Alex S Hill

954 Cochran Street
Charleston, SC 29492

phone: +1 (773) 575 8530

Chief Scientist with CN2 Technology, Incorporated
I have primary responsibility for all aspects of technology development at CN2 Technology with a strong emphasis on Augmented Reality and 3D user interfaces. I architected and delivered an interactive 3D web-based content development studio and mobile AR player for iOS and Android. Most recently I oversaw the development of our AR-assisted remote assistance product based on WebRTC protocols. I am a lead developer on the most challenging technical issues ranging from native plugins, computer vision and data modeling. My team and I have developed an extensive library of functionality for the Unity 3D game engine with a focus on flexible real-time delivery of AR content. I also handle most of the technical scoping and requirements planning for our client projects. CN2's clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Panasonic, General Electric, Thyssen Krupp Elevators, The Georgia Aquarium and the city of Orlando, Florida.
 

3D User Experience Consultant with Alex S Hill Consulting
I ran an independent consultancy with the aim of providing the many commercial interests I encountered in academia with the information they need to design and develop augmented reality and alternate user interface related products and services. My clients included Firethorn Mobile, LLC (Qualcomm) and Merlin Mobility, Inc.
 

Postdoctoral Fellow at the Augmented Environments Laboratory
I was a postdoctoral fellow working with Associate Professor Blair MacIntyre in the Interactive Computing department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. One of the main research goals of the laboratory has been to contribute to the understanding and development of AR entertainment applications for handheld devices. My responsibilities included leading the effort to develop protocols for the client and server infrastructure of an open standards-based augmented reality browser. I also developed and continue to maintain an augmented reality toolkit for the Unity 3D game engine.
 

Research Scientist at the Center for Technology and Social Behavior
I conducted research on the development of Embodied Conversational Agents in the Articulab, the principle laboratory started by Justine Cassell after she moved from MIT. My focus was on developing a modular architecture for social behavior research using virtual peers. My research responsibilities included managing a collaboration with Reykjavik University and the University of Southern California to develop target controllers for the SmartBody character realizer and the BML character markup language extensions that model interactions between virtual characters, objects in their environment and other virtual agents.
 

Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago
I was the sole instructor for the advanced section of Computer Art-Design in the School of Art and Design (AD 408). Lecture topics included polygon rendering techniques, scene graphs, stereo display, tele-immersion, spatialized sound, tracking and display hardware along with historical and artistic perspectives on virtual reality and gaming. I concurrently taught repeating students advanced subjects such as C++, the Performer rendering library and node development for the Ygdrasil VR system. The course also required a laboratory section that I developed and instructed. In my role within the School of Art and Design, I also oversaw student independent studies related to their MFA work.
 

Research Assistant at the University of Illinois at Chicago
The Electronic Visualization Laboratory is a 35-year collaboration between computer scientists and artists best known for developing the CAVE virtual reality system. During my graduate studies at the lab my main responsibility was maintaining and continuing development of the Ygdrasil authoring platform. My responsibilities also included acting as technical director for a large number of virtual reality projects initiated either by faculty or MFA students.
 

Senior Project Engineer with Aspen Technology, Incorporated
As a member of the Advanced Hydrocarbon Controls department, I worked on a number of projects implementing multi-variable controls at client sites around the world.
 

Cluster Tracking Electronic Visualization Laboratory, 2000
Ported and optimized color clustering code developed at UIUC onto the SGI O2 unified memory architecture to increase computational efficiency. Used the software to track hands with the PARIS see-through VR system.

Mars Explorer Electronic Visualization Laboratory, 1999
A CAVE application to teach basic scientific inquiry skills related to graphing and clustering. Responsible for conceiving and programming the distribution, placement and composition of rock samples on the Martian surface.

Nojd Royal Institute of Technology, 2006
A large screen installation based on the mythological Shaman from Northern Sweden. Combines embedded live video feeds, autonomous characters, particle systems and physics into a robust museum grade interface.

Fools Paradise Northwestern University, 2005
Collaboration with Paul Hertz to develop specialized Ygdrasil modules and create an interface to Max/MSP from within scenes. This work later developed into the Spatial OSC project.

Kenosha VRML Placevision Incorporated, 2004
Designed and programmed the heads up display and interactive construction of proposed buildings for a VRML model of Kenosha, IL using touchSensors and texture transforms.