Tobias Günther is awarded the EUROGRAPHICS Young Researcher Award 2021. He received his MSc in Computer Science at Magdeburg University with highest honors in 2013. He then received his PhD in Visualization and Computer Graphics from Magdeburg University (summa cum laude) in 2016, under the supervision of Holger Theisel. From 2016 until 2020 he was a postdoc in the Computer Graphics Lab at ETH Zürich. In 2020, he became a professor of visual computing (W2) at the Friedrich- Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Günther has made a large number of original, methodically deep and widely recognized contributions to the area of visualization. More specifically, he contributed several important new methods for the visualization of high-dimensional and time-varying data, as well as for the feature-based visualization of flow data. As an example, he proposed new techniques from light transport in heterogeneous participating media to the unbiased rendering of features in Lagrangian scalar fields. In flow visualization, Tobias Günther made a number of contributions in extracting and visualizing integral geometry, studying the vortical motion and separation behavior of particles, and extending traditional massless particle visualization to finite-sized objects.
His academic portfolio is versatile, including works on rendering in top graphics venues. For example, he proposed a new technique to accelerate Monte Carlo rendering to provide faster feedback and more control for artists. Furthermore, he explored real-time rendering solutions that efficiently mimic natural phenomena, such as interactive material aging simulations. More recently, he is investigating cross-sectional algorithmic concepts at the intersection of machine learning, specifically deep learning, and flow visualization.
Günther is the recipient of an impressive number of important awards, such as the EUROGRAPHICS PhD Thesis Award, IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee (VGTC) Dissertation Award, Best Paper Award at TopoInVis, as well as Best Paper Honorable Mentions at EUROGRAPHICS and IEEE Visualization.
Eurographics is pleased to recognize Tobias Günther with the 2021 Young Researcher Award.