Thomas Schultz

MPI for Intelligent Systems
Spemannstraße 38
72076 Tübingen
Germany

E-Mail: tschultz@tuebingen.mpg.de
Phone: +49 7071 601 583

Note that my former uchicago email address is being phased out.

Research

I am a mathematically inclined applied computer scientist, with specific expertise in the fields of visualization, image processing, and image analysis. On the methodical side, I am particularly interested in tensor decompositions, higher-order tensor fields, and feature-based visualization; on the application side, most of my work has been in the area of neuroscience and medicine, especially on Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT-MRI) and High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI). I am currently extending the scope of my work to a stronger use of machine learning techniques, modeling of uncertainty, and applications to a wider range of imaging modalities.

News

I am co-organizing this year's MICCAI Workshop on Computational Diffusion MRI. Deadline for paper submissions is June 10!
I am serving my second term on the IPC of Vision, Modeling & Visualization (VMV). Deadline for paper submissions is June 25!
With T.J. Jankun-Kelly, I am serving my second term as a Posters Co-Chair of IEEE Visualization in 2012. Deadline for poster submissions is June 27!
I am serving on the Program Committee of the (German) Workshop "Trends und aktuelle Entwicklungen für die computerassistierte Neurochirurgie", which will take place at GI Informatik 2012.
With Jan Klein, I have taught a course on Diffusion Imaging at SPIE Medical Imaging 2012 in San Diego.
Slides are available for our tutorial on Tensors in Visualization at IEEE VisWeek 2010 (Salt Lake City).

Publications

	Learning a Reliable Estimate of the Number of Fiber Directions in Diffusion MRI Thomas Schultz Conditionally accepted for Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), 2012
	Computational Vascular Morphometry for the Assessment of Pulmonary Vascular Disease based on Scale-Space Particles Raúl San José Estépar, James C. Ross, Karl Krissian, Thomas Schultz, George R. Washko, and Gordon L. Kindlmann To appear in Proc. IEEE Int'l Symp. on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 2012
	Segmenting Thalamic Nuclei: What Can We Gain From HARDI? Thomas Schultz In G. Fichtinger, A. Martel, T. Peters (Eds.): Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), Part II, LNCS 6892, pages 141-148, Springer, 2011 Selected for oral presentation (4.15% AR). [pdf] [bib] The definite version is available at www.springerlink.com.
	Topological Features in 2D Symmetric Higher-Order Tensor Fields Thomas Schultz Computer Graphics Forum (Proc. EuroVis) 30(3):841-850, 2011
	Towards Resolving Fiber Crossings with Higher Order Tensor Inpainting Thomas Schultz To appear in D.H. Laidlaw and A. Vilanova (Eds): New Developments in the Visualization and Processing of Tensor Fields, Springer, 2011
	Superquadric Glyphs for Symmetric Second-Order Tensors Thomas Schultz and Gordon Kindlmann IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (Proc. IEEE Visualization) 16(6):1595-1604, 2010 Core implementation available in Teem. [pdf] [bib]
	Multi-Diffusion-Tensor Fitting via Spherical Deconvolution: A Unifying Framework Thomas Schultz, Carl-Fredrik Westin, and Gordon Kindlmann In T. Jiang et al. (Eds.): MICCAI 2010, Part I, LNCS 6361, pp. 673-680. Springer, Heidelberg (2010) Core implementation available in Teem. [pdf] [images] [bib] The definite version is available at www.springerlink.com.
	Feature Extraction for DW-MRI Visualization: The State of the Art and Beyond Thomas Schultz In H. Hagen (Ed.): Scientific Visualization: Interactions, Features, Metaphors, pp. 322-345. Dagstuhl Follow-Ups, vol. 2, 2011 [pdf of preprint] [bib]
	A Maximum Enhancing Higher-Order Tensor Glyph Thomas Schultz and Gordon Kindlmann Computer Graphics Forum (Proc. EuroVis) 29(3):1143-1152, 2010 Core implementation available in Teem. [pdf] [bib]
	Crease Surfaces: From Theory to Extraction and Application to Diffusion Tensor MRI Thomas Schultz, Holger Theisel, and Hans-Peter Seidel IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 16(1):109-119, 2010 Revised version of Research Report MPI-I-2008-4-003, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, December 2008 Core implementation available in Teem. [pdf of research report] [bib]
	Feature Extraction for Visual Analysis of DW-MRI Data Thomas Schultz PhD thesis, Universität des Saarlandes, June 2009 Awarded the Otto Hahn Medal 2009 by Max Planck Society. [pdf] [bib] 10-page German summary in: Ausgezeichnete Informatikdissertationen 2009. GI-Edition: Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI) D-10, 251-260, 2010. [pdf]
	A Higher-Order Structure Tensor Thomas Schultz, Joachim Weickert, and Hans-Peter Seidel In D.H. Laidlaw and J. Weickert (Eds): Visualization and Processing of Tensor Fields: Advances and Perspectives. Springer, pages 263-280, 2009 Revised version of Research Report MPI-I-2007-4-005, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, July 2007 [pdf of research report] [bib]
	Estimating Crossing Fibers: A Tensor Decomposition Approach Thomas Schultz and Hans-Peter Seidel IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (Proc. IEEE Visualization) 14(6):1635-1642, 2008 Received the Vis 2008 Best Paper Award. Featured in the SPIE newsroom (PDF version). [pdf] [bib]
	Using Eigenvalue Derivatives for Edge Detection in DT-MRI Data Thomas Schultz and Hans-Peter Seidel In G. Rigoll (Ed): Pattern Recognition (Proc. DAGM), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 5096, Springer, pages 193-202, 2008 Implementation available in version 1.10.0 of the teem library. [pdf] [bib]
	Virtual Klingler Dissection: Putting Fibers into Context Thomas Schultz, Natascha Sauber, Alfred Anwander, Holger Theisel, and Hans-Peter Seidel Computer Graphics Forum (Proc. EuroVis) 27(3):1063-1070, 2008 Cover image of Informatik Spektrum 31(3), 2008. [pdf] [bib]
	Topological Visualization of Brain Diffusion MRI Data Thomas Schultz, Holger Theisel, and Hans-Peter Seidel IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (Proc. IEEE Visualization) 13(6):1496-1503, 2007 [pdf] [bib]
	Segmentation of DT-MRI Anisotropy Isosurfaces Thomas Schultz, Holger Theisel, and Hans-Peter Seidel In K. Museth, T. Möller, A. Ynnerman (Eds): Proc. EG/IEEE-VGTC Symposium on Visualization (EuroVis), pages 187-194, 2007 [pdf] [bib]
	Flexible Segmentation and Smoothing of DT-MRI Fields Through a Customizable Structure Tensor Thomas Schultz, Bernhard Burgeth, and Joachim Weickert In G. Bebis et al. (Eds): Advances in Visual Computing (Proc. ISVC), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 4291, Springer, pages 455-464, 2006 Received the ISVC '06 Siemens Best Paper Award. [pdf] [bib]

Membership on Program Committees

Computational Diffusion MRI: A MICCAI Workshop, 2012, co-organizer with Laura Panagiotaki, Lauren O'Donnell, and Gary Hui Zhang
IEEE Visualization, Poster Co-Chair 2012, 2011
EG/IEEE VGTC Symposium on Visualization (EuroVis), IPC Member 2012, 2011, 2010, Short Papers IPC 2012
Vision, Modeling, and Visualization Workshop, IPC Member 2009 and 2012
Workshop "Trends und aktuelle Entwicklungen für die computerassistierte Neurochirurgie", at GI Informatik 2012
EG Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM), Poster Committee 2010

Short CV

Since August 2011:: Postdoc at the Empirical Inference Department of the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems, working with Bernhard Schölkopf.
August 2009 - July 2011:: Postdoc at the Computation Institute, University of Chicago, working with Gordon Kindlmann. Supported by a two-year postdoctoral fellowship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
May 2006 - July 2009:: Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, Saarbrücken, Germany, under the supervision of Hans-Peter Seidel and Holger Theisel. Thesis: “Feature Extraction for Visual Analysis of DW-MRI Data”, defended in June 2009.
October 2003 - July 2004 and April 2005 - March 2006:: Studies in Computer Science at the Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany. Supported by a fellowship of the German National Academic Foundation. Diplomarbeit (MSc thesis): “Integrated Segmentation and Visualisation of 3D DT-MRI Tensor Fields”, supervised by Joachim Weickert and Holger Theisel.
August 2004 - March 2005:: Studies in Computer Science at Linköpings Universitet, Sweden. Supported by a fellowship of the German National Academic Foundation.
October 2001 - September 2003:: Studies in Medical Informatics at the Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg and Heilbronn University, Germany.
May 2000:: Abitur at the Gymnasium An der Stenner, Iserlohn, Germany.