Timothy Davison

Timothy Davison

PhD

About me

I am building CellWalk, a platform for immersive biology education on Apple Vision Pro (iPhone and iPad coming soon). I’m a graphics programmer PhD with a background in realtime simulation and artificial intelligence. I like hiking and photography.

CellWalk for Apple Vision Pro

Take a guided tour through the molecular machines of a bacteria cell or explore on your own. Zoom from a whole cell down to its atoms.

Download for Apple Vision Pro – CellWalk.ca – Follow me on X.

Created by Timothy Davison, HK, David Goodsell, and Ludovic Autin. The cell model was created by Martina Maritan et al. (2022). Many incredible and anonymous people helped out.

SIGGRAPH 2020 Thesis fast forward

My PhD thesis–LifeBrush: An illustrative simulation canvas for the biological mesoscale–won an honorable mention at SIGGRAPH 2020’s thesis fast forward session. My thesis is about painting 3D molecular landscapes within an interactive virtual reality canvas. We bring these molecular illustrations to life with realtime coarse-grained simulation based on agent-based modelling.

Projects

Ship Editor
TEDx
Lindsay Composer
MSc Thesis
SimuDenseEndo

Publications

Lifebrush: painting, simulating, and visualizing dense biomolecular environments
Timothy Davison, Faramarz Samavati, Christian Jacob
May 2019 Computers & Graphics
Interactive example-palettes for discrete element texture synthesis
Timothy Davison, Faramarz Samavati, Christian Jacob
November 2018 Computers & Graphics
LifeBrush: Painting Interactive Agent-Based Simulations
Timothy Davison, Faramarz Samavati, Christian Jacob
October 2018 2018 International Conference on Cyberworlds (CW)

Photos

Photography
Photography

Education

  • PhD Computer Science, 2019

    University of Calgary

  • MSc Computer Science

    University of Calgary

  • BSc Computer Science

    University of Calgary

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Co-founder: Science EdTech Startup
Jan 2020 – Present
We are building an active-learning digital education platform for the life sciences; immerse, interact and explore. Find more information here and follow our progress on Twitter.
 
 
 
 
 
Developer: ShipCraft
Indie Game Development
Jan 2016 – Jan 2017

Embark on an interstellar journey with “ShipCraft” a riveting VR game where you engineer intricate spacecraft. You’ll wield cutting-edge CAD tools in virtual reality, crafting spaceships right down to the engine’s fuel flow rates.

Each challenge pits you against the merciless void of space. Can you mend a malfunctioning ship hurtling toward a gas giant?

I put this project on hold to finish my PhD. Its innovative simulation and VR crafting technology lay the groundwork for my LifeBrush system.

 
 
 
 
 
Developer and Co-founder: SimuDenseEndo
SimuDenseEndo
Sep 2014 – May 2015 Germany

SimuDenseEndo was a startup leveraging virtual reality for dental surgery training. We developed innovative realtime pysics models, interaction and rendering technology to train dental surgeons on a variety of procedures.

Responsibilities:

  • Development
  • Research
 
 
 
 
 
Lead Developer
LINDSAY Virtual Human Project
Aug 2009 – Jan 2014 University of Calgary
I lead development on the Lindsay Composer, a 3D engine for Human pysiology and anatomy education.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Applied Geomchemistry Group
Sep 2002 – Aug 2008 University of Calgary, Department of Geology
  • Server administration
  • macOS software development

Accomplish­ments

SIGGRAPH 2020 Thesis Fast Forward Runner-up
Aug 2020
My LifeBrush PhD thesis won an honorable mention at SIGGRAPH 2020’s thesis fast forward competition. Check it out.
Coursera
Machine Learning
Coursera Dec 2015
See certificate
AITF - iCore Doctoral Scholarship - $32,000
Alberta Innovates Dec 2015
Queen Elizabeth II Doctoral Graduate Scholarships
University of Calgary Sep 2012 – Sep 2014
Department Teaching Award
University of Calgary Jun 2010
I won this award for the iOS Programming Course as a TA at UofC. I developed this course together with my supervisor, Dr. Christian Jacob.
WWDC Scholarships 2005, 2006, 2008-2010
Apple Jun 2010