Computer Science | Grinnell College

Feb. 19 CS Table location: JRC 224B, noon.

In honor of the recent talks about 3D reproduction of Mayan sites, we will discuss the ownership of the data associated with such reproductions. We have two readings, and both include links to other possible resources.

• Esther Shein. Who Owns 3D Scans of Historic Sites?
• Sam Billingsley Jr. Intellectual Property in the Age of 3D Scanning and 3D Printing.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:50pm. Most CS Tables for the spring semester will meet in JRC 224B inside the Marketplace, though a small number will be in an alternate location, so watch each week for the location. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

On Thursday, February 11, Professor Steve Cunningham will discuss the past, present, and future of computer graphics and graphics processors:

3D computer graphics is an enormous consumer of computing resources, and the market has responded to the continuing growth in demand for high-performance graphics by creating continually more powerful graphics processors. We will trace these parallel paths from the point where 3D graphics began to replace 2D graphics to the near-future state of 3D graphics, and show how the graphics processor is leading us to having usable laptop and desktop supercomputers.

Steve Cunningham is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at California State University, Stanislaus, and a past chair and president of the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics of the Association for Computing Machinery. His most recent book, Graphics shaders: theory and practice (with Mike Bailey), was published last year by AK Peters.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). Professor Cunningham's talk, 3D computer graphics and universal supercomputers, will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821.