Timothy Davison

Timothy Davison

PhD

About me

I’m a computer scientist bringing the world of molecular biology to life. I specialize in computer graphics, realtime simulation, agent-based modelling and virtual reality. My PhD (2020) at the University of Calgary was about painting living 3D biomolecular landscapes in virtual reality (see this youtube video).

I take photos, brew beer, play computer games, and hike.

Mesoscale narratives
Step inside a living cell.

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

Recent 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

 
 
 
 
 
Ship Editor
Me
Jan 2016 – Jan 2017
Ship Editor is a VR ship building game with realistic physics. Players design a ship with CAD like tools in VR. Every detail of the ship is modelled, down to the flow rates of fuel into the engines. The game is a series of challenges. The first challenge starts with the player on a broken ship in a decaying orbit. The player must repair the ship before it plunges into the looming gas giant. I put this project on hold to finish my PhD thesis and I would love to revive it someday. The techonology that I developed for simulating the ship and building things in VR form the foundations of my LifeBrush system.
 
 
 
 
 
Software Developer
SimuDenseEndo
Sep 2014 – May 2015 Germany

The goal of SimuDensEndo was to bring virtual reality to the field of dental surgery training, our technology leveraged the Oculus Rift VR hreadset and the Leap Motion hand tracking device. I helped develop volumetric rendering and physics software that translated high resolution scans of real teeth into objects that could be drilled in an interactive endodontic simulation environment.
Responsibilities:

  • Development
  • Research
 
 
 
 
 
Software Architect
LINDSAY Virtual Human Project
Aug 2009 – Jan 2014 University of Calgary
I lead development on the Lindsay Composer, a 3D game engine for macOS and iOS. The composer was written in Objective-C and C++. We used the Composer for biomolecular agent-based simulations and for virtual physiology applications in medical education.
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant
Applied Geomchemistry Group
Sep 2002 – Aug 2008 University of Calgary, Department of Geology
  • Server administration (macOS Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Windows Server)
  • macOS Software Development in Objective-C and Fortran
  • MySQL and FileMaker Pro

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