Jeff Erickson

Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley, 1996

Research Statement

I'm a computational geometer; I design and analyze algorithms and data structures to manipulate geometric objects: points, lines, curves, spheres, polyhedra, and so on. Geometric problems arise naturally in any computational field that simulates or interacts with the physical world. Aside from their obvious practical significance, geometric algorithms have a rich mathematical structure, and their development often requires tools from diverse mathematical disciplines.

Specific problem areas I work in include basic questions in combinatorial geometry and topology; algorithms for realistic geometric inputs; geometric range searching; algorithms for continuously changing data; and applications of geometric algorithms to computer graphics, computer vision, robotics, spatial and temporal databases, and mesh generation.