Emily Whiting

Associate Professor, Computer Science Department
Boston University

CONTACT
Center for Computing & Data Sciences
Rm 843, Dept of Computer Science
Boston University
665 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA 02215
whiting@bu.edu
Photo of Emily Whiting in Scotland

My research is in the area of computer graphics, with a focus on computational fabrication. My work is motivated by the way advancements in rapid prototyping technology are closing the gap between what we can simulate with computers and what we can build. The effect is rippling through industries from architecture to medicine where it is now possible to manufacture shapes of astounding complexity. Despite innovations in hardware, however, creating customized products that perform a specific function still depends on extensive expert knowledge. In my research I am developing computational tools that consider the full design to manufacturing pipeline, and are guided by the functionality of the objects being created. My research is a cross-pollination of digital geometry processing, engineering mechanics, and rapid prototyping, where the goal is to enable the design of functionally-valid and fabrication-ready real world objects.

Bio
I am an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Boston University, Director and Founder of the BU Shape Lab, and Co-Director of the BU Computer Graphics Lab. I am the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2021), Sloan Research Fellowship (2019), BU Innovation Career Development Professorship (2017), NSF CRII Award (2015), and Marie Curie/ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012). Before joining BU I was an Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. From 2011-2014 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at ETH Zurich in the Interactive Geometry Lab with Olga Sorkine-Hornung. I received my PhD (2012) from MIT in Computer Graphics and Building Technology, advised by Frédo Durand and John Ochsendorf. I obtained my SM (2006) in Computational Design from the MIT Department of Architecture, and BASc (2004) in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.

For more information on publications, classes, recent news, and my team members, please visit the Shape Lab website: shape.bu.edu.


News

06.01.2024
Serving on the UIST 2024 Program Committee
05.17.2024
Received a Teach Access Grant
04.01.2024
Serving as Program Co-Chair for Pacific Graphics 2024
02.08.2023
Gave a talk in the DUB (Design, Use, Build) Seminar at the University of Washington
10.27.2022
Gave a keynote at the 2022 ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication, hosted at University of Washington
08.15.2022
On sabbatical for the 2022-23 academic year at University of Washington, hosted by the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering and Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering

Current Lab Members

PhD
Zezhou Sun
PhD
Xingjian Han
PhD
Sam Silverman
PhD
Abhinit Sati
PhD
Audrey Ballarin

Alumni

Postdoc
Xiaoting Zhang (now Senior Modeling Engineer at Roblox)
Postdoc
Christos Mousas (now Assistant Professor at Purdue University)
PhD
Athina Panotopoulou (now postdoc at University of Copenhagen)
MS
Benjamin Verdier (now at Onshape)
MS
Jamie Nelson (now at Akamai Technologies)
MS
Qiwei Zheng (now at Microsoft)
MS
Lingfeng Wang (now at Uber)
MS
Nook Harquail (now Senior Engineer at Etsy)
MS
Marissa Allen
Undergrad
Emilio Latorre
Undergrad
Stanley To - BU UROP, Kilichand Keystone program
Undergrad
Dennis Henneman (now at MathWorks)
Undergrad
Tammy Qiu - College Prize: BU College of Arts & Sciences (now PhD student at Columbia)
Undergrad
Anthea Yichen Li - College Prize: BU College of Arts & Sciences, BU UROP Arts Initiative Summer Research Award (now PhD student at MIT)
Undergrad
Liane Makatura - Dartmouth Presidential Scholar, Adobe Research Women-In-Technology Scholar, Fulbright Scholar (now PhD student at MIT)
Undergrad
Lily Xu - Dartmouth Presidential Scholar, Adobe Research Women-In-Technology Honorable Mention (now PhD student at Harvard)
Undergrad
Alex Weinberg - Dartmouth Presidential Scholar

Recorded Talks

TEDxBeaconStreet 2014

"3D Printing - The Physics of Objects"
Youtube

PBS NOVA: The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers

Season 2 Episode 14
PBS


Theses

Design Of Structurally-Sound Masonry Buildings Using 3D Static Analysis
PhD Thesis, MIT 2011

Geometric, Topological & Semantic Analysis of Multi-building Floor Plan Data
MS Thesis, MIT Department of Architecture 2006