Nico's Resume
Working Experience:
Feb. 2021 - now vArmour
Senior Staff Developer, UI
Apr. 2020 - Feb. 2021 VizworX Inc.
Senior Software Developer / Team Lead
Oct. 2018 - Apr. 2020 Openhouse.AI Inc.
Senior UX / Product Engineer
Jul. 2017 - Sep. 2018 Pason Systems Inc.
Intermediate Software Developer
Sep. 2013 - Now Research Assistant at IllustraRes Lab and Interaction Lab, University of Calgary. My research is exploring the application of novel interactive visualization techniques, augmented reality, human-robot interfaces, and tangible user interfaces.
Oct. 2009 - Jun. 2013 IBM China development lab
Staff Software Engineer
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Education:
Sep. 2013 - Jul. 2018 Ph.D. Computer Science
University of Calgary, AB, Canada
Sep. 2007 - Sep. 2009 M.Sc. Computer Science Thesis Based
Graduate GPA: 91.4/100
University of Regina, SK, Canada
Jan. 2004 - Apr. 2007 B.Sc. Combined Major in Computer Science & Mathematics
Graduation honors and mentions: Great Distinction
Undergraduate GPA: 85.8/100
University of Regina, SK, Canada
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Ph.D. Thesis Topic:
TANGIBLE TOPOGRAPHY: Using Interactive Physical Models to Improve Terrain Percept

The goal of my research is to study the potential of a novel map interface that transfers traditional flat topographic maps into tangible entities. In particular, visual cues and annotations on the original map will be replaced with dynamic visual augmentations that superimposed on the physical map model. Such a setup increases the map readability by leveraging human stereoscopic and tangible perceptions, resulting in an improved spatial awareness and a lower cognitive load even for people who lack sufficient geographical background.

The primary impact of my research lies in moving a step ahead towards revisiting and evolving a classic traditional data visualization technique, such as the topographic map, with physicalization and tangibility. My work reflects on how human perception can be realized in modern cartographic interfaces with the aids of advanced technologies and computational capability, allowing a more enriched interactive experience.

Publications:
Li, Nico, Wesley Willett, Ehud Sharlin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "Visibility perception and dynamic viewsheds for topographic maps and models." Proceedings of the 5th Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, ACM. 2017.
Li, Nico, Ehud Shalin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "Duopography: using back-of-device multi-touch input to manipulate spatial data on mobile tangible interactive topography." SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 Mobile Graphics & Interactive Applications, ACM. 2017.
Shelly Sicat, Shreya Chopra, Nico Li, and Ehud Shalin. "Playing the mirror game with a humanoid: Probing the social aspects of switching interaction roles." in Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2017 26th IEEE International Symposium on, IEEE. 2017.
Li, Nico, Stephen Cartwright, Aditya Shekhar Nittala, Ehud Shalin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "Flying Frustum: A Spatial Interface for Enhancing Human-UAV Awareness." the Third International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (iHAI 2015). 2015.
Aditya Shekhar Nittala, Nico Li, Stephen Cartwright, Kazuki Takashima, Ehud Sharlin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "PLANWELL: spatial user interface for collaborative petroleum well-planning." SIGGRAPH ASIA 2015 Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications. ACM, 2015.
Li, Nico, Daniel J. Rea, James E. Young, Ehud Sharlin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "And he built a crooked camera: a mobile visualization tool to view four-dimensional geometric objects." SIGGRAPH ASIA 2015 Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications. ACM, 2015.
Li, Nico, Stephen Cartwright, Ehud Shalin, and Mario Costa Sousa. "Ningyo of the CAVE: Robots as Social Puppets of Static Infrastructure." the Second International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (iHAI 2014). 2014.
Li, Nico, Aditya Shekhar Nittala, Ehud Sharlin, and Mario Costa Sousa, "Shvil: Collaborative Augmented Reality Land Navigation", CHI'14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, 2014.
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Technical Skills:
Web front-end developing languages and technics HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript / TypeScript (ES6)
React + Redux
AngularJS / Angular
Vue.js
Node.js
Responsiveness and other UI design philosophies such as Google Material Design
Serverless services such as Firebase
Programming languages JavaScript / TypeScript (ES6), C# (including WPF and Windows Form), Java (including Swing UI), Objective-C, C++, Python
Augmented Reality (AR) Platform Vuforia on iOS with OpenGL ES
Agile developing and CI Pipeline Jira, CircleCI
IDE and Source Control VSCode, Eclipse / RTC, Xcode, Visual Studio, NetBean, Git, GitHub
Audio programming tool PureData (MaxMSP)
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Email LinkedIn ACM Digital Library