Steve DiPaola

Teaching & research interests

• Artificial intelligence, computer graphics and interaction
• Computational systems for expression, movement, gesture and creativity
• Gaming, narrative and interaction systems
• Avatar, character and computer facial animation and AI
• Cognitive science approaches to computer modeling

Steve DiPaola, active as an artist and a scientist is director of the Cognitive Science Program at Simon Fraser University, and leads the iVizLab (ivizlab.sfu.ca), a research lab that strives to make computational systems bend more to the human experience by incorporating biological, cognitive and behavior knowledge models. The lab creates computation models of very human ideals such as expression, emotion, behavior and creativity typically for the gaming, sciences, arts, and health fields. He is most known for his AI based computational creativity (darwinsgaze.com) and 3D facial expression systems. He came to SFU from Stanford University and before that NYIT Computer Graphics Lab, an early pioneering lab in high-end graphics techniques. His computer based art has been exhibited internationally including the AIR and Tibor de Nagy galleries in NYC, Tenderpixel Gallery in London and Cambridge University’s Kings Art Centre. The work has also been exhibited in major museums, including the Whitney Museum, the MIT Museum, and the Smithsonian.

• BS, Computer Science,  SUNY Stonybrook
• MA, Computer Graphics, New York Institute of Technology
• PhD, Interdisciplinary - Cognitive Science (home: Computer Science),  University of British Columbia