Finding Erik Andersen

Erik Andersen, you could say, was born to program. His father is a software engineer and Erik himself started programming at a fairly young age. When he came to Carolina, he brought his interest in computer science and eventually declared it as his major. So as you would expect, when he graduates in May 2007, Erik will have earned a degree in computer science and…hold on…linguistics?!? That’s right, linguistics.

Interested in graphics, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Erik has had ample opportunities to explore these subjects at Carolina. This summer he is researching crowd simulation with Professor Ming Lin and a team of researchers at the UNC GAMMA Research Group. Crowd simulation research is what makes simulated battle scenes with large armies possible in the movies like The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia. Simulated crowds are useful for research in other areas as well, such as how to protect people in the event of stampede.

The research team employs a geometric technique called a Voronoi diagram in order to create logical and believable motions for human characters. Working with two graduate students developing the theoretical framework for the project, Erik is in charge of implementing their ideas by creating programs to analyze the method in action and is responsible for creating the demonstrations for the group’s research paper.

So how does the linguistics piece fit in? Like many students who come to Carolina, Erik thought he was interested in only one subject. Yet, UNC, renowned for its liberal arts education as well, has allowed Erik to discover new and equally important interests. His love of languages and other cultures has sent him half way around the world. In 2005, he studied Japanese culture through UNC’s Kyoto Summer Program.

So what will a guy like Erik do when he graduates? He hasn’t quite decided, but he’s contemplating using his computer science background to work in the video game industry or pursue a career in graphics. Then again, he would really enjoy making computer-animated movies like Finding Nemo. Once thing is for sure. He could end up programming from anywhere on the globe.

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