AIR Distinguished Speaker Series: Fredo Durand, Amar Bose Professor of Computing, MIT EECS & CSAIL

Date: WED, December 11, 2024

Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm ET

Location (in-person only): Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Ave, CDS 701 (7th Floor)

Speaker: Fredo Durand, Amar Bose Professor of Computing, MIT EECS & CSAIL

Talk Title: “Can Academic Research Compete with Industry? A Historical Perspective from Computer Graphics”

Abstract: The recent successes of industrial labs in Artificial Intelligence have triggered discussions about the competition between Academia and Industry and whether Universities can stay relevant given the vast computing and engineering resources available in industry. A similar situation occurred in computer graphics thirty years ago, and we discuss and seek to learn from this historical example.

Biography: Professor Fredo Durand is a computer scientist specializing in computer graphics and computational photography. He is a faculty member at MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a principal investigator at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His research focuses on enhancing visual computing, including realistic rendering, image processing, and perception in computer graphics. Durand has received numerous awards for his contributions, including the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award. He is known for bridging the gap between graphics and vision, advancing both the theoretical and practical aspects of visual computing.