CSEE Alumnus, Joshua Barczak, to Speak at URCAD

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:59:05 -0400
alumni, events, news

Photo Courtesy g4tv.com

Computer Science alumnus Joshua Barczak (B.S. ’03, M.S. ’06) will be a featured speaker at this year’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD).

Now a Senior Graphics Engineer at the Maryland-based game development studio Firaxis Games, Joshua studied computer graphics at UMBC and carried out research under professors Dr. Marie desJardins and Dr. Marc Olano before graduating with his Master's degree in Computer Science in 2006.

At Firaxis, Joshua’s first game credit was for Sid Meier’s Civilization V video game. For the game, Joshua worked on implementing the rendering framework which drives the diplomacy screens. He also put together a procedural ice-floe generator. “If you’re playing the game and happen to go close enough to the poles, you’ll notice that each and every ice chunk is unique,” writes Joshua on his website.

Joshua will speak on Wednesday, April 25 at 12:00 p.m. in the University Center 312. After Joshua's talk, come chat with him about what it's like to work in the video game industry in the Information Technology/ Engineering (ITE) Building 325B from 3:00-3:50 p.m.

For more information about Joshua’s game development experience, check out his bio on UMBC’s Office of Undergraduate Education website.

Joshua Barczak (CMSC, B.S. '03, M.S. '06)
Senior Graphics Engineer, Firaxis Games