James Fong

I am a computer science PhD student at UC Berkeley, advised by Ren Ng. I have broad research interests including computer graphics, computational photography, and human vision. My most recent work is focused on understanding the earliest stages of the human visual system through cell-by-cell psychophysics. In my free time, I enjoy video game development and 3D animation.

We introduce a principle, Oz, for displaying color imagery: directly controlling the human eye's photoreceptor activity via cell-by-cell light delivery. On this display, concentrating light into the M-type cone cells produces a novel color outside the natural human gamut. Subjects describe the color as a blue-green of unprecedented saturation, and indicate that it is more saturated than a near-monochromatic laser of equivalent hue.

Thorough evaluation of optoretinography (ORG) in comparison to densitometry, which are two methods for determining the L/M/S spectral type of cone cells in awake humans. My primary role in this project was the development of the Retina Map Alignment Tool for efficiently finding corresponding cones between the datasets generated by each method.

Computational imaging-based method for jointly estimating the motion and appearance of the human retina using data collected on an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

In collaboration with the folks at Roorda Lab, I was able to display world-fixed squares of cyan and orange with only green laser light. I developed a high-performance C++/CUDA software layer to enable per-photoreceptor computer graphics via an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

Graduate Student Researcher | 2021–Present
Ng Lab and Roorda Lab, UC Berkeley

Computer Vision, ML & Computational Photography Research Intern | Summer 2022
Adobe Inc.

• Computational photography research mentored by Cecilia Zhang.

Undergraduate Student Instructor | Spring 2019
Computer Graphics and Imaging Course, UC Berkeley

• Designed a new GLSL shaders section of a class project.
• Leaded port of 3 previously Linux-only C++ projects to Windows.
• Advised on the final class project to students.

Software Developer (volunteer) | 2017–2018
Pioneers in Engineering, volunteer student outreach organization

• Designed simple coding challenges for competition participants.
• Wrote automated tests for participant's implementations.
• Assisted in student recruiting.

Student Intern, IT Programmer | Summer 2014, Summer 2015
Bureau of Street Use and Mapping, City of San Francisco

• Assisted IT Manager with database applications.
• Prototype for street inspector tablet app and permit database map visualizer.

Tool for easily making photo collages with accurate vanishing point geometry.

Real-time method for adding extra detail onto mesh surfaces. This is similar to traditional displacement mapping, but can handle overhangs and does not rely on tessellation.
(Final Class Project Showcase Winner)

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