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Eric G. Shaffer
UIUC Dept. of Computer Science
201 North Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801-2302
1.217.333.5221 office
1.217.344.3180 home
Homepage: http://www.csar.uiuc.edu/~shaffer1
e-mail: shaffer1@uiuc.edu
US Citizen
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Research Interests

Developing methods for processing massive data sets, mesh and geometric data processing, scientific and information visualization, and parallel computation.

Education

1999 - 2005
Ph.D. in Computer Science,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Advisor: Professor Michael Garland
 
1994 -1996 M.S. in Computer Science
University of Minnesota at Minneapolis (September 1996)
Advisor: Professor Ravi Janardan
 
1988 -1992  B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science, Minor: English Literature
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 1992)

Experience

2007 - present





Research Scientist, Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research and implementation efforts focus on topics such as generalized constraints for propagating meshes, scalable mesh optimization, mesh coarsening, and quadrangulation.  Technical lead of a project providing meshing solutions to The Boeing Company for use in computational fluid dynamics simulations.  Also the lead of a project to improve the parallel performance of a combustion simulation code from Caterpillar Inc. Responsibilities include overseeing the budget, supervising a professional programmer and student, and supplying technical guidance.

2005 - 2006
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Provided meshing solutions necessary for accurate and efficient simulation of solid-propellant rockets. Research efforts focused on the design and implementation of a localized surface mesh smoothing methods and generalized boundary constraints for propagating meshes. Developed a grant proposal and received funding to improve the parallel performance of a combustion simulation code from Caterpillar Inc.

2002 - 2005
Research Assistant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Worked with Professor Michael Garland, developing algorithms and data structures that operate on massive geometric data sets. Duties included algorithm design, software coding and testing, preparing publications, and giving presentations. 
 

2002 - 2003 Web Programmer, Argonne National Laboratory

Developed the MetCast web service, created installation distribution, and wrote documentation. Written in VB .NET and running under IIS, this service allows secure access to the real-time meteorological data gathered by a separate remote sensing application. MetCast is currently running at several Army chemical weapon depots.
 

1996 - 2002 Research Programmer,  Pablo Research Group (UIUC)

One of the principal designers and developers of Virtue, a virtual reality performance visualization environment for parallel and distributed computations. Worked on a team that built and maintained a high-performance, Myrinet-connected 18 node Linux cluster. Developed Java-based device control software as part of the Pablo Smart Spaces initiative. Wrote quarterly reports for funding agencies, and assisted in writing grant proposals.
 

1994 - 1996 Teaching Assistant,  University of Minnesota at Minneapolis

Taught recitation sections for the Department of Computer Science, specifically Introduction to Discrete Mathematics, and Introduction to Computer Organization. Duties included lecturing, holding question and answer sessions, and grading. Also designed homework assignments, programming projects and exams. Received Best Computer Science TA Award, Winter Quarter 1995.
  

1992 - 1994 Programmer,  IBM (Rochester, MN)

Worked on operating system development team, providing and maintaining internal licensed code supporting the Save/Restore function of OS/400 (the operating system of the AS/400). Duties included design, development, unit testing, component testing, and customer support.

Grants 

Caterpillar Inc.: Meshing and Visualization for Cut-Cell Methods 2007 – 2009 Eric Shaffer (PI) [$250,000]

Caterpillar Inc.: Massive Parallelization of a Combustion Code, 2006 – 2008. Michael Heath (PI) and Eric Shaffer (Co-PI) [$190,000]

Refereed Publications

Parallel Mesh Adaptation for Highly Evolving Geometries with Application to Solid Propellant Rockets. D.Guoy, T. Wilmarth, P. Alexander, X. Jiao, M. Campbell, E. Shaffer, R. Fiedler, W. Cochran and P. Suriyamongkol. Proceedings of the 16th International Meshing Roundtable, October 2007.

A Multiresolution Representation for Massive Meshes. E. Shaffer and M. Garland.  IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics,  March-April 2005

A Multiphase Approach to Efficient Surface Simplification. M. Garland and E. Shaffer. Proceedings of IEEE Visualization 2002, October 2002.

Efficient Adaptive Simplification of Massive Meshes. E. Shaffer and M. Garland. Proceedings of IEEE Visualization 2001, October 2001.

An Approach to Immersive Performance Visualization of Parallel & Wide-Area Distributed Applications. Luiz DeRose, Mario Pantano, Ruth Aydt, Eric Shaffer, Benjamin Schaeffer, Shannon Whitmore, and Daniel A. Reed. Proceedings of the International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing (HPDC'99) 1999.

Other Publications

Real-Time Immersive Performance Visualization and Steering. Eric Shaffer, Daniel A. Reed. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Newsletter,  May 2000.

Virtue: Immersive Performance Visualization of Parallel and Distributed Applications. Eric Shaffer, Shannon Whitmore, Benjamin Schaeffer, and Daniel A. Reed. IEEE Computer, December 1999.

Performance Analysis of Parallel Systems:  Approaches and Open Problems. Daniel A. Reed, Ruth A. Aydt, Luiz DeRose, Celso L. Mendes, Randy L. Ribler, Eric Shaffer, Huseyin Simitci, Jeffrey S.Vetter, Daniel R. Wells, Shannon Whitmore, and Ying Zhang.  Joint Symposium on Parallel Processing (JSPP),  June 1998.

Presentations

Boeing-UIUC Meshing Collaboration. Presented at:

  • Boeing Project Review, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, August 2006
  • CSAR Noon Seminar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, December 2006
Smoothing Large Meshes. Presented at:
  • CSAR Noon Seminar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2005
  •  Department of Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University, May 2005

Efficient Adaptive Simplification of Massive Meshes. Presented at:

  • IEEE Conference on Visualization, October 2001
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, June 2001
Demonstrations of the Virtue visualization environment at:
  • SC'97, a conference on high-performance computing and networking
  • various DARPA site visits and reviews, 1997 through 1999

Awards

Best Computer Science TA Award, University of Minnesota, Winter Quarter 1995
Dean's List, University of Illinois: Fall 1988m FAll 1990

Professional Activities

Reviewer for ACM SIGGRAPH 
Reviewer for IEEE Visualization 
Reviewer for InfoVis 
Reviewer for Elsevier journal Parallel Computing
Reviewer for IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
Member of the IEEE Computer Society

Areas of Expertise

Programming Languages: C, C++, Visual C++, VB .NET, Fortran, Java, ML
Web Development: HTML, ASP .NET, PHP, web service development
Graphics Packages: OpenGL, VRML, X toolkit, FLTK toolkit  
Operating Systems: Linux/UNIX, Windows, OS/400 
Machines : SGI, SUN, 80x86machines, IBM AS/400 and RS/6000  
Other Software: MPI, POSIX threads, Mathematica, MATLAB, sockets

 

 


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