Computer Science Seminar: Shahar Kovalsky

This event is open to all Illinois Tech faculty and students. 

Abstract

Geometric shape processing lies at the heart of various branches of science—from finite element simulation in engineering, through animation of virtual avatars, to applications such as the analysis of anatomical variations or the detection of structural anomalies in medicine and biology. The demand for such computational approaches in geometry is constantly growing as 3D data becomes readily available and is integrated into various everyday uses.

Kovalsky will begin his talk with a brief overview of optimization-based approaches for geometric problems, such as identifying pointwise correspondences between exemplars in a collection of shapes or deforming shapes to satisfy prescribed constraints in a least-distorting manner. After discussing some of the theoretical and computational challenges arising in these optimization problems, Kovalsky will focus on large-scale geometric problems and efficient first- and second-order algorithms for their optimization. Then, motivated by anatomical shape analysis, Kovalsky will show applications of these computational approaches for shape characterization and comparison in evolutionary anthropology.

Kovalsky will finish by briefly presenting two related but tangential works: a theoretical work on the characterization of planar harmonic maps into non-convex domains, and a clinical work on the prediction of thyroid cancer from biopsy images.

Bio

Kovalsky is a Phillip Griffiths Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Rhodes Information Initiative at Duke University. His main research interests are in numerical optimization, computational geometry, computer graphics and vision, machine learning, and their applications in other venues in science, such as biology and medicine. Kovalsky received his Ph.D. in computer science and applied mathematics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He holds a B.Sc. in mathematics and B.Sc. and M.Sc. in electrical engineering from Ben-Gurion University.