Aki Roberge
Title: Towards Earth 2.0: Exoplanets and Future Space Telescopes
Abstract: Humans have long wondered if there were worlds around other stars (exoplanets) and life on those worlds. Over the last two decades, astronomers have found that the answer to the first question is a resounding YES. Those accomplishments have put us in a position to possibly answer the second question.
Right now, it’s hard to measure much more about an exoplanet than its orbit, mass, and/or size. Probing the atmospheres and surfaces of Earth-size planets around Sun-like stars is extremely challenging – but should be possible in the coming decades. I’ll discuss how astronomers study exoplanets today, challenges in the search for Earth 2.0, and prospects for future discoveries using powerful new telescopes enhanced with advanced data acquisition and processing techniques.
Biography: Dr. Aki Roberge is the Associate Director for Technology and Strategy in the Astrophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She received a BS in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in Astrophysics from the Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on 1) observations of planet-forming disks around nearby young stars and 2) development of future space observatories to observe planets around other stars, aka. exoplanets. She served as the Deputy Program Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at NASA HQ and was the lead Study Scientist for the LUVOIR space observatory concept, which will feed into NASA’s future efforts to characterize potentially habitable exoplanets. In 2020, she received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for her work on LUVOIR. She was a member of NASA’s 2013 Visionary Astrophysics Roadmap Team and has served on the NASA Planetary Science Advisory Committee.
Aaron Hertzmann
Title: A Perceptual Theory of Perspective
Abstract: Linear perspective is an effective tool for convincing depiction, and so has dominated perspective theories in the Western tradition, in both art and perceptual psychology. Yet linear perspective fails to explain many important perceptual phenomena, or how artists actually work. While many artists and researchers are aware of these limitations, no coherent theory has emerged to replace it. I will outline a new theory of perspective in which eye fixations and foveal vision play a key role in how viewers’ perceive 3D from perspective. I discuss how this theory explains much of the phenomena in art history and psychophysics and could provide a rigorous perception-based framework for creating new projections in computational photography and computer graphics.
Biography: Aaron Hertzmann is a Principal Scientist at Adobe, and Affiliate Faculty at University of Washington. He received a BA in computer science and art/art history from Rice University in 1996, and a PhD in computer science from New York University in 2001. He was a Professor at University of Toronto for 10 years, and has also worked at Pixar Animation Studios and Microsoft Research. He has published over 100 papers in computer graphics, computer vision, machine learning, robotics, human-computer interaction, and art. He is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow.
Eric Fossum
Title: Quanta Image Sensors and Remaining Challenges
Abstract: The Quanta Image Sensor (QIS) concept is nearly 20 years old, and in the past 5 years it has been realized both with a CMOS-image-sensor-type of implementation, and with a SPAD-type device. In this presentation, some of the interesting properties and promises of QIS will be discussed. Implementation in both manifestations and their relative merits will be presented. While the computational imaging possibilities were imagined at the conception of the QIS, recent years have also seen impressive practical demonstrations. Some of the remaining challenges for QIS will be discussed and we will see how the QIS might find its way into photography and other commercial applications.
Bio: Eric R. Fossum is best known for the invention of the CMOS image sensor “camera-on-a-chip” used in billions of cameras. He is a solid-state image sensor device physicist and engineer, and his career has included academic and government research, and entrepreneurial leadership. At Dartmouth he is a Professor of Engineering and Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer.
Dr. Fossum received the Queen Elizabeth Prize in2017, considered by many as the Nobel Prize of Engineering from HRH then-Prince Charles. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received a technical Emmy Award. He has published over 300 technical papers and holds 180 US patents. He co-founded the International Image Sensor Society (IISS) and was its first President. He is a Fellow member of the IEEE, Optica and the National Academy of Inventors.
Websites:
www.ericfossum.com
https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/community/faculty/eric-fossum