The computer science community at the Viterbi School gathered March 23 at Davidson 
Center to show their latest research - and to congratulate ICT computer scientist Paul Debevec, whose special effects work in Avatar won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science technical award.
Some 236 faculty and students, representing all aspects of the discipline were presenting, including 144 Ph.D. students and 63 USC faculty, staff and postdocs. The date coincided with a campus visit by prospective CS grad students; and 13 alumni and industry representatives. It also brought representatives from the Information Sciences Institutes and the Institute for Creative Technologies, Debevec's professional home.
The day began with presentations by Department Chair Shanghua Teng, ICT Exective Director Randall HIll Jr., and ISI Executive Director Herbert Schorr, followed by specialists Gérard Medioni (computer vision) and Maja Matarić (robotics).
Then in two separate rooms, 24 researchers delivered presentations on topics ranging from computer games to intelligent agents to environmental monitoring systems to datamining.
One was Debevec's heavily attended talk on his"photoreal actors." Another, by postdoctoral fellow Sameera Poduri, showed a cellphone application allowing users to participate in monitoring air quality. A third, by David Kempe, presented a survey of USC research in the theoretical foundations of modern computer science.
The conclusion was a poster session presenting research by the department's Ph.D. students and Postdocs, and then awards - to Debevec, from Viterbi School Dean Yannis Yortsos and ICT's Hill (see linked story), and to students by Chairman Teng, for excellent research posters.
Click on schedule image for high-definition pdf file
