Alexei Sourin

Dr. Alexei Sourin is an established scientist in several areas of computer graphics. He began his research in 1980 with his master’s and PhD projects in computer animation. From 1988, he focused on problems in scientific visualization in physics. In 1993, Dr. Sourin joined the faculty of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to teach and conduct research in computer graphics, function representation in solid modeling, virtual reality, human–computer interaction and artificial intelligence in computer vision. In 2006, Alexei Sourin was awarded the title of Senior Member of the IEEE. In 2012-2018, he served as Chair of the Working Group “Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality” of the International Federation for Information Processing. He is the creator and coordinator of the annual international conference on Cyberworlds, which focuses on various aspects of immersive virtual communities. For a number of years, he has been a member of the Editorial Board of The Visual Computer journal (Springer Nature). He has written several books and book chapters on computer graphics and virtual reality. 

More details follow:

• Education

• Experience

• Teaching

• Research Interests

• Membership

• Selected Publications

• Invited and Keynote Talks

• Research Students

• Postdocs

Last updated on May 5, 2026

Education:

Teaching:

•  Computer Graphics and Visualization
•  Virtual Reality

•  Fundamentals of Computing

Research interests:

Computer graphics, virtual reality, user-computer interaction, computer vision with AI, sonification of geometry

Membership:

Senior Member of IEEE

Member of ACM SIGGRAPH
Chair of IFIP WG5.10 Computer Graphics and Virtual Worlds 2012-2018

Publications:

The full list of publications is in Pub.pdf. The papers can be downloaded from ResearchGate. I will be also happy to email them to you by request.

Recent Books and Book Chapters (out of 15)

1. Alexei Sourin. Making Images with Mathematics. From Small Formulas to Digital and Virtual Creativity. Springer Nature, 2027.
2. Alexei Sourin. Making Images with Mathematics. Springer Nature, 2021.
3. Alexei Sourin. Case Study: Shared Virtual and Augmented Environments. In Research and Development in the Academy, Creative Industries and Applications, ed. R.A. Earnshaw, Springer Nature, pp. 49-63, 2017.

Invited and Keynote Talks:

1. Visual Immersive Mathematics, 4th International Conference on Education, Knowledge and Information Management (ICEKIM 2023), Zhengzhou, China, January 13, 2023.
2. Theremins-Music from the Air, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Singapore, 20 August 2019.
3. Visual Immersive Mathematics. From Ancient Greeks to Digital Natives, TU Darmstadt, Germany, 15 December 2015.
4. Nanyang Technological University and New Media, AOTULE 2015, NTU, 2 November 2015.
5. Using Haptic Devices in Medical Research and Training, Medical Computing Symposium, Singapore-Germany, NTU, September 2015.
6. Tangible Images, conference "Digital Culture & Creative Industry Forum 2015", Hangzhou, Zhejiang Normal University, China, 30 May 2015.
7. Tangible Images, conference "Fusion of Image and Graphics & HCI", Hangzhou, Zhejiang University, China, 28 May 2015.
8. Tangible Images, symposium "The Art of 3D Stereo Media" at NTU School of ADM, 22 April 2015.
9. Digital Revolutions and their Implications. From Athenians to Avatars, Rotary Club of Singapore, Singapore, 5 November 2014.
10. Image-driven Simulation of Knee Arthroscopy, Workshop-Summer School on 3D Virtual Patients, IMI-NTU, Singapore, 5 November, 2012
11. Visual Immersive Mathematics and Tangible Images, Graz University of Technology, 28 September, 2012.
12. Medical Training Projects at SCE Lab of Immersive Math in Fraunhofer IDM@NTU,  TTSH-NTU Joint Seminar, Singapore, 16 May 2012
13. Visual Immersive Mathematics and Tangible Images, Nanjing Normal University, 27 February, 2012.
14. Tangible Images, Interactive Digital Media Symposium, Fusionopolis, Singapore, August 2, 2011
15. Visual and Haptic Rendering. Function-based Approach, COST D37 Action “GridChem” ELAMS-QDYN Joint WG Meeting, Thessaloniki, Greece, 27 May, 2010
16. Function-based Interactive Digital Media, Microsoft Research Asia eHeritage workshop, Taipei, Taiwan, May 18-19, 2010

17. Visual and Haptic Rendering in Shared Virtual Worlds, ICCSA 2010, Fukuoka, Japan, 25 March 2010

18. Cyberworlds and Games, The 8^th National Conference on Virtual Reality and Visualization, CCVRV'2008, Fuzhou, China, 19 September 2008

19. Cyberworlds and Games, The 2^nd National Conference on Education Games and Virtual Reality, EGVR'2008, Hangzhou, China, 21 September 2008

20. Function-based Web Visualization and Haptic Rendering, The 2^nd Workshop on Digital Media and its Application in Museum & Heritage,Chongqing, China, 11 Dec 2007

21. Cyberworlds: Reality and Trends, The 5th conference of Digital Library and Cultural/natural Legacy Digitization", Suzhou, China, 9 Dec 2007

22. Cyberworlds: Reality and Trends. Function-based Web Visualization and Haptic Rendering, The State Key Lab of CAD&CG. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 7 Dec 2007

23. Cyberworlds: Reality and Trends. Function-based Web Visualization and Haptic Rendering, The School of Software Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China, 6 Dec 2007

24. Function-based Shape Modeling and Web Visualization, The 2006 International conference on Cyberworlds, Lausanne, 28-29 November, 2006.

25. Function-based Shape Modeling, Web Visualization and Media Grid Applications, The University of Manchester, Visualization Centre, 22 September 200

26. Function-based Shape Modeling, Web Visualization and Media Grid Applications, The University of Leeds, School of Computing, 25 September 2006
    

27. Function-based Shape Modeling, Web Visualization and Media Grid Applications, The University of Wales, Bangor, School of Computer Science, 26 September 2006

28. Function-based Shape Modeling, Web Visualization and Media Grid Applications, The University of Wales, Swansea, Dept of Computer Science, 28 September 2006.

29. From a Small Formula to Cyberworlds, TSCG'2005 workshop of ICCSA'2005, 9-12 May, 2005.

30. From a Small Formula to Cyberworlds, The first ICT Regional Workshop on VR, Korea, Seoul, 17-20 January, 2005.

31. Virtual Orthopedic Surgery, Singapore General Hospital , November, 1998.

32. Function Based Virtual Computer Art, 7th PRIS Seminar in NUS on 01 Aug 2001.

33. Function Representation of Time-Dependent Set-Theoretic Operations, Int. Workshop "Shape Modeling: Parallelism, Interactivity and Applications", Fukushima, Japan, 12-16 Sept., 1994.

Research Students:

Graduated PhD students:

1. Konstantin Levinski "Interactive Function-based Shape Modeling", 2001-2007
2. Liu Qi "Function-based Web Visualization", 2004-2007
3. Wei Lei "Function-based Visual and Haptic Rendering, Interaction and Collaboration in Shared Virtual Spaces", 2006-2011
4. Lai Danbo "Interactive Shape Modeling for Mathematics Visualization", 2009-2014
5. Shahzad Rasool "Tangible Images", 2010-2014
6. Chen Kan “Real-time Animation of Vegetation: Novel 2D Approach and Interactive Authoring Interface” (with Dr. Henry Johan, Fraunhofer Singapore), 2011-2017
7. Koa Ming Di, “Efficient Interactive Multi-Resolution Rendering for Translucent Materials under Area Lights” (with Dr. Henry Johan, Fraunhofer Singapore), 2011-2017
8. Johannes Edelsbrunner “Domain Specific Procedural Modeling of Historical Architecture” (with Dr. Sven Havemann, TU Graz),  2012-2018
9. Bin Weng "Thin Deformable Tissues Modeling for Simulation of Artroscopic Knee Surgery", 2012-2018
10. Zhang Xingzi "Image-inspired Haptic Interaction" (with Prof. Michael Goesele, TU Darmstadt), 2013-2018
11. Cui Jian, "Mid-Air Hand Interaction with Optical Tracking for 3D Modelling" (with Prof. Dieter Fellner and Arjan Kuijper, TU Darmstadt),  2013-2019
12. Mohammad Chegini "Visual Data Analysis Supported by Eye-tracking, Multi-touch Displays, and Machine Learning" (with Prof Tobias Schrek, TU Graz), 2017-2020
13. Dai Wenting "Using Deep Learning for Quality Control in Cyber-manufacturing" (with Dr. Marius Erdt, Fraunhofer Singapore), 2017-2022
14. Wang Hanqin "Problems of Geometry Sonification and Sound Visualization" (with Dr. Li Xiaoli, Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore), 2021-2026
    

Graduated MEng (by research) students:

1. Konstantin Levinski "Interactive Function-based Shape Modeling", 2001-2002
2. Lai Feng Min "Function-based 3D Web Visualization", 2000-2002
3. Vasily Volkov "Adaptive Local Refinement and Simplification for Cloth Simulation", 2001-2002 (with Prof Li Ling, Curtin University)
4. Nguyen Hoang Anh, David "Improving Visual Quality of Synthetic Terrains using Weathering Simulation on Graphics Processing Unit", 2006-2008
5. Sundar Roman, "Efficient Terrain Triangulation and Modification for Games Applications", (with Prof Zheng Jianmin, NTU), 2006-2009
6. Anthony Chong "High-performance Computer Animation Rendering Framework", 2004-2010
7. Ho Chiau Wai "Intelligent Cyber-instructors", 2009-2012
8. Teo Cheng Chuan "Cyber-learning with Cyber-instructors", 2007-2013

Postdocs/Researchers:

1. Dr. Konstantin Levinski (Research Associate, 2008-2009)
2. Dr. Yun Sheng (Research Fellow, 2009-2011)
3. Dr. Lei Wei (Research Associate, 2010-2011)
4. Dr. Shamima Yasmin (Research Associate, 2010-2013)
5. Dr. Pingjun Xia (Research Fellow, 2012-2013)
6. Dr. Shahzad Rasool (Research Fellow, 2014-2016)
7. Mr. Guo Song (Research Associate, 2018)
8. Mr. Abdul Mujeeb (Research Associate, 2017-2019)
9. Dr. Ihar Volkov (Senior Research Fellow, 2018-2019)
10. Dr. Chao Zhang (Research Fellow, 2022)