Alla Safonova
Assistant Professor
Computer and Information Science (CIS)
Research Expertise: Computer Graphics | Computer Animation
In her work on computer animation and computer graphics, Alla researches novel ways to automatically synthesize natural and physically realistic motions of human characters and animals. Such methods are useful in entertainment, education, medical treatment, and training simulators. Alla uses vast amounts of data generated by motion capture cameras to create compact spaces of natural human motion that can then be efficiently searched for solutions that match user specifications. She is especially interested in developing character animation methods accessible to users with a wide range of user experience.
Member of:
Education:
PhD Computer Science 2006 - Carnegie Mellon University
MS Computer Science 2001 - Georgia Institute Of Technology
BS Computer Science 1997 - Stevens Institute Of Technology
Recent Publications 
- Data-driven finger motion synthesis for gesturing characters, Jörg, S. | Hodgins, J. | Safonova, A., ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2012
- How responsiveness affects players' perception in digital games, Jörg, S. | Normoyle, A. | Safonova, A., Proceedings, SAP 2012 - ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, 2012
- Planning with adaptive dimensionality for mobile manipulation, Gochev, K. | Safonova, A. | Likhachev, M., Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2012
- A data-driven appearance model for human fatigue, Kider Jr., J.T. | Pollock, K. | Safonova, A., Proceedings - SCA 2011: ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, 2011
- High-dimensional planning on the GPU, Kider Jr., J.T. | Henderson, M. | Likhachev, M. | Safonova, A., Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2010