UNC - "Computer Graphics" vs "Graphics: User Interaction"

[AniketBera]

Hi,

I got PhD admit from UNC. They say that they are ranked 1 in "Graphics : User Interaction" and ranked 2 in "Computer Graphics" (Acc to USNEWS). What is the difference between these two specialty fields ? Can anyone point out the different web pages (lab pages) for the same.

Thank you !

[AniketBera]

I am waiting for replies. Please help !

[jyyhope]

I am not sure about the details of UNC. In general, computer graphics has a lot of research topics, including motion tracking, animation, etc. Many of them are used in places like animation industry and disconnected to interaction. Computer graphic(CG) and human-computer interaction(HCI) are two mainstream research areas, and I don't heard about the "graphics: user interaction" you mentioned.

In UNC's web, you can find they have these two research areas: CG and HCI. But there is no sign of "graphics: user interaction". I think it might be a subarea of CG, or a lab's specific research topic combining the CG and HCI. Ask administrators of UNC might be a better choice. I hope my answer could help you.

[Networc]

I found the following at: http://www.cs.unc.edu/cms/research/research-areas/computer-graphics

"Computer graphics research at UNC investigates the representation, creation, and manipulation of image data that serve as the visual interface between people and computers. One of our primary research focuses is interactive graphics where the main challenges are the rapid generation of photorealistic images and high-quality simulation in response to user inputs, as well as the development of both software and hardware mechanisms for human interaction with graphical systems."

To me, this description seems very similar to how they describe HCI: http://www.cs.unc.edu/cms/research/research-areas/human-computer-interaction

Your best bet is to contact someone like jyyhope said. If the Ph.D. acceptance letter is like the Master's, then you should have been given a 'contact professor' for correspondence. I'd start there.