Lab Director


Florian Willomitzer is an Associate Professor at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences - University of Arizona. He graduated from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. degree in Physics with honors (‘summa cum laude’) in 2017. During his doctoral studies (PhD advisor: Prof. Gerd Häusler) Florian investigated physical and information theoretical limits of optical 3D-sensing and implemented sensors that operate close to these limits. Concurrent with his Ph.D. activity, he was a freelancer in the research group’s spin-off company ‘3D Shape GmbH’ (now part of ISRA Vision) and he worked as a high school part time teacher for physics. Florian joined Northwestern University as Postdoc (Postdoc advisor: Prof. Oliver Cossairt) in Fall 2017, where he further shaped his current research profile. He became Research Assistant Professor in 2019. In Fall 2022, Florian joined the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona as Associate Professor.

Florian is a recipient of the NSF CRII grant, winner of the Optica 20th Anniversary Challenge, and his Ph.D. thesis was awarded with the Springer Theses Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Research.

Read Florian’s short CV >>


Postdocs


Muralidhar Madabhushi Balaji is a postdoctoral researcher at the Computational 3D Imaging and Measurement Lab at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Prior to that, he was a graduate student at the Photonics Architecture Lab at Southern Methodist University, where his research focused on leveraging the unique properties of coherent light to address complex imaging challenges, including non-line-of-sight imaging and imaging through scattering media. His dissertation integrates the latest advancements in tunable diode lasers, neuromorphic focal plane arrays, and computational processing techniques to image through heavily scattering media.

He earned his Bachelor’s in Electronics and Instrumentation from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in 2014. He completed his Master’s and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Southern Methodist University in 2018 and 2024, respectively.

Jiazhang Wang

PhD Students

John Bass is a first-year PhD student in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He recieved a bachelor’s degree in electrical and optical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2022. He has worked repeatedly with Ball Aerospace, doing Radiometric Analysis and Electrical Systems Engineering for the NEO Surveyor Spacecraft. His current research interests are centered around computational imaging.
Jiwon Choi is a PhD student in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Her work focuses on integrating machine learning in various optical 3D metrology and 3D imaging techniques. In particular, Jiwon’s work exploits deflectometry and deep learning to estimate the eye’s gaze direction based on its surface reflections. Prior to joining the PhD program, she received her M.S. degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University.
Patrick Cornwall
Parker Liu
James Taylor is a first-year PhD student in the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Economics from Vanderbilt University in 2021. He worked for 4D technology, a subsidiary of Onto Innovation, as part of a team building a dual-wavelength interferometer system to measure rougher surfaces with a higher effective wavelength. His current research interests include optical metrology and computational imaging.

Master Students

Stefan Forschner is a master’s student in the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics at California State Polytechnic University – Pomona in 2021. Previously he has worked on NASA SBIR programs for developing laser doppler vibrometer systems for vibrational mode analysis. He now works with Prof. Florian Willomitzer on synthetic wavelength imaging.
Enrique Pena
Tianyi Wang

Affiliated Students


Manuel Ballester is a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University and a member of the 3DIM lab led by Prof. Willomitzer. His research applies novel optimization techniques, advanced computational methods, and machine learning approaches to optics and imaging problems. He works on synthetic wavelength imaging and the improvement of holographic displays. He is also interested in the material characterization of semiconductors (such as CZT and Silicon) to improve sensor performance.

Manuel completed his BSc in Mathematics in 2018 at the University of Cadiz. He received an MSc in Optical Physics in 2021 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Aniket Dashpute is a PhD student in the Electrical Engineering Department at Northwestern University. His current research includes using Event Cameras for 3D shape measurement and applying Computational Imaging techniques to Thermal Imaging & Rendering. He is also interested in Neural Rendering and its applications to computational photography. Aniket completed his undergrad in EE at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT D), India in 2018 where he was advised by Prof. Kedar Khare. He then worked in Samsung Research Institute Bangalore, India till 2020 in the Computer Graphics team responsible for rendering and visualising medical ultrasound data.
Tianfu Wang is a master’s student in the Computer Science Department of ETH Zürich and closely collaborates with the Computational 3D Imaging and Measurment Lab . Tianfu earned his bachelor degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Northwestern University in June 2021. He works with Prof. Florian Willomitzer and Prof. Oliver Cossairt on eye tracking using deflectometry. He also worked with Prof. Jack Tumblin on fluid simulation visualization. Tianfu’s current research interests include computational imaging, computer vision, as well as neural and differentiable rendering.

Previous Lab Members





Yuanxin Guan
Jiazhang Wang was a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Northwestern University. Before joining Northwestern, he earned his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University and bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). His research interests include computational photography, 3D optical metrology and computer vision. He is currently working on developing a novel eye-tracking prototype using optical metrology. After graduating from the 3DIM lab in April 2024, he continues and expands his research in the lab as Postdoctoral Researcher.
Heming Wang was a research specialist in the Computational 3D Imaging and Measurement Lab. He received his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Northwestern University and bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was working on single-shot synthetic wavelength imaging using conventional CCD/CMOS cameras. Heming is now a PhD student at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester.
Madeline Bergay was a master’s student in Prof. Willomitzer’s 3DIM Lab. She worked on 3D imaging with mobile devices using a Multi-line Triangulation. Madeline is now working at Northrop Grumman.
Jiren Li was a master’s student in the Computational 3D Imaging and Measurment Lab and worked on Single-Shot Synthetic Wavelength Imaging. Jiren is now a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh.
Quan Zhang was a master student in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Northwestern University. He was working with Prof. Willomitzer on free-hand-guided deflectometry with mobile devices. Quan is now a PhD student at Stony Brook University.