David J. Zielinski

David J. Zielinski
Virtual Reality Software Engineer
Visualization Technology Group. (VTG)
Duke School of Engineering (Pratt)

David J. Zielinski received his BS and MS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1998-2004). There he studied topics such as networking, artifical intelligence, electronic music, and computer graphics. For his graduate work he created a suite of virtual reality musical instruments under the guidance of Bill Sherman. David then joined the Duke University Visualization Technology Group as a full-time staff member under the direction of Rachael Brady in 2004. Current software is created using the commercial engine/language/IDE of Virtools or the open-source combination of Syzygy, C++, and OpenGL.

Publications and Posters:

"Exploring Semantic Social Networks using Virtual Reality". to be presented at the 7th International Semantic Web conference to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, from October 26th to October 30th 2008.

"Adapting Human Fear Conditioning to a Fully-Immersive Virtual Reality Environment" Nicole C. Huff, Jose Alba Hernandez, David J. Zielinski, Holton S. Thompson, Rachael Brady, and Kevin S. LaBar. presented as a poster at the Social and Affective Neuroscience Conference. Boston, MA. 2008.

"Fear Conditioning in a Fully-Immersive Virtual Reality Environment", Nicole C. Huff, Jose Alba Hernandez, David J. Zielinski, Holton S. Thompson, Rachael Brady, and Kevin S. LaBar. presented as a poster at the Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Meeting. San Francisco, CA. 2008. (PDF)

"Redgraph: Navigating Semantic Web Networks using Virtual Reality", Harry Halpin, David J. Zielinski, Rachael Brady, and Glenda Kelly, presented as a poster at the IEEE Virtual Reality 2008 Conference, Reno NV. Published in the conference proceedings p 257-258. 2008. (PDF)

Current Projects:

	KinImmerse. Currently working with Jeremy N. Block from the Richardson Lab to create a kinemage viewer/manipulator to facilitate production level structural bioinformatics work in virtual reality. Syzygy.
	Redgraph. Currently working with RDF expert Harry Halpin to create interaction techniques to help explore semantic web node-link graphs. Version 0.1 was showcased during the 2007 Duke University HASTAC conference. Version 0.2 (additional features) has been completed. Features are currently being planned for Version 0.3, along with a collaboration with RENCI. Syzygy.
	Musical Instruments. Working on virtual reality musical instruments/interfaces. Syzygy.
	Realtime Raytracing. Work on realtime raytracing with David Smith group. Syzygy.
	Stressful Environments. Work with addiction specialist Zach Rosenthal on developing stressful environments. Virtools.
	Fear Extinction. work with Nicole Huff, Jose A. Alba Hernandez, Maya artist Holton Stonestreet, and Rachael Brady on the "snakes and spiders" project. The goal of this project is to use the visual stimulus along with measures of skin conductance and electrical shocks to better understand fear extinction. Understanding this mechanism better would be useful for the treatment of PTSD. Virtools.
	Driving Simulator. Working with Wayne Kelly and Holton Stonestreet. Virtools.
	Soundspace. helping Steve Feller to impliment a Museum of Life and Science interactive sound installation.
	Novel Tracking System. working with Steve Feller.

Pictures and Descriptions of Past Projects