So you think you have what it takes to make a difference? Interested in applying your considerable mental abilities and enourmous amounts of time to the cause of interactive 3D graphics?
You've come to the right place! Because that is what I am interested in, too.
In general I'm much more interested in doing things (develop software that does something) than just thinking about it. You always have to think before you do, but for me it generally doesn't stop there. As a consequence, people who want to work with me need to be reasonably comfortable with writing programs, and working on other people's programs. Not everybody is able and willing to get to know the intricacies of OpenSG (which has about 400,000 lines of C++ code), but if having to write a "Hello, World!" sends shivers down your spine, we might have a problem. My favorite language is C++, but I'm happy to work with other languages like Python.
Given that most of my work involves 3D graphics, having some vector algebra background is a big plus. Vectors, lines, planes and maybe some (4x4) matrices would be useful. In general I recommend most of my students to get some basic experience with OpenGL, either from a course like ComS/IE/CprE/ME 557, or from books like the Redbook or just looking at and experimenting with on-line tutorials. That would give you a nice head-start, which I would appreciate.
If you're an undergraduate and want to work with me there are different options. I do participate in the Honor's Program, so if you're an honors student you can do your project with me.
I'm also in general looking for talented people to work on developing extensions to and new features for OpenSG for other research projects I'm running. That does mean you'll have to get somewhat comfortable with non-trivial C++ code, but most people can handle that after a little while.
Be aware though that is an additional time commitment. If you're stressed out already, this is not for you. If classes are not challenging enough for you and you spend more than 10 hours per week twiddling thumbs, let's talk.
If you want me to be your major professor things become more interesting. I'm more open topicwise for Master's theses (see the Fringes for some examples), but if it's something I don't know anything about, having me as your advisor won't help you anyway.
It does help me if you have a reasonable idea of what you would like to do. I'm fine with rough ideas, and I usually have a set of open problems that might be interesting, but I'm not a big friend of people jumping back and forth between topics after 6 months of working on something without finishing it.
Just like everybody else I'm constantly trying to find funding for graduate students, but just like everybody else I'm having an increasingly hard time finding any. Therefore I don't have a backlog of funding that's waiting for RAs, having an open position for an RA is a rather rare occurance. It still happens, and if you're in the right spot at the right time it could be yours. Just don't expect me just have something when we get started, these things take time.
If you're still interested, contact me and lets' talk, more detailed conversations are very hard to do without being face to face.
If your work needs and uses 3D graphics and/or 3D graphics hardware, but is not really about graphics I'm happy to serve on your POS committee. Just drop me an email and we can setup a meeting to evaluate whether it makes sense for to work with you, but again, if there's something 3D in it, I'm in it too.
If you're unsure whether you're the right student for me (or whether I'm the right professor for you) just set up a meeting and let's talk about it.