CSE Fac Candidate, Eftychios Sifakis

Digital doubles have not only evolved into prevalent elements of motion pictures and games, but are also finding an ever growing application base including medical diagnostics, surgical planning and design of vehicles and crafts. At the same time, current and developing applications demand improved photorealism, enhanced biomechanical accuracy, better subject-specificity and faster simulation algorithms. As these demands often outgrow the evolution of computer hardware, new algorithms for biomechanical modeling and simulation are necessary to ensure that upcoming computational platforms are utilized to the best of their capacity. Additionally, biomechanical simulation has provided a great opportunity for transformative advances in medical practice using virtual models of the human body for disease prevention and treatment. These emerging applications mandate an increased level of attention to the unique demands of subject-specificity and anatomical accuracy for clinical uses of biomechanical modeling and simulation. This talk will outline a number of techniques that were designed to facilitate modeling and simulation of digital doubles with high fidelity and efficiency. Finally, I will discuss the cross-cutting impact of such advances on character animation, scientific computing and virtual surgery.
Eftychios Sifakis is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California Los Angeles (with a joint appointment in Mathematics and Computer Science). His research interests are in biomechanical modeling for applications such as character animation, medical simulations and virtual surgical environments. Eftychios is a research consultant with Walt Disney Animation Studios, and has previously held consulting positions at Intel Corporation and SimQuest LLC.