Dr. ERGUN AKLEMAN
Professor, Visual Computing & Computation Media, SPVFA
Joint Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, CoE
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Contact Information
firstname.lastname@gmail.com
firstname.lastname@tamu.edu
Office: 105, Langford Center A,
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Short Bio

I have been a faculty member at Texas A&M University since 1995, contributing to its academic and creative communities for nearly three decades. During this time, I have held positions as a Professor in the Departments of Visualization and Architecture and am currently a Professor in the Visual Computing and Computational Media Section of the newly established School of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Arts. I also hold a joint appointment with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, reflecting the transdisciplinary nature of my teaching and research.

I received my Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1992, where my academic foundation in engineering laid the groundwork for my diverse research interests, which span computer graphics, geometric modeling, and topology. My work focuses on developing innovative computational tools and methodologies that blend artistic creativity with technical rigor, such as my contributions to topological mesh modeling and the creation of the TopMod system, widely used by artists and educators.

Beyond academia, I am a professional cartoonist, illustrator, and caricaturist, having published over 750 works in various formats. My artistic endeavors extend to children's books, popular science articles, and a bi-monthly column in the flagship magazine of the IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Computer. My unique integration of artistic intuition with computational techniques has allowed me to mentor nearly 100 graduate students, many of whom now hold leadership roles in companies such as PIXAR, Disney, DreamWorks, and Google.

My ongoing goal is to bridge the disciplines of computation and creativity, advancing fields like interactive storytelling, computational aesthetics, and design visualization while continuing to inspire and support the next generation of innovators.

Research and Creative Activities: My research bridges computer science, mathematics, and the arts, focusing on transdisciplinary methodologies that enable new forms of creative expression and technical innovation. Over nearly three decades, I have advanced geometric modeling, topology, and visualization, with more than 250 publications spanning these fields. I developed tools like TopMod, a manifold mesh modeling system that empowers artists and designers to create complex shapes with mathematical rigor and aesthetic flexibility. My work integrates artistic intuition with computational precision to explore areas such as shape modeling, computer-aided sculpting, and the study of links, knots, and woven structures, with practical applications in 3D printing, wearable design, and biomimetic systems. This intersection of computation and creativity has been a guiding principle in my research, driving innovations that address challenges in engineering, design, and art.

Looking ahead, I aim to deepen this synergy by exploring emerging fields such as AI-driven design, interactive storytelling, and computational aesthetics. These areas offer immense potential for transforming visualization and communication across disciplines, enabling new ways to create and interact with digital and physical environments. By continuing to develop innovative tools and frameworks, I seek to advance the boundaries of computation and creativity, fostering impactful applications and inspiring the next generation of researchers and creators.

Teaching: Teaching is the cultivation of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Over nearly three decades at Texas A&M University, I have guided students at the intersection of computation, visualization, and the arts, fostering transdisciplinary learning that combines technical rigor with artistic intuition. I emphasize hands-on, problem-solving approaches that encourage students to view challenges as opportunities for innovation. In my courses, students learn technical principles such as algorithm design and computational geometry while applying them to create animations, visualizations, and 3D models. Mentorship is central to my teaching, and I take pride in having supervised nearly 100 graduate students, many of whom now lead in companies like PIXAR and Disney. I integrate communication, storytelling, and design thinking into my courses, equipping students with tools to succeed academically and professionally. Looking ahead, I aim to inspire students to blend art and technology to solve problems, tell stories, and shape the future creatively and responsibly.

Service: I have served in various leadership and service roles throughout my academic career, reflecting my commitment to advancing the university and my field. For more than 10 years, I chaired the departmental Promotion and Tenure (P&T) Committee, playing a critical role in shaping faculty development and promoting a culture of excellence. Additionally, I served as Chair of the Faculty Senate Research Committee for four years and was elected to two terms each in the Faculty Senate and the Council of Principal Investigators, where I represented faculty interests and contributed to institutional decision-making. As the Associate Department Head for the Department of Visualization, I contributed to curriculum development, faculty mentoring, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

Beyond the university, my contributions to the academic community include organizing three major conferences and serving as an editor and reviewer for numerous journals and conferences, ensuring the dissemination of high-quality research. I was honored with the Pasko Service Award at the Shape Modeling International (SMI) Conference, recognizing my significant contributions to the field. These roles reflect my dedication to service, leadership, and fostering collaboration within academia. Moving forward, I remain committed to advancing interdisciplinary research, mentoring the next generation of scholars, and supporting initiatives that enhance research and education across disciplines.

Profile: See my SIGGRAPH Member Profile for more information.



AREAS OF IMPACT
Research
Topological Modeling
My most significant and influential contributions as a researcher have been in shape modeling and computer aided sculpting. My work on a topological mesh modeling. has resulted a powerful manifold mesh modeling system, called TopMod. By using TopMod, high genus manifold shapes can easily be constructed. The initial version of the software, TopMod has been available as free software since 2007. Since then, many talented artists created very interesting sculptures TopMod. I also have a significant body of work in modeling non-orientable surfaces and cyclic woven structures. (See videos from papers: Cyclic plain woven objects and Single-cycle plain woven objects. My current research works include finding new ways for physical construction of large scale complicated shapes. (See videos from papers: Physical Quad Edge Data Structures and Applications)
Art-Directed Expressive Depiction
I call this category also Non-realistic rendering, which includes works such as 3D Chinese painting, implicit painting, cubist rendering or video screening. However, I do not call this subcategory as non-photo-realistic rendering since it also includes finding new conceptual forms and obtaining non-realistic visuals with art-cirected control. I strongly believe that we need to develop mathematical models to simulate a wide variety of artistic styles. I, along with my students developed a significant body of work in this direction. See videos from our recent papers: Chinese Painting, Barycentric Shaders, and Charcoal Shader.

SIGGRAPH Blog entry on Dynamic Paintings
Visual Storytelling
Visual storytelling is an area that is widely neglected by researchers. One can find a wide variety of literature on telling or writing stories in any library; but we do not see such a variety in visual storytelling. The practitioners such as cartoonists, comic book artists and storyboard artists learn the tools of the trade from each other or from existing works. As a cartoonist, I think that comics and cartoons provides a strong model to start storytelling process visually. It is important to identify and formalize the experience and discoveries of cartoonists and comic book artists; and to disseminate these findings. I also think that caricature is also a part of visual storytelling since it encapsulate one of the most important artistic concepts: exaggeration, which is essential for visual storytelling. My most influentical work on storytelling has been on caricaturing. I published methods to convert images into caricatures. On the other hand, my work on visual storytelling goes beyond caricature principles. I recently published a few papers on formalizing storytelling using causality theory.
Implicit Modeling
My early research was on interactive modeling of implicit surfaces. I have developed an piecewise implicit framework during my PhD. Although the framework was mathematically interesting, for all practical/engineering purposes, it was too complicated. I have later improved and simplified the mathematics and I have eventually achieved guaranteed interactivity. I also showed what is needed to guarantee interactivity for modeling any general shape with implicit techniques.
Creative Activities
Cartooning
Effective cartoons require efficient implementation of two of the crucial artistic and scientific concepts: simplification and abstraction. I started to draw cartoons when I was still in high school, in 1976. I learned the fundamentals from the legendry cartoonist, Oguz Aral, who was the editor of Girgir in that time. I, now, realized that I also learned the fundamentals of research process from him. The left image shows a panel of a multi-panel cartoon I drew for Girgir in 1978. I found it in Facebook, which was, thankfully, scanned and shared in Facebook by my peer cartoonists, like many of my old cartoons. I also drew cartoons for Firt magazine and Ses' Atmaca magazine, Milliyet's Makara, Cumhuriyet's Bilim ve Teknik, Matematik Dunyasi, Homur and IEEE Spark.
Illustration
Illustrations and cartoons are two closely related field. The main difference between the two is that illustrations, unlike cartoons, does not have to stand alone. They are usually created to provide visual support to stories. I have created illustrations for Yeni Gundem and Matematik Dunyasi. I also drew illustrations for a few books. I also wrote a few short stories in Milliyet and Cumhuriyet and drew illustrations for my own stories. I recently started to write children's books and I now create significant amount illustrations for my own books.
Caricaturing
Caricaturing and cartooning are closely related, but they are different. In cartoon, we do not exaggerate individual differences and try to simplify as much as possible. Caricature mainly requires the identification of unique features and exaggerate those unique features. Caricaturing is attractive process since it provides a different conceptual challenge than cartooning. I drew my first "truly caricature" caricature image in the last issue of Ses's Atmaca magazine in 1982. After that I started to make more and more caricature portraits and since then my caricatures are published in a variety of publications including Nokta, Yeni Gundem, and Matematik Dunyasi. This particular caricature portrait of Saddam Hossein, published in Yeni Gundem in 1987, is actually a collage obtained by curtting and rearranging a photograph of Soviet Union president Leonid Brezhnev.