Nelson L. Max
Professor of Applied Science
Professor of Computer Science
Research Focus:
Visualization and Computer Graphics
Contact Information:
Web: http://graphics.cs.ucdavis.edu/, http://www.llnl.gov/graphics/
Office: Hertz Hall (Livermore)
Education:
BA in Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University, 1963
MA in Mathematics, Harvard University, 1964
PhD in Mathematics, Harvard University, 1967
Previous and Concurrent Employment:
Computer Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 1977-present
Director for Computer Animation, IMAX/Fujitsu, Tokyo, Japan 1984, 1988-1989
Visiting Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, 1978-1981
Visiting Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, 1975-77
Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, 1972-1975
Project Director, Topology Films Project, EDC, Newton MA 1970 - 1972
Research fellow and Professor, University of Georgia, 1968 - 1971
Instructor, University of California, Berkeley, 1967 -1968
Teaching and Instructions:
Introduction to Computer Graphics, Computer Graphics Rendering, Computer
Animation, Computational Geometry
Research Experience and Interests:
Dr. Max was director of the NSF supported Topology Films Project in the early 1970's, which produced computer animated educational films on mathematics. He has worked in Japan for 3 and a half years as co-director of two Omnimax (hemisphere screen) stereo films for international expositions, showing the molecular basis of life. His computer animation has won numerous awards. His research interests are in the areas of scientific visualization, volume and flow rendering, computer animation, molecular graphics, realistic computer rendering, including shadow and radiosity effects, and image-based rendering.
Recent student research has concerned animation of water flow, image based rendering, hierarchical volume rendering, shadow computations from multi-layered z-buffers, flow visualization, interactive protein structure visualization, contour surface compression, and hardware-texture-assisted radiosity.