Visualization specialist Nicholas Polys and computational science specialist John Burkardt, both of Blacksburg, have joined the support staff for Advanced Research Computing at Virginia Tech.

Polys has developed interactive 3D graphic content and systems and other compelling visualization systems for more than 10 years. His research interests are the intersection of visualization, virtual environments, and perception. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Virginia Tech in 2006, while also working as an instructor, faculty trainer, and project advisor with the department and the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics. His doctoral work examined perceptual cues and layout behaviors for information-rich virtual environments deployed on desktop and immersive platforms.

As a co-author of the international standard Extensible 3D (X3D) and director of the Web3D Consortium, he is the author of numerous peer-reviewed papers, tutorials, and workshops. Polys has been a postdoctoral associate with the Advance Research Computing group since earning his degree and has now joined the research computing team at Virginia Tech.

Burkardt, who received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Virginia Tech in 1995, will join Advanced Research Computing as a computational science specialist. He comes to Virginia Tech from Florida State University where he was a research associate in the School for Computational Science. Previously, he worked at the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center. While a student and later as a postdoc, Burkardt taught and did research with the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics at Virginia Tech.

His research and publications topics include centroidal Voronoi tessellations, reduced-order modeling, and sparse grid collocation.

Polys will consult with users about applications of visualization technology and Burkardt will assist individual users with ARC parallel systems. Both Polys and Burkardt will offer courses and seminars for researchers – Polys emphasizing the value and application of visual computing in order to be more productive and more competitive and Burkardt focusing optimal use of high performance computing systems.

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