypermedia Authoring Systems, Zhigang Deng. Master Thesis, Peking University, China, June 2000.


invited talks


22 February 2023
University of California, Riverside, CA.

20 November 2022
China VR Conference 2022, Kunming, China, (online)

24 October 2020
IEEE AIVR 2020 Conference, Japan, (online)

7 October 2020
University of Houston, USA, (online)

2 July 2020
Peking University, China, (online)

2 February 2018
AAAI 2018 Conference, New Orleans, LA

1 December 2017
National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, Thailand

20 Sept 2017
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

20 June 2017
Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China

16 June 2017
Nanchang University, Jiangxi, China

25 Feb 2017
ACM SIGGRAPH Sym. on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games, San Francisco, CA

12 Dec 2016
East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang, China

9 Dec 2016
Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

19 July 2016
Hong Kong University, Hong Kong

30 March 2015
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

31 Dec 2014
East China Jiaotong University, China

25 Dec 2014
Zhengzhou University, China

17 October 2014
Florida International University, FL.

7 October 2014
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

12 August 2014
ACM SIGGRAPH 2014, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

26 June 2014
Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, China.

25 June 2014
Zhejiang University, China.

4 April 2014
Department of ECE, University of Houston, TX.

27 Mar 2014
Rutgers University, NJ.

20 Jan 2014
Zhengzhou University, China.

19 Nov 2013
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

30 Oct 2013
University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX.

15 April 2013
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA.

15 June 2012
Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi'an, China.

11 June 2012
Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.

9 May 2012
Qualcomm Research, San Diego, CA.

27 April 2012
Washington University, St Louis, MO.

1 Sept 2011
Banff 2011 International Workshop on "Geometry for Anatomy", Alberta, Canada.

11 May 2011
CHI 2011 Conference, Vancouver, Canada.

6 May 2011
SHARP Research Lab of America, Camas, WA.

5 May 2011
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.

4 May 2011
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

6 April 2011
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA.

5 April 2011
IBM Alameden Research Center, San Jose, CA.

4 April 2011
Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto, CA.

7 Dec 2010
University of California, Irvine, CA.

4 Oct 2010
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

4 June 2010
Shandong University, China.

18 June 2010
Zhejiang University, China.

17 April 2010
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.

17 March 2009
IEEE Virtual Reality Conference. Lafayette, LA.

1 Mar 2009
ACM SIGGRAPH Symp. on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games, Boston, MA.

17 Oct 2008
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

7 July 2008
ACM SIGGRAPH/EG Symposium on Computer Animation, Dublin, Ireland.

29 May 2008
Graphics Interface Conference, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

16 May 2008
Rice University, Houston, TX.

4 Dec 2007
Academy for Science & Health Professions, Houston, TX.

6 Sep 2007
Eurographics 2007 Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.

30 May 2007
Zhejiang University. Hangzhou, China.

11 May 2007
Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

10 May 2007
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

10 May 2007
Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.

9 May 2007
Peking University, Beijing, China.

27 April 2007
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

6 Nov 2006
University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX.

28 Sep 2006
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY.

21 Aug 2006
Intelligent Virtual Agents Conference, Marina Del Rey, CA.

30 March 2006
University of Houston, Houston, TX.

27 March 2006
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO.

15 March 2006
ACM SIGGRAPH Symp. on Interactive 3D Graphics, Redwood, CA.

24 Feb 2006
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

17 Feb 2006
University of Denver, Denver, CO.

10 Feb 2006
University of North Texas, Denton, TX.

22 June 2005
Computer Graphics International Conference, Stony Brook, NY.

2 May 2005
First Annual USC Graphics Symp, University of Southern California.

10 April 2005
Annual IMSC Student Conference, University of Southern California.

12 Feb 2005
IMSC Lecture Series, University of Southern California.

4 Sep 2003
User Interface Technology Symp, IBM Watson Research Center, NY.

22 July 2003
ACM SIGGRAPH 2003, San Diego, CA.

10 July 2003
Walt-Disney Feature Animation, Burbank, CA.


Grants and Funding

Summary
Up to 2023, I have received a total of 27 grants and contracts as the PI or co-PI, with the total amount >$8.2M, including 5 NSF, 2 NIH, 1 NASA, 1 DoD, 1 NHARP, 2 QNRF, and various industry funding/contracts (from Google, Honda, Electronic Arts, Nokia, etc).


professional activities

Journal Editing
Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 5/2021 -
Associate Editor, Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds Journal (Wiley), 5/2013 -
Guest Co-Editor, Computer & Graphics, special issue on MIG 2022, 2022
Associate Editor, Computer Graphics Forum, 4/2014 - 3/2018
Associate Editor, ACM Computer In Entertainment, 2008 - 2018
Guest co-Editor, Multimedia Tools and Applications (Springer), special issue on "Expressive Talking Avatar Synthesis and Animation", 2015
Guest co-Editor, Multimedia Tools and Applications (Springer), special issue on "Multimodal Joint Information Processing in Human-Machine Interaction", 2013
Associate Editor, International Journal of Image and Graphics, 2009 - 2014
Associate Editor, International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2011 - 2012

Steering Committee
Steering Committee Member, ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction and Games, 2021 - 2025.
Steering Committee Member, Computer Graphics Society, 2016 - 2019.
Steering Committee Member, ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, 2015 - 2020.
Steering Committee Member, International Chinese Association of Human Computer Interaction, 2012 - 2014.

Conference Chairing
Program Co-Chair, Computer Graphics International (CGI) Conference 2024, Geneva, Switzerland.
Program Co-Chair, Pacific Graphics (PG) Conference 2023, Daejeon, Korea.
Program Co-Chair, ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction, and Games (MIG) 2022, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Program Co-Chair, International Conference on Virtual Reality and Visualization 2017, Zhengzhou, China.
General Chair, IEEE International Conference on Computer Science & Education 2017, Houston.
General Co-Chair, ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation (SCA) 2015, Los Angeles.
Program Co-Chair (Computer Graphics Area), International Symposium on Visual Computing 2014, Las Vegas.
General Co-Chair, International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA) 2014, Houston.
General Chair, TexGraph Conference 2008, Houston, Texas.

Conference Program Committee
PG, SCA, EG, CASA, CGI, MIG, VRST, Siggraph Asia (Technical Brief),
ACII, AIVR, CAD/Graphics, ICME, ISVC, IVA, VR, etc.

Frequent Paper Reviewer
ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH Asia
ACM Transaction on Graphics
Nature Machine Intelligence
ACM Transaction on Multimedia Computing Communications and Applications
ACM Computer In Entertainment
IEEE Transaction on Image Processing
IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI)
IEEE Transaction on Visualization and Computer Graphics
IEEE Transaction on Affective Computing
IEEE Transaction on Signal and Audio Processing (TSAP)
IEEE Transaction on Multimedia (TMM)
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
Eurographics
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
Computer Graphics Forum
Graphical Models
Computer & Graphics
Image and Vision Computing
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
The Visual Computer
Computer Aided Design
Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds
EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing
ACM Conference on Multimodal Interface (ICMI)
ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Comuter Animation (SCA)
IEEE Virtual Reality Conference
IEEE Computer Animation and Social Agents
IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME)
Joint EuroHaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interface for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems
European Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing (Euro-Par)
Pacific Graphics
Graphics Interface
International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA)
International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT)
International Journal of Imaging Systems and Technology (IJIST)
Computer Graphics International (CGI)
APSIPA Annual Summit Conference

Other Invited Reviewers or Panelists
Invited Proposal Reviewers, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada, 2021
Invited Proposal Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation, 2019
Invited Reviewer, Qiu Shi Outstanding Young Scholar Award, 2018/2017
Invited Reviewer, Ignaz L. Lieben Award, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria, 2016
Invited Reviewer, Tan Kah Kee Young Scientist Award, China, 2015
NSF Panelist/reviewer, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2011, 2010
Invited grant proposal reviewer, agency for Science, Research & Technology (A*STAR), Singapore, 2014
Invited grant proposal reviewer, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), 2007

Other Committee Services
Graduate Studies Committee, College of Natural Science and Mathematics, UH, 2016 -
Graduate Admission Committee, Computer Science Department, UH, 2016 -
Executive Committee, Computer Science Department, UH, 2016 -
Faculty Merit Review Committee, Computer Science Department, UH, 2016 -
Graduate Studies Committee (ex officio), Computer Science Department, UH, 2015 -
Web and Publicity Committee Member, Computer Science Department, UH, 2012 - 2014
Graduate Studies Committee Member, Computer Science Department, UH, 2009 - 2013
Industry Advisory Committee Member,Computer Science Department, UH, 2009 - 2011
Faculty Search Committee Member, Computer Science Department, UH, 2010 - 2012
Graduate Student Recruiting Committee Chair, Computer Science Department, UH, 2008 - 2009
Curriculum Committee Member, Computer Science Department, UH, 2006 - 2009
Executive Committee Member, Chinese Student and Scholar Association, USC, 2002-2004

Memberships
Distinguished Member, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)


Mentoring

[Statistics: 3 students won department "Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award", 7 students won department "Outstanding/Best PhD Student Award", 1 student won department "Outstanding/Best Junior PhD Student Award", 1 student won "Best MS Student Award".]

Current PhD Students
· Meng-Chen Lee (University of Houston), Fall 2020 -
· Youyi Yang (University of Houston), Fall 2023 -
· Saba Khan (University of Houston), Fall 2023 -

Current Undergraduate Students
· Huiying Xu (University of Houston), Fall 2024 -
· Senliang Deng (University of Houston), Fall 2024 -

Former Mentored PostDocs
(total: 2)
· Qiang Fu (University of Houston), 8/2018 - 8/2019
   ⇒ First employment: Assistant Professor, Beijing University of Post and Communications, China.

· Yu Ding (University of Houston), 3/2016 - 3/2018
   ⇒ First employment: Research Lead, NetEase, China.

Advised PhD Graduates
(total: 10)
· Qixin Deng (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in March 2023
   PhD Dissertation: "3D Facial Modeling with Geometric Wrinkles from Images"
   * Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award (UH CS Department), 2023
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2022
   ⇒ First employment: Byron K. Trippet Assistant Professor, Wabash College, USA.

· Aobo Jin (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in July 2021
   PhD Dissertation: "Object Oriented 3D Modeling from a Single View Sketch"
   ⇒ First employment: Assistant Professor, University of Houston at Victoria, USA.

· Luming Ma (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in April 2020
   PhD Dissertation: "Real Time Facial Performance Capture and Manipulation"
   * Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award (UH CS Department), 2020
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2019
   ⇒ First employment: Research Engineer, Meta Reality Lab, USA.

· Xifeng Gao (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in April 2016
   PhD Dissertation: "Towards High Quality Hexahedral Meshes: Generation, Optimization, and Evaluation"
   * Outstanding Junior PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2013
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2015
   * Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award (UH CS Department), 2016
   ⇒ First employment: PostDoc (New York University).
       Last known position: Principal Research Scientist (Tencent America).

· Binh H. Le (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in April 2014
   PhD Dissertation: "Example-based Rigging and Real-time Animation of Characters with Linear Skinning Models"
   * Friends of NSM Fellowship, 2013
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2013
   * VEF Fellowship (2008-2010)
   ⇒ First employment: PostDoc (Disney Research Pittsburgh).
       Last known position: Principal Research Scientist (AMD).

· Nikhil Navkar (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in Nov 2012
   PhD Dissertation: "Visual Force-Feedback Interfacing for Image-Guided Telemanipulated Robotic Surgical System"
   * Friends of NSM Fellowship, 2012
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2012
   * Runner-up of Best Medical Robotics Paper Award, ICRA 2012
   ⇒ First employment: Qatar Robotic Surgery Center, Doha, Qatar.
       Last known position: Senior Research Scientist (Hamad Medical Cooperation, Qatar)

· Xiaohan Ma (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in April 2012
   PhD Dissertation: "Perceptual Analysis and Modeling of Facial Animation"
   * Outstanding PhD Student Award (UH CS Department), 2012
   * PhD Student of the Year Award (UH CS Department), 2010
   ⇒ First employment: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), USA.

· Qing Li (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in May 2011
   PhD Dissertation: "Algorithms for Dendritic Spine Detection and Tracking in Time-Lapse Microscopy Neuron Images"
   * Excellence of PhD Studies Award (UH CS Department), 2011
   ⇒ First employment: Xignite, USA

· Qin Gu (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in May 2011
   PhD Dissertation: "Agent-based Approaches for Stylizing Motion Variations and Formations in Crowd Simulation"
   ⇒ First employment: Pixar Animation Studio, USA.
       Last known position: Senior Software Engineer, NVidia, USA.

· Chang Yun (University of Houston), PhD Dissertation defended in May 2009.
   PhD Dissertation: "Improving Gaming Experience Using Real-Time, Adaptive Game Difficulty Adjustments by Utilizing Physiological Feedback"
   ⇒ First employment: Instructional Assistant Professor, University of Houston, USA.

Advised MSc-Thesis Graduates
(total: 12)
· Kunpeng Zhang (University of Houston), April 2022
   MSc Thesis: "An Internet-based Telepresence Robotic Avatar System for Real-time Mediated Interpersonal Communication."
   ⇒ First employment: BioTex, USA.

· Mayur Rajendran (University of Houston), April 2016
   MSc Thesis: "Academia Arcana: A Gamified and Game-based Review Tool."
   ⇒ First employment: Cerner, USA.

· Madhur Rajendran (University of Houston), April 2016
   MSc Thesis: "Nightmare Runner: A Personalized Avatar and Physical Activity Game."
   ⇒ First employment: Cerner, USA.

· Cheng Chen (University of Houston), April 2014.
   MSc Thesis: "Avatar Creation and Customization for Health Games."
   ⇒ First employment: Midnight Game Studio, USA.

· Xiao Cheng (University of Houston), November 2013.
   MSc Thesis: "GPU-accelerated Crowd Simulation with User-Guidance and Multi-level Uncertainty."
   ⇒ First employment: CGGVeritas, USA.

· Harsha Nyshadham (University of Houston), July 2013.
   MSc Thesis: "Visual Comparison Models for Transportation Data of the Great Britain."
   ⇒ First employment: Ford Motor, USA.

· Chrysanthi Chaleva Ntina (University of Houston), April 2013.
   MSc Thesis: "Stereo Calibration of Depth Sensors with 3D Correspondences and Smooth Interpolants."
   * Best MSc Thesis Student Award (UH CS Department), 2013.
   ⇒ First employment: Catalina Marketing, USA.

· Mario Rincon (University of Houston), Nov 2011.
   MSc Thesis: "Cost-based Workload Balancing for Ray Tracing on a Heterogeneous Platform."
   ⇒ First employment: Nokia, Germany.

· Michael R. Jahn (University of Houston), April 2011.
   MSc Thesis: "Real time Human Animation Control Using Tri-Axis Accelerometers"
   ⇒ First employment: TimeGate Game Studios, USA.

· Nikhil Navkar (University of Houston), Oct 2009.
   MSc Thesis: "Virtual Environment for Planning Surgical Incision with Straight Access"
   ⇒ First employment: Continue PhD study at UH.

· Qing Li (University of Houston), Nov 2008.
   MSc Thesis: "Facial Motion Capture Editing by Automated Orthogonal Blendshape Construction and Weight Propagation"
   ⇒ First employment: Continue PhD study at UH.

· Qin Gu (University of Houston), April 2008.
   MSc Thesis: "Compression of Human Motion Capture Data Using Motion Pattern Indexing Technology"
   ⇒ First employment: Continue PhD study at UH.

Advised Non-thesis MSc Graduates
· Bhasura Gunawardhana (University of Houston), Summer 2024.
· Mai Trinh (University of Houston), August 2023.
· Yuting Zhang (University of Houston), Dec 2018.
   ⇒ First employment: Expedia Group, USA.

· Mingxuan Luo (University of Houston), May 2018.
   ⇒ First employment: Zhengzhou University, China.

· Tanay Bhargava (University of Houston), May 2015.
   ⇒ First employment: Amazon, USA.

Additional Mentoring Activities
Irec Tabios (University of Houston), 1/2018 - 12/2018
Duy Lai (University of Houston), Spring 17 - Fall 19
Irec Tabios (University of Houston), Spring 18 - Fall 19
Xin Zhou (University of Houston), Spring 16 - Summer 18.
Harold Owens (USMA/ARL Summer Intern), 6/15 -8/15.
Erinn Gentry (USMA/ARL Summer Intern), 6/15 -8/15.
Ashley Balkum (Rice University), NSF REU student, 05/15 - 7/15.
Richard Giliam (University of Houston), NSF REU student, 9/10-5/11.
Reuben Rodriguez (University of Houston-Downtown), AGEP undergrad student, summer/08.
Faculty Mentor of independent study program of the Clear Lake High School at Houston, 2009
Faculty Mentor for summer undergraduate research students of the NSF AGP program (Alliance for minority Graduate Education and the Professoriate), University of Houston, 2008
Graduate Student Mentor, Merit-based Undergraduate Research Program, USC, 2003-2005


honors and awards

2023
IEEE TCCLS Best Paper Award 2023

2021
ACM Distinguished Member

2021
University of Houston John and Rebecca Moores Professorship

2018
CASA 2018 Best Paper Award Runner-up

2017
CASA 2017 Best Paper Award

2015
ACM Recognition of Service Award

2015
ACM Senior Member

2014
ACM ICMI 2014 Ten Year Technical Impact Award

2013
University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award

2012
IEEE RAS/EMBS BioRob 2012 Best Student Paper Award Finalist

2012
IEEE ICRA 2012 Best Medical Robotics Paper Award Runner-up

2011
IEEE Senior Member

2010
Google Faculty Research Award

2004
USC Academic Achievement Award

1999
Peking University Kodak Fellowship

1998
Peking University Guang-Hua Fellowship


News and Media Coverage

Dec. 2021
Zhigang Deng Named ACM Distinguished Member. UH News, December 15th, 2021.

Sep. 2021
Deng Awarded Moores Professorship. UH Department of Computer Science News, September 21st, 2021.

Jan. 2020

Apr. 2017

Apr. 2017

Mar. 2017
Quantifying Eye Contact During Conversations. UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics News, March 2nd, 2017.

July 2014

Nov. 2013
NIH Grant Supports Design of Video Games to Promote Physical Activity in Youth. Breakthrough (NSM Newsletter for alumni and friends), Fall/Winter 2013.

Oct. 2013
Augmented reality turns animation into oil business tool. Fuelfix.com (a daily news service website for energy business).

Apr. 2013
NSM Faculty Honored at UH Evening of Faculty Excellence. UH NSM News (News of UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics).

Feb. 2011
Contest develops mobile prototype. The Daily Cougar Newspaper.

Dec. 2010
Medical Robotics to Improve Heart Surgery. Scentific Computing News.

Dec. 2010
Medical Robotics to Improve Heart Surgery. The University of Houston News.

June 2010
Game Papers: A Convergence of Science and Art. SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Newsletter.

Apr. 2010

July 2008

June 2008

June 2008

Oct. 2007

Oct. 2007
Open House Presents Computer Science Exciting High-Tech Projects. UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Communications.

May 2005
Researchers Develop New Eye-Animation Method. NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) Research Achievement Showcase.

June 2004
Eye-Motion Commotion. USC Engineer Magazine.