Demetri Terzopoulos facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Demetri Terzopoulos
FRS FRSC
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Demetri Terzopoulos at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2014
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| Spouse | Noemi Terzopoulos |
| Children | 2 |
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| Thesis | Multiresolution computation of visible-surface representations (1984) |
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| Website | terzopoulos |
Demetri Terzopoulos is a Greek-Canadian-American computer scientist and business leader. He is a top professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). There, he leads the UCLA Computer Graphics & Vision Laboratory.
Contents
Studying to Be a Computer Scientist
Demetri Terzopoulos started his higher education at McGill University. He earned two engineering degrees there, one in 1978 and another in 1980. Both were in electrical engineering.
He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1984, he earned his PhD degree in Artificial Intelligence. His research focused on how computers "see" and understand surfaces. His studies were fully paid for by scholarships.
Career and Research in Computer Science
After his PhD, Terzopoulos worked at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He also led programs at Schlumberger research centers. He became a professor at the University of Toronto and New York University. Since 2005, he has been a top professor at UCLA.
Since 2016, Terzopoulos has also been a co-founder and Chief Scientist at VoxelCloud, Inc. This is a company that uses AI for healthcare. It has offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai. He has also worked as a consultant for many other big companies like IBM and Intel.
Terzopoulos's main research areas are:
- Computer graphics: Making realistic images and animations on computers.
- Computer vision: Teaching computers to understand images and videos.
- Medical imaging: Using computers to analyze medical scans for health.
- Computer-aided design: Using computers to help design things.
- Artificial intelligence/life: Creating smart computer systems and simulations of living things.
He has written over 400 scientific papers and given more than 500 talks worldwide. Many of his papers have won awards.
Awards and Special Recognition
Demetri Terzopoulos has received many important awards for his work.
- In 2009, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is a special award for people who have shown great ability in their field.
- He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in London. This is a very high honor for scientists. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).
- He is also a Fellow of the IEEE and the ACM. These are leading groups for computer and electrical engineers.
Computer Pioneer Award
In 2020, the IEEE Computer Society gave Terzopoulos its Computer Pioneer Award. He received it for his important role in developing computer vision, computer graphics, and medical imaging. His research helped connect these fields and influenced many other areas.
Royal Society Fellow
Terzopoulos became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014. The Royal Society recognized him for his work in computer vision and computer graphics. They noted that he helped bring these two fields together.
He also helped create "active contours" (also known as "snakes"). This is a computer algorithm used widely in computer vision. He also developed "deformable models." These models help simulate how objects bend and move. This work is used in medical imaging and computer design.
His work in artificial life is also groundbreaking. He combines how bodies work (biomechanics) with ideas about intelligence. This includes how we move, see, behave, think, and learn. This research helps create very realistic computer simulations of humans and animals.
Helmholtz Prize and PAMI Award
In 2013, Terzopoulos won a Helmholtz Prize. This was for his 1987 paper called "Snakes: Active contour models". This paper was very important in the field.
In 2007, he received the first IEEE PAMI Computer Vision Distinguished Researcher Award. This was for his "pioneering and sustained research on deformable models." The term "Deformable Models" is now a standard term in computer science.
Academy Award for Technical Achievement
In 2006, Terzopoulos won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement. He shared this award with John Platt. They received it from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award was for their work in making realistic cloth move in movies. Their 1987 paper on "Elastically deformable models" was a big step forward. It introduced the idea of using physics to simulate moving, changing objects in computer graphics.
Other Honors
In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. They praised him for being a leader in computer vision and graphics. They noted his work on deformable models and their use in many areas.
In 1973, Terzopoulos received the Governor General's Academic Medal. This was from the High School of Montreal.
See also
- Active contour model
