GG Logo Photograph

Burkhard Wünsche

MSc Computer Science, PhD Computer Science
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Senior Lecturer 
Email
burkhard@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Ph.     +64 9 3737 599 x83705
Fax.    +64 9 3737 453
Office  Science Centre (Building 303), Rm 490
Address Computer Science Department,
        The University of Auckland,
        Private Bag 92019,
        Auckland
Introduction
I am a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to an Assistant Professor in the USA) at the the Department of Computer Science of the University of Auckland. I am also the director of the Graphics Group and of the division for Biomedical Imaging & Visualization BIV Logo
My PhD was in collaboration with the Bioengineering Institute of the University of Auckland and is titled A Toolkit for Visualizing Biomedical Tensor Fields in Finite Element Data Sets.

Note that even though I am correctly spelled Wünsche my official spelling here is Wuensche.

Research Interests
  • Scientific and Biomedical Visualization, Medical Imaging, Information Visualization
  • Computer Graphics, Game Technology
  • Computer Aided Geometric Design, Simulation Algorithms
  • Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
  • Human Computer Interfaces (HCI), Computer Vision, Cognitive Psychology
Presentation of research themes (July 2011).

Research Supervision

I am interested in supervising MSc and PhD theses and undergraduate and graduate projects in all research areas related to Computer Graphics including Game Technology, Computer Art, Biomedical Imaging & Visualization, Physically-based modelling, and cognitive psychology. A list of potential project and thesis topics can be obtained on request though I am more than happy if you propose your own research topic to me :-)

So far I have supervised these students.

Industry Links and Collaborations

Publications
I have published 7 refereed international journal articles, 92 refereed international conference articles, contributed to 6 books and edited 2 books.

External Research Grants and Contracts
  • 2011: SPARK 100K Challenge – Overall Winner : ClickWorld (NZ$ 25,000.00 + 6 month in the IceHouse business incubator)
  • 2011: SPARK 100K Challenge – Winner UniServices Commercialisation prize: ClickWorld (NZ$ 5,000.00)
  • 2011: SPARK 100K Challenge – Finalist: ClickWorld - Reconstruction of 3D models using images from a handheld consumer level camera (NZ$ 5,000.00 business mentoring)
  • 2011: Daifuku Corporation Ltd. - Visualization and tracking for piece picking (amount confidential)
  • 2011: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/AOARD) - Texture-based Visualization Methods for High-dimensional Multi-field Data Sets (US$ 24,800.00)
  • 2011: Technology New Zealand - Capability Education Fellowship for MSc student - Real-Time Dynamic Lighting using Radiosity and Spherical Harmonics (NZ$ 25,000.00)
  • 2011: SPARK 1K Ideas Challenge – Winner Commercial Category: ClickWorld - Reconstruction of 3D models using images from a handheld consumer level camera (NZ$ 1,000.00)
  • 2011: SPARK 1K Ideas Challenge – Winner UniServices Category: ClickWorld - Reconstruction of 3D models using images from a handheld consumer level camera (NZ$ 1,000.00)
  • 2010: BuildIT Travel Fund for Early Career Researchers (NZ$ 3192.00)
  • 2010: Two Touch Ltd. - Multi-touch Workbook for Interactive Whiteboards (NZ$ 5,000.00 equipment grant & student funding)
  • 2010: Technical Director of the ASSET Telecare project (NZ$ 150.00/hour)
  • 2009: Royal Society of New Zealand - Visual Analysis of Multi-Parametric data sets for the diagnosis of cardiac diseases (NZ$ $9546.66)
  • 2009: Technology New Zealand - Capability Education Fellowship for MSc student - Development and Evaluation of 3D Models to Visualize and Enhance Medical Information (NZ$ 10,416.00)
  • 2009: BuildIT Travel Fund for Early Career Researchers (NZ$ 3200.00)
  • 2008: Centre for Advanced MRI - Investigation of the influence of noise, partial volume effect and motion artefact in DTI data on the uncertainty in fibre tractography (NZ$ 900.00)
  • 2008: BK21 Visiting Professorship, Kyungpook National University (Daegu, South Korea) - Speech-based Facial Animation (Korean Won 15,000,000)
  • 2007: BK21 Fellowship, Pusan National University (Pusan, South Korea) - Pen and Paper Modeling Metaphors for Computer Graphics (US$ 5,000.00)
  • 2006: Pure Depth inc. - Advanced Rendering Techniques for Improved Depth Perception on Multi-Layer Displays (NZ$ 2,000.00).
  • 2005: Technology New Zealand - TIF Education Program - Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Organisational Capabilities for a Web-Based Business Consultancy Framework (NZ$ 25,000.00).
  • 2004: Innes-Strategy Ltd. - Visualization of MIS Attitudinal Survey Data (NZ$ 4,500.00).
  • 2004: Royal New Zealand Navy - A 3D Interface for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (NZ$ 2,000.00).
  • 2003: Technology New Zealand - Organisational Analysis and Visualization Software (NZ$ 18,563.00).
  • 2002: Right Hemisphere Ltd. - Tools for the Automatic Creation of Exploding Diagrams from 3D Models (software grant, amount confidential).

Internal Research Grants
  • 2011: UoA FRDF Staff Research Fund - Novel Technologies for Rapid 3D Content Creation (NZ$ 25,000.00)
  • 2010: UoA Team Development Award (Robotics Research Group, PI Assoc.-Prof Bruce MacDonald) (Estimated Amount >200,000NZ$ - Award in form of a graduated support package to teams; made up of two components: (i) Assistance of a Research Developer, and (ii) funds for the international travel of team members, international workshops and to support the travel and subsistence of international visitors)
  • 2010: 2 FoE Grants to enable jointly supervised PhD students to write journal papers (NZ$ 10,000.00)
  • 2010: 3 FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 15,000.00).
  • 2010: Software Engineering Research Group (SERG) Student Research Assistantship (NZ$ 3,000)
  • 2009: UoA FRDF Staff Research Fund - Robot picking platform and software tools for working in collaboration with humans (PI Assoc.-Prof Bruce MacDonald) (NZ$ 72,000.00)
  • 2009: UoA FRDF Staff Research Fund - Direct volume rendering and visual analysis of multi-field cardiac data sets for the diagnosis of heart diseases (NZ$ 30,000.00)
  • 2009: 2 FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 10,000.00), 2 FoE Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 10,000.00), SERG Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 5,000.00).
  • 2006: UoA Staff Research Fund (PI Dr. Waleed Abdulla) - Synchronised and Interactive Simulator for the Distributed Embedded Intelligence Environment (DEIR) (NZ$ 30,000.00).
  • 2006: UoA Staff Research Fund (PI Prof. Linda Cameron) - Assessment of interventions using computerized images of the heart (NZ$ 12,000.00).
  • 2006: 2 FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 8,000.00), 1 FoE Summer Scholarship (NZ$ 4,000.00)
  • 2006: University of Auckland - Staff Research Fund - Visualisation and Analysis of the Brain's Anatomical and Functional Connectivity in Stroke Patients (NZ$ 13,000.00).
  • 2005: University of Auckland - Staff Research Fund - Visualisation and Analysis of the Brain's Anatomical and Functional Connectivity in Stroke Patients (NZ$ 23,500.00).
  • 2005: 2 Student FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 8,000.00).
  • 2004: 4 Student FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 16,000.00).
  • 2003: 2 Student FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 8,000.00).
  • 2002: 5 Student FoS Summer Scholarships (NZ$ 10,000.00).
  • 2001: 1 Student FoS Summer Scholarship (NZ$ 2,000.00).

Professional Activities

Reviewer for ACM Computing Reviews.
Reviewer for the Information Visualization Journal.
Reviewer for the Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting.
Reviewer for Computer & Graphics.
Reviewer for the International Journal of Information Technology and Management.
Reviewer for the International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems.

Reviewer for Eurographics 2008.
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (GRAPP 2008).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Imaging (CGIM 2008).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 2nd Robot Vision Workshop (Robot Vision 2008).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 31st Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC 2008).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ 2007).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 5th International Conference on Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization (CMV 2007).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (GRAPP 2007).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Imaging (CGIM 2007).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 30th Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC 2007).
Reviewer for the 2007 ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA 2007).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ 2006).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 3rd Ibero-American Symposium on Computer Graphics (SIACG 2006).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 4th International Conference on Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization (CMV 2006).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (GRAPP 2006).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the 29th Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC 2006).
Reviewer for Eurographics 2005.
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Australasia and Southeast Asia (GRAPHITE 2005).
Reviewer for the 3rd Asian-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference (APBC 2005).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ 2005).
Member of the programme committee and reviewer for GRAPHITE 2004.
Reviewer for the 2nd Asian-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference (APBC 2004).
Reviewer for the 9th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2004).
Reviewer for the 6th Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE 2004).
Paper chair and reviewer for Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ 2002).

Departmental Work

I have lectured the papers
  • COMPSCI 716 Visualization
  • COMPSCI 777 Game Technology
  • COMPSCI 715 Advanced Computer Graphics
  • COMPSCI 372 Computer Graphics
  • 415.220 Algorithms and Data Structures
  • 415.105 Principles of Computer Science
I have worked as a tutor and/or marker for the papers
  • 415.231 Software Structure and Performance
  • 415.232 Software Reliability and Design
  • 415.352 Analysis and Design of Algorithms
  • 415.363/415.360 Functional and Logic Programming
  • 415.715 Advanced Computer Graphics

Personal Information
I received my preliminary degree ("Vordiplom") in Computer Science with minor subject Mathematics in 1993 at the University of Kaiserslautern in the Department of Computer Science . In Kaiserslautern I was student in the working group for Computer Graphics and CAGD , headed by Prof. Dr. Hans Hagen and in the working group for Numerical Algorithms, headed by Prof. Dr. S. Heinrich.

In 1994 I changed to the University of Auckland and received in the same year a Diploma in Computer Science and in 1996 my MSc with distinction. My Master Thesis has the topic A Fast Polygonization Method for Quasi-Convolutional Smoothed Polyhedra and was supervised by Richard Lobb.

I commenced my PhD in collaboration with the Bioengineering Institute in September 1996. I submitted my PhD thesis with the title A Toolkit for Visualizing Biomedical Tensor Data Sets in Finite Element Modes in August 2003.

I am employed as a full time lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland since January 2001.

More information about me can be found in my private homepage .

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Last Modified: by Burkhard Wünsche