Eftychios Sifakis

Eftychios Sifakis is a Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the department in January 2011 after a postdoctoral appointment at UCLA (2007-2010) and holds a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University (2007). His research focuses on physics-based modeling, computer graphics, and scientific computing, with applications in biomechanics and virtual surgery. Key projects include surgical simulators, material point methods, and real-time deformable body simulation.

Education:

• PhD in Computer Science, Stanford University, 2007
• BS in Computer Science & Mathematics, University of Crete, Greece, 2000-2002

Research Interests: His work bridges computational physics and visual computing, emphasizing algorithms for fluid dynamics, topology optimization, and medical simulation. He develops scalable numerical methods for large-scale simulations on heterogeneous hardware.

Teaching: Courses include CS559 (Computer Graphics), CS839 (Physics-Based Modeling), and CS412 (Numerical Methods). He has taught at both UW-Madison and UCLA.

Labs/Teams: Leads research on computational biomechanics and fluid-structure interaction within the UW-Madison Computer Sciences Department. Collaborates on projects like the Chrono physics engine and surgical simulation frameworks.