E-mail: edchien@bu.edu

Snail mail:
Boston University
Department of Computer Science
665 Commonwealth Ave, Rm 836
Boston, MA 02215

Overview

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science here at Boston University.

Research interests: geometry processing, computational knitting/fabrication, quad/hex meshing, applied optimal transport, surface reconstruction, 2D/3D sketch processing, harmonic and bounded distortion mappings

I obtained my Ph.D. in Mathematics in 2015 from Rutgers University under Prof. Feng Luo, studying low-dimensional topology and geometry. More specifically, my thesis constructed square tilings of surfaces arising from discrete harmonic differential 1-forms.

Afterwards, I transitioned to applied work, working as a postdoc with Prof. Ofir Weber at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. While there, I focused on harmonic and bounded distortion methods for mapping, parametrization, and interpolation. For my second postdoc, I returned to the States for three years in the Geometric Data Processing Group at MIT, led by Prof. Justin Solomon. There I began research in hex meshing and applied optimal transport.

In recent years, I have added research directions on computational knitting and fabrication, and geometry processing of vector and point cloud data. I have thoroughly enjoyed combining my theoretical training with complex engineering problems.

Hiring: I am looking for a PhD student or postdoc to work on projects associated with the NSF CAREER grant that I received recently: Designing Vector Field Flows for Computational Knitting and Curved-Layer 3D Printing. While the proposal targets geometry processing applied to computational fabrication, I am also happy to consider candidates interested in other topics. Doctoral students should apply to BU's doctoral program and potential postdocs should reach out to me via email.

News

• July 2026: We will be presenting two papers at SIGGRAPH 2026: a conference paper, Synchronizing Fields with Singularities and a journal paper Surface Power Diagrams for Knit Singularity Placement. See you in LA!
• July 2026: I will serve on the SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 Technical Papers Committee, and attend the in-person meeting in LA (immediately preceding SIGGRAPH 2026). I look forward to helping bring forth the most exciting works for the graphics community!
• May 2026: I am happy to announce that my NSF CAREER proposal: Designing Vector Field Flows for Computational Knitting and Curved-Layer 3D Printing was accepted for funding. The grant will fund work applying geometry processing to computational fabrication problems, and will be used to hire a PhD student or postdoc. Please reach out if you are interested!
• April 2026: Many congratulations to my (first) PhD student, Rahul Mitra , who has successfully defended his thesis, Geometric Approaches for Computational Knitting. Congrats Dr. Mitra!