MIME-Version: 1.0 Server: CERN/3.0 Date: Thursday, 21-Nov-96 22:02:11 GMT Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 8369 Last-Modified: Tuesday, 22-Oct-96 20:19:58 GMT Alan Heirich: Research in Parallel Computing and Computational Science (load balancing, mapping, rendering)

Alan Heirich
Computational Scientist

California Institute of Technology
Center for Advanced Computing Research
Department of Computer Science

Email: heirich@caltech.edu
Phone: (818) 395-4600
Fax: (818) 584-5917
Snail mail: 158-79 Caltech, Pasadena CA 91125 USA

This page is permanently under construction!

The results of some parallel global illumination calculations performed on the IBM SP2s at Caltech's Center for Advanced Computing Research and the Cornell Theory Center. Click on these images for the full size versions (they look best in 24 bit color). Models provided by Greg Ward and Anat Grynberg, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, by Jim Arvo (butterfly), and Eric Haines (SPD database).


Interests:

Diffusion algorithms.
Computer Graphics.
Cluster computers.
Parallel computing, scientific computing.
Parallel rendering and animation.
Parallel mapping and load balancing.
Computational fluid dynamics.
Finite element analysis.
NASTRAN (language for structural FEA).
Nonlinear programming and optimization.
Nonlinear dynamical systems and bifurcation theory.

Recent Refereed Publications:

A Scalable Diffusion Algorithm for Dynamic Mapping and Load Balancing on Networks of Arbitrary Topology.

(To appear in the International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science).

Scalable Photorealistic Rendering of Complex Scenes.

To appear in the proceedings of the First Eurographics Workshop on Parallel Graphics and Visualization.
(Under consideration for publication in Parallel Computing).

A Parabolic Load Balancing Method.

1995 International Conference on Parallel Processing "outstanding paper".

(Click here for a related talk by Y.F. Hu).


Miscellania.

I am the organizer for the informal C.A.C.R. Journal Club.

It looks like I will graduate very soon, here is an abstract of the dissertation defense.

Here is a bibliography of Diffusion in Parallel Computing


I gratefully acknowledge support from the following sources:

National Science Foundation, Graduate Fellowship Program.

NSF Center for Research on Parallel Computation.

Cornell Program of Computer Graphics, NSF project ASC-9523483.

Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research.

Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA contract N00014-91-J-1986.


Honors/horrors.

Program Committee Member, Parallel Rendering Symposium, Phoenix, Arizona, October 1997.

Program Committee Member, ISATA dedicated conference on simulation, diagnosis and virtual reality applications in the automotive industry, Florence, Italy, June 1997.

Program Committee Member, ISATA dedicated conference on computational fluid dynamics and supercomputing in the automotive industry, Florence, Italy, June 1996.

"Outstanding paper", 1995 International Conference on Parallel Processing.

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, student member, 1992.

National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, 1989.

Honors in Computer Science, The University of Michigan, 1986.

Regents Alumni Scholar, The University of Michigan, 1978.

National Merit Finalist, 1978.

Finalist, Michigan Mathematics Competition, 1977.


Rogues Gallery: some places I have worked


Research notes, and (interesting?) tidbits:

Scalable photorealistic rendering.

Diffusion Algorithms

Presented at the 1996 Center for Research on Parallel Computation Annual Meeting

Multibody fluid dynamics (with O. Schreiber)

Topological Search
Recursive search for fixed points of functions of two parameters or one complex parameter. Applications include nonconvex optimization, roots of polynomials, and geometric intersection. Immune to roundoff.

Skeptical that topology has relevance to computer programs? Check this out.

Nonlinear Scaling and Speedup
Some non-obvious sources in numerical calculations.

Mapping, Sorting, and Load Balancing

CS-TR-94-04: Dynamic Load Balancing (Lengthy!)

To read a brief summary of CS-TR-94-04 Press Here.

Revenge of the humanists
A rebuttal to a silly talk by L.A. Times/Wired columnist Michael Schrage.


Other home pages:

California Institute of Technology

Cornell Theory Center

Cornell Program of Computer Graphics

Caltech Department of Computer Science

Caltech Department of Applied Mathematics

Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research


heirich@caltech.edu, 13 June 1995