Abstract

Computer graphics is at the intersection of art, programming, and mathematics. In this talk, Jos Stam will take an overview of his career in computer graphics. From his early days being an artist to becoming a computer graphics coder and receiving three technical Oscars for his research. Computer graphics has undergone tremendous changes. From pixelated game characters to movies which are almost undistinguishable from reality. Stam will give an overview of these changes and present the research that won him the Oscars. Has computer graphics reached maturity? Far from it. The next 30 years might be even more exciting than the last 30. He claims that we have to reconsider how computer graphics operates. The goal is not to create realistic images but rather to create a direct interface to the brain. This would be the ultimate simulation. Perhaps we are already living in such a simulation without realising it.

About the Speaker

Jos Stam is a graphics researcher. He is fascinated by art, mathematics and computers. Born in the Netherlands, he grew up in Geneva, where he painted surrealist art, hacked on the Amiga computer and studied pure mathematics and informatics. He then decided to try his luck at the University of Toronto where he obtained his PhD in Computer Science in 1995. After short gigs at research labs in Paris and Helsinki as a postdoc he joined Alias|Wavefront’s office in Seattle in 1997. There he did ground-breaking work on subdivision surfaces and fluid animation. Most of his research ended up in the Oscar-winning MAYA software. Stam then worked for Autodesk as part of their acquisition of Alias in 2006 as a Senior Principal Research Scientist. In 2018 he joined NVIDIA as a full-time graphics researcher working on the future of graphics and AI. In 2025 he left NVIDIA to pursue new opportunities. Stam has published his research in leading journals like SIGGRAPH and has given many invited and keynote talks in every continent except Africa and Antarctica. Stam has also received many prestigious awards. These include the 2005 SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Technical Achievement Award, and three Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in recognition of the impact of his work on the film industry: awarded in 2006 and 2019 for his work on subdivision surfaces, and in 2008 for his work on fluid dynamics.

Special Arrangement

- Non-CityUHK visitors are welcome to attend the seminar. Please walk in and register at the CMC Security Counter after being identified by our staff. Interested attendees should arrive between 14:30 and 15:00 on the day of the event. 

Please note: 
1. All visitors who are not CityUHK members and who wish to enter the University campus must pre-register via the University's Visitor Registration System (VRS).  
2. Visitors to CMC will not have access to other campus areas beyond the seminar venue on the day of the event.