Areas of Interest

• Mixed Reality (MR), Augmented Reality (AR) in general
• Virtual Reality (VR) in general
• Industrial Augmented Reality (IAR)
• Interaction / Interfaces for MR/VR
• Collaboration (esp. MR)
• "Serious Gaming" Applications
• Psychological Factors / sense of presence in Virtual Environments (VE)
• Virtual Reality Aided Design (VRAD)

Professional Experience

Scientific Leader / Team Leader [2002 - 2004]
Virtual and Augmented Environments (Virtual Reality Competence Center), DaimlerChrysler Research Center, Ulm, Germany
Responsible as team leader for a team of 5-10 researchers, head of research field "Distributed Virtual Environments", major activities in general project acquisition and finance, involvement in strategic work.

Project Manager [2000 - 2004]
Virtual and Augmented Environments (Virtual Reality Competence Center), DaimlerChrysler Research Center, Ulm, Germany
Responsible for the development and evaluation of Augmented Reality (AR) systems and advanced forms of interfaces with Virtual Reality (VR) and AR environments. Responsibilities extend to the identification of new application areas for existing VR/AR systems and methods.
Experience with all aspects of project management; from project definition, acquisition, budget allocation, to project implementation, monitoring, and final delivery. In particular, experience with medium and large governmental research projects (German research ministry: bmb+f).
Leading project teams. Advising and coordinating the work of several M.S./Ph.D. students and junior research scientists.

Research Scientist [1999 - 2002]
Virtual and Augmented Environments (Virtual Reality Competence Center), DaimlerChrysler Research Center, Ulm, Germany
Development of AR software components as base technologies for the use in industrial applications (especially regarding tracking, rendering, interaction, system integration). Development of program components for the recognition of hand gestures and speech within VR applications. Evaluation of the use of tangible user interfaces for the design of airplane cockpits (together with ATR Kyoto, Japan). Design and development of a wireless AR device (mPARD); a wireless interaction device (MagicPen), and a AR desktop environment utilizing AR technology and office tools (MagicDesk).

Research Scientist [1994 - 1999]
Bauhaus University Weimar
Research management and contributing development to VR based sketch-, design-, and modeling programs: voxDesign, planeDesign, Virtual Reality Aided Modeler VRAM (www.igroup.org), and design, implementation, and analysis of surveys on the sense of presence within virtual environments: acrophobia, amt, ipq.

Computer Programmer [1992-1996]
Sofistik GmbH, Munich, Germany
Development of several CAD software components for civil engineers and architects, 2D and 3D AutoCAD programming in C/C++.

Computer Programmer [1991-1992]
acadGraph GmbH, Munich, Germany
Development of CAD components for architects, 2D functions programming in Lisp and C.

Computer Programmer [1990-1991]
IMES GmbH, Bochum, Germany
Programming of computations for steel constructions according to German standard DIN, Pascal.

Education

• Polytechnical school in Berlin (10th class) [1971-1981]
• Professional training as a mechanic for building machines [1981-1983]
• Graduation diploma in Berlin [1982-1984]
• Diplom study course in Civil Engineering with specialization in Computer Science at the University of Architecture Weimar / Germany [1988-1990]
• Diplom study in Computer Science at the University of Architecture Weimar / Germany, Diploma: Virtual Reality and Design, Grade: A [1990-1994]
• Doctoral degree (Dr. Ing.), PhD-Thesis: Factors of Presence within Virtual Architecture, Bauhaus University Weimar, Grade: magna cum laude [1996-1999(2000)]

Academic Research & Teaching Experience

• Academic staff member at University of Otago [2004-present]
  - lectures in Interactive Systems Design (HCI fundamentals) for 3rd year students in information science (content definition, notes preparation, lecturing) [annually]
  - lectures in Multimedia Systems (incl. 3D environments and serious games) for 4th year students in information science (content definition, notes preparation, lecturing) [annually]
  - supervision of 4th year honours and postgraduate diploma students with research theses projects [annually]
  - contributions (lectures) to courses at University of Otago [occasionally]
  
• Research Assistant at Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany [1994-1999]: Computer Science in Architecture (Prof. Donath). Focus on interdisciplinary VR research and teaching.
• Manager of atelier, virtual (VR research laboratory and "classroom") at BU Weimar [1995-1999]
  - Idea and initiation of laboratory (as a place for research and teaching using VR technology)
  - Systems selection and set-up, co-system-administration
  - Management and development of laboratory
• Lecturer at BU Weimar [1994-1999]
  - lectures in Virtual Reality fundamentals and applications for graduate students in computer science (content definition, notes preparation, lecturing) [annually]
  - lectures in VR aided design and modeling for graduate students in architecture (content definition, notes preparation, lecturing) [annually]
  - courses on basics of Internet technologies for undergraduate and graduate students in architecture and industrial design (content definition, notes preparation, training) [annually]
  - teacher/supervisor for project seminary on VR aided communication and design for graduate students in architecture, computer science, industrial design, and psychology [1994/95]
  - teacher/supervisor for project seminary on voxel based modeling in Virtual Environments (voxDesign & platform) for graduate students in architecture, computer science, and industrial design [1995/96]
  - teacher/supervisor for project seminary on VR aided modeling (VRAM) for graduate students in computer science and architecture [1998/99]
  
• Lecturer at HTW Dresden [1997/1998]: lecture and courses on VR fundamentals and programming for students in computer science (content definition, notes preparation, lecturing).
• Supervisor and advisor for 20+ diploma, master, and PhD thesis students (at BUW, DC, and UO) [1995 - present]
• Supervision of several internships at DaimlerChrysler and Uni Otago [2000 - present]
• Visiting Student at University of Washington/Seattle [Fall 1993]: Human Factors Lab (Prof. W. Barfield).

Awards

• German Körber Research Prize, 4th winner [1998]
• Award at VR/AR idea contest of German government (15 out of 200+) [2001]
• Winner of bi-annual Science Price at Bauhaus University Weimar [2003]

Patents

• Wearable Augmented Reality device [2000]
• Kinetose decreasing system in cars [2002]
• Improvement of spatial impression of conventional 3D displays [2003]

Computer Experience

• Programming Languages: C, C++, (Lisp, Fortran, Modula-2, Pascal, Asm-i86, Asm-Z80, Basic)
• Operating Systems: UNIX (Irix), MS Windows
• Misc: OpenGL, Optimizer, Open Inventor, MS Office applications, HTML

Other Professional Activities

• Reviewer and Consultant for German government (VR/AR and "Futur" program)
• Reviewer and Auditor for European Commission ("IST" program, "Mixed Reality and New Imaging Frontiers")
• Reviewer for and member of Program Commitees for 20+ conferences.
• Member (Professional) of IEEE and ACM

Languages

• mother tongue: German
• fluent: English
• some knowledge: Spanish, Russian, French

Publications

References

Personal