PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Dr. Sanjeev Koppal
Sanjeev J. Koppal is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and is a Kent and Linda Fuchs Faculty Fellow. He also held a UF Term Professorship for 2021-23. Sanjeev is the Director of the FOCUS Lab at UF. Since 2022, Sanjeev has been an Amazon Scholar with Amazon Robotics. Prior to joining UF, he was a researcher at the Texas Instruments Imaging R&D lab. Sanjeev obtained his Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. After CMU, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Southern California in 2003 as a Trustee Scholar. He is a co-author on best student paper awards for ECCV 2016 and NEMS 2018, and work from his FOCUS lab was a CVPR 2019 best-paper finalist. Sanjeev won an NSF CAREER award in 2020 and is an IEEE Senior Member and an Optica Senior Member. His interests span computer vision, computational photography and optics, novel cameras and sensors, 3D reconstruction, physics-based vision, and active illumination.
sjkoppal@ece.ufl.edu
352-392-8942
MALA 5103
Ph.D STUDENTS
Justin Folden
Before joining the FOCUS Lab at UF, Justin obtained a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida Polytechnic University. His interests include LiDAR, computer vision, deep learning, and computational photography. With the focus of his work being adaptive LiDAR.
jfolden@ufl.edu
Hannah Kirkland
Hannah is a graduate research assistant in the FOCUS Lab. She graduated with a B.S in Electrical Engineering from UF in 2021. Their interests include computational photography, quantum computing, and computer vision.
hkirkland@ufl.edu
Yuxuan Zhang
Yuxuan earned his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Xi’an Jiao Tong University and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Florida. His interdisciplinary expertise includes Software Engineering (Web Development, Multi-threaded Programming, Machine Learning, Linux Deployment and Maintenance), Electrical Engineering (HDL Languages, ISA Emulators, PCB Prototyping, Embedded Systems Development and Communication Protocols), and Mechanical Engineering (CAD Tools, Robotic Mechanisms, 3D Printing and many other CNC manufacturing technologies). His current research focuses on foveated vision systems.
zhangyuxuan@ufl.edu | GitHub
Michael Tomadakis
Michael is a 2024 Computer Science graduate from the University of Florida. He’s been passionate about graphics since discovering shaders in Unreal Engine 3 twelve years ago, but his interests have matured into Computer Vision and Neural Rendering. He is working on NeRF stitching and adjacent techniques.
m.tomadakis@ufl.edu | resume
Jacob Carter
Jacob graduated from Louisiana State University in 2024 with a B.S. in Computer Science. He is interested in AI, Machine Learning, and Computer Vision.
carterjacob@ufl.edu
Dexter Burns
Dexter earned his Bachelor’s degree in 2021 from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica. Prior to joining the FOCUS Lab, he gained valuable experience as an Electrical and Software Engineer in the Material Handling Industry, where he honed his technical skills and problem-solving abilities. His interests lie in Embedded Systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). At the FOCUS Lab, Dexter’s research is focused on advancing IoT applications in agriculture through projects with IoT4Ag, contributing to the development of innovative solutions for smart farming and sustainable technology integration.
burns.dexter@ufl.edu
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Piper Taylor
Piper is currently a junior majoring in Computer Engineering, with interests in signal processing and computational photography.
ptaylor2@ufl.edu
Luke Slaughter
Luke is majoring in Computer Engineering and is interested in computer vision, computational photography, and their applications.
luke.slaught@ufl.edu
Trung Le
Ethan Mitchell
I’m a junior majoring in computer engineering and I’m interested in ROVs and robotics and their applications.
ALUMNI
Doctoral Students
Brevin Tilmon – Quidient
Thesis: Foveated Computational Imaging (2023)
Xiaomeng Liu
Thesis: Lightweight Light Transport for Non-line-of-sight Imaging (2022)
Dingkang Wang – Texas Instruments
Thesis: Quasi-static Scanning and Monolithic Forward Scanning Electrothermal MEMS Mirrors for LIDAR (2021)
Kristofer Henderson – Lockheed Martin
Thesis: Sensor Fusion for Non-Line-of-Sight Visualization and Imaging (2020)
Francesco Pittaluga – NEC Labs
Thesis: Privacy Preserving Computational Cameras (2019)
Xiaoyang Zhang (PhD co-advised with Dr. Huikai Xie) – Apple
Thesis: Robust Electrothermally Actuated Scanner for Fiberoptic Endoscopic Imaging and Wide-angle Optics (2016)
Master’s and Undergraduate Students
Class of 2024
Jackson Arnold (MS)
Chloe Petrosino (BS) – PhD Candidate at Duke University
Class of 2023
Lianan Armil (BS)
Dylan Ogrodowski (BS) – MS student at University of Florida
Class of 2022
Sophia Rossi (BS) – Microsoft
Nicolas Laffineuse (BS) – Texas Instruments
Gavin St. John (BS)
Class of 2021
TJ Thomas (BS) – PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University
Class of 2018
Zaid Tasneem (MS) – PhD candidate at Rice University
Class of 2017
Nahien Chowdhury (BS) – The Boeing Company
Tatiana Luna (BS) – MS/PhD candidate at Columbia University
Aashik Nagadikeri Harish (MS) – STRIVR Labs
Class of 2016
Aleksandar Zivkovic (MS) – Magic and Company
Junior Metayer (BS) – Florida Power and Light
Phillip Riley (MS) – Harris Corporation
Ishwarya Iyengar Thirunarayanan (MS) – Siemens Imaging
Class of 2015
Elizabeth Butler (MS) – Lockheed Martin