Zwicker Joins UMIACS as the Reginald Allan Hahne Endowed E-Nnovate Professor in Computer Science

Matthias Zwicker, an expert in computer graphics and data-driven modeling, has joined the Department of Computer Science and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) as the Reginald Allan Hahne Endowed E-Nnovate Professor in Computer Science.

Zwicker’s research focuses on efficient high-quality rendering, signal processing techniques for computer graphics, data-driven modeling and animation, and point-based methods—all essential for developing next-generation technologies in virtual and augmented reality.

“I’m very excited to be at a major research university with lots of great students, and where new discoveries that are tied to virtual and augmented reality are on the cutting edge,” says Zwicker.

The Reginald Allan Hahne endowed professorship was established in 2015 by Elizabeth Iribe to honor her son Brendan Iribe’s high school computer science teacher. Elizabeth’s donation received an equal match from the state’s Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund, designed to spur private support to universities for applied research in scientific and technical fields.

In exchange for accepting the state’s matching funds, Zwicker will work at least one day a week in support of entrepreneurial activities at VisiSonics, a UMD startup founded by Ramani Duraiswami, a professor of computer science with an appointment in UMIACS.

“We are fortunate to have Matthias at the University of Maryland,” says Mihai Pop, professor of computer science and interim director of UMIACS. “His research and scholarship will add to the university’s status as a preeminent institution for advancing virtual and augmented reality technology and education.”

Zwicker earned his Ph.D. in computer science from ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2003. After completing postdoctoral research at MIT, Zwicker served as an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego from 2006 to 2008 before joining the faculty at the University of Bern. There, he served as a professor of computer science and head of the computer graphics group at the Institute of Computer Science.

Go here to read the full news release on Zwicker’s appointment.