Tom DeFanti

In the 20 years has been at University of Illinois at Chicago, DeFanti has amassed a number of credits, including: use of EVL hardware and software for the computer animation produced for the Star Wars movie; early development of videogame technology; contributor and co-editor of the 1987 National Science Foundation-sponsored report Visualization in Scientific Computing; recipient of the 1988 ACM Outstanding Contribution Award; an appointment in 1989 to the Illinois Governor's Science Advisory Board; an appointment as a University Scholar for 1989-1992; recognition along with EVL co-director Daniel J. Sandin for conceiving the CAVE virtual reality theater in 1991; and, a recent invitation to be awarded the title of ACM Fellow (to be awarded in 1994).

His current research interests include: virtual environments, digital libraries, scientific visualization, new methodologies for informal science and engineering education, paradigms for information display, televisualization (distributed graphics over networks), algorithm optimization for massively parallel computing, sonification, human/computer interfaces, and abstract mathematical visualization.