Graphics4Science: Computer Graphics for Scientific Impacts

Course Description

Computer graphics, often associated with films, games, and visual effects, has long been a powerful tool for addressing scientific challenges—from its origins in 3D visualization for medical imaging to its role in modern computational modeling and simulation. This course explores the deep and evolving relationship between computer graphics and science, highlighting past achievements, ongoing contributions, and open questions that remain. We show how core methods, such as geometric reasoning and physical modeling, provide inductive biases that help address challenges in both fields, especially in data-scarce settings. To that end, we aim to reframe graphics as a modeling language for science by bridging vocabulary gaps between the two communities. Designed for both newcomers and experts, Graphics4Science invites the graphics community to engage with science, tackle high-impact problems where graphics expertise can make a difference, and contribute to the future of scientific discovery.

Schedule

Time	Session	Speaker(s)	Slides
14:00 - 14:10	Introduction	Peter Yichen Chen, Minghao Guo	Slides
14:10 - 14:35	Visualization for Science	Hanspeter Pfister, Han-Wei Shen	Slides
14:35 - 15:00	Simulation for Science	Ming Lin	Slides
15:00 - 15:25	Imaging for Science	Bill Freeman	Slides
15:25 - 15:45	Coffee Break
15:45 - 16:10	Geometry for Science	Qixing Huang	Slides
16:10 - 16:35	Design for Science	Wojciech Matusik	Slides
16:35 - 17:15	Panel Discussion	Selected session speakers

Materials

Paper PDF: [Link] Slides PDF: [Link] Recordings: [TBD]

Graphics4Science Projects

Physically Valid Biomolecular Interaction Modeling with Gauss-Seidel Projection

Siyuan Chen^*, Minghao Guo^*†, Caoliwen Wang, Anka He Chen, Yikun Zhang, Jingjing Chai, Yin Yang, Wojciech Matusik, Peter Yichen Chen^†

arXiv
*=equal contribution, †=corresponding author

Project: [Website] [PDF]

Interested?

Join Graphics4Science community on Discord, WeChat, and Slack

Discord

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Slack

Speakers

Peter Yichen Chen
University of British Columbia

Minghao Guo
CSAIL, MIT

Hanspeter Pfister
Harvard University

Ming Lin
University of Maryland College Park

William Freeman
CSAIL, MIT

Qixing Huang
The University of Texas at Austin

Han-Wei Shen
The Ohio State University

Wojciech Matusik
CSAIL, MIT

Acknowledgement

We thank Siyuan Chen, Caoliwen Wang, and Kevin Chen for their help in preparing the course website, setting up group chats, and refining the slides.

BibTex

          @article{yichen2025graphics4science,
              title={Graphics4Science: Computer Graphics for Scientific Impacts},
              author={Yichen Chen, Peter and Guo, Minghao and Pfister, Hanspeter and Lin, Ming and Freeman, William and Huang, Qixing and Shen, Han-Wei and Matusik, Wojciech},
              journal={SIGGRAPH 2025 Course},
              year={2025}
          }