My research intrests focus on the bridge of the anti-disciplinary boundaries in engineering, computational science, and architecture.

I created a lab at UCF - The Design Lab. This is an anti-disciplinary center dedicated to the development of designing increasingly sophisticated mathematical techniques and the use of these techniques in a variety of applications that would otherwise not be possible if not combined.

Current Students

My current students have a mix of backgrounds...
  • Joe Del Rocco - Ph.D. student - (Computer Science)
  • Arash Zarmehr - Ph.D. student - (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Lauren Doocy (co-advised with R. Paul Wiegand) - Ph.D. student - (Modeling and Simulation)

  • Anthony Benito - Undergraduate student - (Computer Science)
  • Desiree Dominguez - Undergraduate student - (Computer Science)
  • Nathan Moulton - Undergraduate student - (Computer Engineering)
  • Cross Carlisle - Undergraduate student - (Computer Science) - co-advised with Lori Walters
  • Jalen Fleary - Undergraduate student - (Computer Science)


I'm always intrested to chat with potential students. Please email me if you are intrested.


areas of intrest


Seeing with Light
Modeling and simulating light transport is a core research problem. Several projects address high dimensional light transport problems, such as complex illumination, material appearance, physically-based simulation, and spectral rendering. I apply mathematical solutions to these problems in computer graphics, daylighting, reflectance modeling and measurement, appearance modeling and measurement, and energy studies.

Anti-Static Design
This is a design philosophy that centers on tools and fabrication to provide architectural solutions of dynamics of motion. Our spaces (buildings, offices, parks, art installations) should evolve over time and respond to both the environment and the occupants. I am very interested in deploying devices to help control daylighting, energy-usage, and general sustainability.

Smart Buildings + Smart Cities
As operational systems deliver more accurate and useful information the question is how do we use this information to make our buildings, communities and cities 'smart'? How do we get greater performance while increasing sustainability. This has applications in computer science, modeling and simulation, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Environmental performance of buildings and neighborhoods
Recent advancements in computer technology allow building performance simulation to be a central part of the design process. This research focuses on basic and advanced building performance simulation methods and their underlying principles. We will look at simulations that impact energy, thermal, and visual comfort with a strong emphasis on building simulation tools. Innovative techniques on how to use these models in a building's design will be explored. This has many appplications in computer science, architecture, modeling and simulation, and the Mechanical Engineering.

Modeling and measurement validation
My time at Cornell under Don Greenberg has instilled a need for validating my simulations. I was inspired by the Cornell Box. I have built a variety of devices to measure the illumination of the skydome (Cornell), a multi-model motion capture studio (Penn), to devices to measure daylighting and temperature in a building. I am always looking for new and innovative ways to measure useful information. This requires building and deploying sensors and has applications in computer engineering and electrical engineering.

(Design in) Virtual Reality
For almost a half century the concepts of virtual reality have been speculated, portrayed in movies, used in games and contemplated for design, but to date the technology has failed to reach its promise. However, now for the first time, it appears that the convergence of multiple technologies can make virtual reality real. How do we design a virtual environment, and how does this fully virtual environment end up changing our understanding of a future physical environment? Potential design subjects include architectural (spatial) design, product (object) design, perception experiments, medical applications, and the development and use of new graphics algorithms. A major question to be answered is whether existing real-time graphics algorithms can be used in these future immersive environments. A major thrust of this research will be to identify those areas in virtual and augmented reality systems which need to be improved to make the systems more suitable for everyday use. Current implementations do not satisfy the current demands but the concepts and potential improvements will open up new possibilities. My lab is outfitted with Vives, Occulus Rifts, and other VR devices to test and explore these questions.