I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand on April 4, 1981. When I was six my family immigrated to the US.
We've been living in Willows, a town thirty minutes away from Chico, Ca, ever since. I graduated with a
BS in Computer Science at CSU Chico. While there I had the time of my life. I had a steady job, decent grades,
and my own apartment. I met lots of new people, made a ton of friends, and just enjoyed myself tremendously.
I don't think I learned much (no, I definitely didn't learn much), but I graduated in 2005 so it must have been
enough. Leaving Chico was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done, since most of my best friends
in the world still live there. Currently I'm trying (really hard!) to get a PhD in Computer Science at UC
Santa Barbara.
Its been said that your memories are what define you. I remember being sick most of the time before we got
to the US. I remember more than twenty people crammed into a sheet-metal room no
bigger than my current one-bedroom apartment and the small meals which had to be divided between four families. I remember
just how special three other people can be to you; giving you everything when there was nothing left to give.
But most of all, I remember the constant HUNGER. Not the type of hunger which can be remedied with food
(although there was some of that too), but the worst kind: the feeling that there was more to life than what you
were getting. There just had to be.
So what motivates me you ask? When we got to this country my parents worked hard. That always sounds so simple. My dad was going to night classes and working three jobs.
Mom was doing the same and working two. My brother and I were the center of their lives and everything they did,
they did for us. I'm ashamed to admit that as a kid I sometimes felt embarassed that my old man was a
janitor, when the other kids would describe their dad's jobs. When I finally lifted my head out of my ass,
I realized just how lucky my brother and I were. We got here in the winter of 1987 with a few dollars and the clothes
on our back. By 2010 my old man was a self-employed businessman, owned his own house and land, had one son as one of the hottest
young sales-rep at Sherwin Williams in So-Cal, and another on the last legs of his PhD. Mom and dad
did this with pure courage, determination, and a blind love for their kids while their two brats were
growing up and complaining the whole time. I've never seen my father relax or take a vacation in his whole life.
Anyone who knows me knows that this is the ONLY reason I'm where I am. Its
always been for the old man, since I know that his one greatest regret was not being able to go to college.
I've known many things in my short life, and I've realized that life here in the land of the free is fantastic. This is
my American Dream. This is my Pursuit of Happiness. This is the story of my Life.
Publications:
(1) An Immaterial Depth-Fused 3D Display. ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Science and Technology 2007. Best Student Paper Award.
(2) Depth-Fused 3D Imagery on an Immaterial Display. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. Vol 15. p. 20-23. 2008.
(3) A Replication Study Testing the Validity of AR Simulation in VR for Controlled Experiments. Poster at IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2009.
(4) The Role of Latency in the Validity of AR Simulation. IEEE Virtual Reality 2010.
(5) Evaluating the Impact of Recovery Density on Augmented Reality Tracking. IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2011.
Current Research Interests:
Novel Display Technologies
-Physically Large Displays
-Augmented Reality Display Systems
-Virtual Reality Display Systems
Virtual Reality
Augmented Reality
Mixed Reality Simulation
-User Studies in Mixed Reality Simulation
-Validation of User Studies Conducted Using Mixed Simulation
-Immersion Factors
Teaching History:
Teaching Assistant at UCSB
Fall 2006: CS 160: Programming Languages. Voted Outstanding TA, Honorable Mention
Winter 2006: CS 160: Programming Languages. Voted Oustanding TA
Spring 2007: CS 012: Programming Methods in C
Awarded Outstanding TA in CS for 2006-2007
Nominated for 2007-2008 Campus-wide Outstanding TA Award
Selected Lead TA for 2007-2008 for CS
Academic Conferences History:
2008 - Co-Chair for UCSB Graduate Student Workshop on Computing
2009 - Program Committee for UCSB Graduate Student Workshop on Computing
2011 - Program Committee for 7th International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC'11)
Outreach Events:
July 1st, 2011 - Apprentice Researchers Program: lab visit from prospective science and engineering high school students.
July 2nd, 2010 - Apprentice Researchers Program: lab visit from prospective science and engineering high school students.
July 6th, 2009 - Yuan-Lin Summer Camp Visit: lab visit for middle school students from Yuan-Lin
April 10th, 2009 - 2009 CNSI Science Expo
January 13, 2009 - Education Department Visit: introducing prospective science teachers for K-12 education to research.
July 29, 2008 - Tech Trek 2008: lab visit from Junior High Girl's Tech Trek 2008.
July 11, 2008 - Taiwan Student Visit: lab visit from Taiwanese middle school students.
June 20, 2008 - Apprentice Researchers Program: lab visit from prospective science and engineering high school students.
June 29, 2007 - Apprentice Researchers Program: lab visit from prospective science and engineering high school students.
June 22, 2007 - Apprentice Researchers Program: lab visit from prospective science and engineering high school students.
Jan 30, 2007 - LEAPS visit, lab workshop for local eighth grade science class.
Nov 16, 2006 - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Visit: introduction to graduate student life and research at UCSB.
Work History
Research Assistant, Fall 2006 - Present
UCSB Four Eyes Lab in Computer Science
Worked on many projects related to Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality Simulation.
WorldViz LLC Contractor, May 2007 - Present
WorldViz LLC
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Worked on WorldViz's PPT, an optical tracking solution.
Software Engineer Internship, April 2002 - June 2004
Prodigm, Inc
Chico, CA 95928
Worked on IMSure QA, an application for performing MU check, IMRT check, and IMRT patient dose verification.