Hao Li, a celebrated computer scientist and entrepreneur, has made a profound and lasting impact on the realms of Computer Graphics and Computer Vision, his professional pursuits having far-reaching and profound effects on the development of these disciplines.
As the visionary founder and CEO of Pinscreen, Inc., Li has played a pivotal role in spearheading innovation and driving growth within the company, his leadership and entrepreneurial acumen having been instrumental in shaping the organization's trajectory and propelling it towards new heights of success.
Notably, Li's professional endeavors extend beyond his entrepreneurial ventures, as he has been appointed a Fellow at the esteemed University of California, Berkeley, a testament to his exceptional expertise and contributions to his field.
Li's academic background is characterized by a robust foundation in computer science, which he established during his tenure as an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, where he likely made significant scholarly contributions and mentored numerous students.
Li's remarkable professional journey has been marked by a series of notable appointments, including a tenure as director of the esteemed Vision and Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, a prestigious institution at the forefront of innovative research and development in the fields of computer graphics, simulation, and virtual reality.
Furthermore, Li has also held the distinguished position of visiting professor at Weta Digital, the renowned visual effects company behind some of the most iconic films in the industry, known for their groundbreaking work on movies such as Avatar, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit.
In addition to his academic and industry affiliations, Li has also served as research lead at Industrial Light & Magic / Lucasfilm, a leading visual effects company and a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for creating some of the most memorable and awe-inspiring visual effects in cinema history.
Throughout his career, Li's research focus has centered around the development of sophisticated algorithms for 3D processing, which have been widely adopted and integrated into the visual effects industry, revolutionizing the way films and other digital content are created and experienced.
Paul Walker's digital likeness was brought to life through a high-fidelity facial performance capture pipeline developed by Li, a pioneering achievement in virtual production that allowed for the seamless recreation of the deceased actor's expressions and mannerisms in the 2015 blockbuster film Furious 7.
Li's remarkable contributions to the field have been lavishly acknowledged with a plethora of prestigious awards, including the TR35 Award in 2013, which bestowed upon him the esteemed distinction of being one of the top 35 innovators under the age of 35, as designated by the illustrious MIT Technology Review.
Additionally, he has received the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award in 2018, a testament to his exceptional research prowess, and was further distinguished by being named to the DARPA ISAT Study Group in 2019, a prestigious honor that underscores his status as a leading authority in his field.
In the year 2020, a significant milestone was achieved by Li, as he took home the esteemed "Best in Show" award at the ACM SIGGRAPH Real-Time Live! event, thereby cementing his position as a prominent authority in the realm of computer graphics and computer vision.
