Month: May 2010

Plants vs. Zombies – strategies for a successful research career

Making a career as a researcher in academia is very difficult. I am using the iPhone game Plants versus Zombies as a metaphor to highlight good strategies for wining the game and to succeed in your career. The main conclusions are that time is of the essence, that you must maintain research as your prime objective and that you should use extra help, such as copy editors, to improve your research output.

A CAVE system based on the CryEngine2 game engine

We build a CAVE system based on the CryEngine2 game engine. The game engine is a multi-platform game development middleware that provides state of the art, photorealistic real-time visuals and enhanced physics, handling both interior spaces and vast landscapes in single- or multi-player settings.

The improved visuals and performance of the CryEngine2 over the game engines used by similar systems like CAVEUT, confirm CryVE system as a solid alternative to bring state of the art technology and photorealistic graphics to low-cost CAVE systems. CryVE is a low-cost implementation that offers advantages to the scientific, gaming, and graphics enthusiasts communities. Check it out at: http://cryve.id.tue.nl/

Notes on Design and Science

The ICT&S Center at the Salzburg University kindly invited me to present my thoughts on Design and Science. Professor Manfred Tscheligi and Dr Astrid Weiss organized this inspiring evening in the picturesque old city center of Salzburg. Please enjoy this video recording of the presentation. You can link to the video through its DOI: 10.4016/17749.01. A report on this event is available at the ICT&S Center’s website.