Curriculum

I studied computer science at the University of Amsterdam between 1987 and 1991, where got my masters degree with distinction ('cum laude') from prof. dr. Klint. For my masters degree I wrote an incremental context-free island parser for the ASF+SDF system. The ASF+SDF system is a system to write and specify algebraic specifications, using context free grammars and pattern-matching rewrite rules. The parser is described in my master's thesis.

Between 1991 and 1993 I studied musicology at the University of Utrecht, where I succesfully finished the first two years.

In 1993 I started the research for my doctoral degree at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (now part of the Faculty of Design, Engineering and Production). I investigated whether using a spatial display, the Delft Virtual Window System, could be used to improve x-ray luggage inspection. In 1997 I received my doctoral degree for my thesis "Enhancing x-ray baggage inspection by interactive viewpoint selection".

From 1997 till October 2001 I worked on the Ubicom project, a project working on the design and implementation of a wireless augmented reality system. My research focused on low-power, low-latency rendering using a distributed rendering system. Latencies down to 8.5ms have been realized with our system.

Between october 2001 and october 2002 I worked on the Cactus project, on the architecture for an electronic secretary system.

Between november 2002 and february 2003 I worked on the NISHE project, a project at the Information technology department of VTT Finland. The work was about implementing distributed augmented reality rendering on an ipaq (a small handheld display).

In march 2003 I continued on the Cactus project. The project goals and plans had changed dramatically during my stay in Finland. I had to redefine my job, and continued working on "user focus management". The research question was how a user can find his way in a large amount of agents offering a similar large amount of services, ranging from switching on the light in the room to booking a holiday trip. The idea is to use natural language technology to allow the user to describe his needs in vague terms.

Since 2005, I am working on two projects in parallel: the linear algebra project and the painting project.
The Linear Algebra project attempts to supports students doing linear algebra problems, by following them step by step and by giving hints and tips. This project focuses on improving the strategical competence of students (i.e., how to get to the solution) instead of procedural knowledge (how to do a row reduction). To do this, the student only has to specify the steps to be done, but he does not need to do any calculations. The prototype system also supports theoretic problems (e.g., problems like "proof that for all x, ...")

The painting project is about scanning and realtime rendering of paintings. We measure the full light reflection properties of small patches on the surface and fit the measurements on a mathematical reflection model (a BRDF). The model together with the fitting results can then be rendered in realtime, using pixel shaders. This project is under my supervision but the real work is done by students (Jurriaan Heuberger, Ewald Snel). More on this is found here.