Great Lakes Graphics Workshop

April 7th, 2025  | 8:30 am - 5:00 pm CST  | University of Chicago

About

Great Lakes Graphics is a single-day workshop at the University of Chicago.

It aims to strengthen connections within the local graphics research community and bring together researchers from universities across the Great Lakes region to share recent advances in computer graphics in a friendly and accessible atmosphere.

The workshop features engaging talks and plenty of time for informal conversations, providing an excellent opportunity to showcase your work, exchange ideas, and connect with peers.

Schedule

The talks are planned to be 15 minutes each with 3 minutes for Q&A per talk.

8:30am Breakfast and socializing
9:00am Opening remarks
9:10am
Talk session 1: Representation
Emergent Latent Intrinsic Representations for Scene Relighting
Anand Bhattad (Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago)
2D Neural Fields with Learned Discontinuities
Chenxi Liu (University of Toronto)
Neural Fields Beyond Graphics: Solving Inverse Problems in the Natural Sciences
Aviad Levis (University of Toronto)
NeRFs for Large-Scale Scenes and Mobile Applications
Yuqun Wu (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
iSeg: Interactive 3D Segmentation via Interactive Attention
Itai Lang (University of Chicago)
10:40am Coffee break
11:00am
Talk session 2: Reconstruction
Acquisition-Aware Generative Scene Reconstruction
David B. Lindel (University of Toronto)
FastMap: Dense and Scalable Structure from Motion Revisited
Jiahao Li (Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago)
Toward Digital Twins of Trees: High-Fidelity Reconstruction and Generation via Diffusion and Transformers
Jae Joong (Purdue University)
Implicit Surface Reconstruction from Sparse Samples
Jianjun Xia (Washington University in Saint Louis)
SPLART: Articulation Estimation and Part-Level Reconstruction with 3D Gaussian Splatting
Matthew Walter (Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago)
12:30pm Lunch
1:30pm
Talk session 3: Generative Modeling
Improving Optimization Techniques for 3D Generation and Manipulation
Selena Ling (University of Toronto)
Scalable, Physics-Driven Generation of Human-Object Interactions
Sirui Xu (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Nested Diffusion Models Using Hierarchical Latent Priors
Xiao Zhang and Ruoxi Jiang (University of Chicago)
Versatile 3D/4D Content Generation and Editing by Mastering Spatial-Temporal Consistency
Junkun Chen (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Customizing Large-Scale Text-to-Image Models
Nupur Kumari (Carnegie Mellon University)
3:00pm Coffee break
3:20pm
Talk session 4: Emerging Directions
Interactive Physics-Based Design
Otman Benchekroun (University of Toronto)
Realistic and Controllable Weather Simulation in Real-World Scenes
Chih-Hao Lin (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Maximizing Parallelization for Dynamics in Interactive Textures
Daniel Rehberg (University of Notre Dame)
Mind the Gap: Leakproof Coupling between Compressible Fluids and Solids
Jonathan Panuelos (University of Toronto)
Challenges of Aerial Computer Vision for Emergency Response Scenarios
Arturo Russell Bernal (University of Notre Dame)
4:50pm Closing remarks
5:00pm Optional walking tour at the University of Chicago
5:30pm Socializing and dinner (on your own)

Location

The workshop will take place at the John Crerar Library, third floor, room #390.

Registration

Registration is now live! You can register using the form below directly or from here.

Transit

There are several transit options for arriving at the University of Chicago. All Chicago public transit (CTA) takes card swipe/tap.
The Metra requires purchasing a ticket through the Ventra App.
The #2 and #6 buses are generally recommended if coming from downtown/north.

Alternatively, the University of Chicago offers shuttle services (technically require the University of Chicago ID, but they don't check). The key shuttles coming from downtown are the downtown campus connector and the south loop shuttle. Live shuttle locations can be viewed here.

From O'Hare Airport

  1. Take the Blue Line to Jackson, then transfer to the Downtown Campus Connector. Ride to 59th and Maryland stop.
  2. Take the Blue Line to Jackson, then transfer to the #2 bus (Hyde Park Express) southbound on State & Jackson. Ride to 60th St. and Ellis.
  3. Take the Blue Line to Jackson, then transfer to the #6 bus (Jackson Park Express) southbound on State & Jackson. Ride to Stony Island & 57th St.
  4. Take the Blue line to Washington, then walk to Millenium Station (Michigan & Randolph). Take the Metra Electric line down to Lake Park Ave. & 57th St.
  5. Take the Blue line to Jackson, then transfer to the Red Line (95th/Dan Ryan) and take to Garfield. Transfer to the #55 bus (eastbound) and take to 55th St. & Ellis.
From Midway Airport
  1. Bus route is slow so Uber/Lyft recommended.
  2. Take the #55 bus to 55th St. & Ellis.
From the Loop (downtown)
  1. Take the Downtown Campus Connector. Ride to 59th and Maryland stop.
  2. Take the the #2 bus and ride to 60th St. and Ellis.
  3. Take the #6 bus and ride to Stony Island & 57th St.

Parking

Most street parking is free around campus. Recommended streets are (east-west) 55th-57th and Midway Plaisance, or (north-south) Ellis, University, Woodlawn, or Dorchester, though be aware that spots will be limited on Monday morning. If necessary, 60th/61st street around TTIC or north of 55th St. is usually available. Paid parking lot options are available as well (see here).

Accommodations

A list of preferred accommodations can be found here.

Recommended Things to Do

Discounted attraction passes can be purchased through here. Bolded items are highly recommended by the organizers.

Tourist Attractions Museums (free days) Restaurants (🌱 = vegan-friendly, ⭐ = Chicago classic) Bars Neighborhoods Map view (with additional recommendations):

Organizers

Acknowledgements

We are thankful for the University of Chicago for hosting and sponsoring the event.