Brent B. Cowan

960 Glen St. Unit# 37, Oshawa, ON, Canada, L1J 6E8
brent.cowan@uoit.ca

Education

2010 – present: Master of Science in Computer Science (UOIT), Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

2005–2010: Bachelor of Information Technology (Honors) - Game Development and Entrepreneurship program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. (graduated with highest distinction)

November 3 – 5, 2008: Certificate in Project Management Course for Game Development. 1.6 Continuing Education Units.

2003 – 2005: Computer Programmer Diploma (a compressed version of their 3 year program) at Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

Relevant Work Experience

Teaching Assistant / Tutorial Leader (September 2009 – Present)
Courses include Artificial Intelligence, Multi-player Online Gaming, Virtual Reality, Game Audio, and Computer Graphics. My responsibilities include the following:

• Preparing and leading weekly tutorials.
• The creation of sample code, examples, and visualizations to aid students in their understanding of the course material.
• Assisting students with their assignments and debugging errors, and with any course-related problems they may have.

Research Assistant (May 2008 – Present)
Working under the supervision of Professor Bill Kapralos, my responsibilities include the following:

• Development of real-time spatial sound and acoustical modeling methods and techniques for video games and virtual environments.
• Development of a number of serious games used for the education and training of health care providers (e.g., orthopedic surgeons, and critical care nurses).
• Dissemination of results at conferences / publications (see references below).

Publications

Journal Articles Under Review

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. A real-time, GPU-based method to approximate acoustical reverberation effects. Journal of Graphics, GPU, and Game Tools. Submitted January 2010. Revised and re-submitted January 2011.

Journal Publications

• B. Cowan, H. Sabri, B. Kapralos, F. Moussa, S. Cristancho, and A. Dubrowski. A serious game for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 163:147-149, 2011.

• B. Cowan, H. Sabri, B. Kapralos, M. Porte, D. Backstein, S. Cristancho, and A. Dubrowski. A serious game for total knee arthroplasty procedure education and training. Journal of Cybertherapy and Rehabilitation, 3(3):285-298, 2010.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. GPU-based real-time acoustical occlusion modeling. Virtual Reality, 14(3):183-196, 2010.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. GPU-based one-dimensional convolution for real-time spatial sound generation. Loading… Feature Issue: FuturePlay 2008 Edition. 3(9), 2009.

Refereed Conference / Workshop Proceedings

• B. Cowan, H. Sabri, B. Kapralos, S. Cristancho, F. Moussa, and A. Dubrowski. SPETF: Serious Game Surgical Procedure Education and Training Framework. In Proceedings of the Third IEEE International Games Innovation Conference, November 2-4, 2011, City of Orange, CA., USA.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. GPU-based acoustical occlusion modeling with acoustical texture maps. In Proceedings of ACM Audio Mostly 2011. Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-9, 2011.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. GPU-based acoustical diffraction modeling for complex virtual reality and gaming environments. In Proceedings of the Audio Engineering Society 41st International Conference: Audio for Games. London, UK, February 2-4, 2011.

• H. Sabri, B. Cowan, B. Kapralos, F. Moussa, S. Cristancho, and A. Dubrowski. Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training meets serious games. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Haptic Audio-Visual Environments and Games. Phoenix, AZ. USA, October 16-17, 2010, pp. 123-127.

• H. Sabri, B. Cowan, B. Kapralos, M. Porte, D. Backstein, and A. Dubrowski. Serious games for knee replacement surgery procedure education and training. World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES) 2010. Istanbul, Turkey, February 4-8, 2010. Appears in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 2(2):3483-3488.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. Real-time acoustical diffraction and first order specular reflection modeling using the GPU. In Proceedings of the 10th Western Pacific Acoustics Conference. Beijing, China, September 21-23, 2009.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. Real-time GPU-based convolution: A follow-up. In Proceedings of the ACM FuturePlay @ GDC Canada 2009 International Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 12-13, 2009, pp. 25-26.

• B. Cowan, and B. Kapralos. Spatial sound for video games and virtual environments utilizing real-time GPU-based convolution. In Proceedings of the ACM FuturePlay 2008 International Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 3-5, 2008, pp 166-172.

• B. Cowan, M. Shelley, H. Sabri, B. Kapralos, A. Hogue, M. Hogan, M. Jenkin, S. Goldsworthy, L. Rose and A. Dubrowski. Interprofessional care simulator for critical care education. In Proceedings of the ACM FuturePlay 2008 International Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 3-5, 2008, pp 260-261.

Refereed Abstracts

• B. Cowan, H. Sabri, B. Kapralos, F. Moussa, S. Cristancho, and A. Dubrowski. Serious Games: 2D vs 3D? 11th Annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare. New Orleans, LA., USA, January 21-26, 2011.

• Hamed Sabri, Brent Cowan, Bill Kapralos, Mark Porte, David Backstein, Sayra Cristancho, and Adam Dubrowski. A serious game for total knee arthroplasty procedure education and training. The Richard K. Reznick Wilson Centre Research Day 2010. Toronto, Canada, October 22, 2010.

• B. Cowan, Hamed Sabri, Bill Kapralos, Fuad Moussa, Sayra Cristancho, and Adam Dubrowski. A serious game for off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery procedure training. Poster presentation - The Richard K. Reznick Wilson Centre Research Day 2010. Toronto, Canada, October 22, 2010.

Scholarships & Research Awards

• 1st Place Poster Presentation, “A Serious Game for Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery Procedure Training”, UOIT Graduate Student Research Conference (2011).

• University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Graduate Research Award

• Ontario Graduate Student (OGS) Scholarship 2010 (Declined in favour of NSERC).

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS). (2010)

• University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Graduate Excellence Scholarship, September 2010.

• University of Ontario Institute of Technology 2009-2010 Faculty Medal (Business and Information Technology). Awarded to the graduating student who achieves the highest cumulative grade point average within the faculty.

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA). May 2010 - August 2010

• Student Research Day Poster of the Year, Serious Games for Knee Replacement Surgery Procedure Education and Training, Faculty of Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. August 2009.

• Microsoft Student Scholarship to attend the Microsoft FDG 2009 International Conference aboard the Disney Wonder Cruise ship. April 26-30, 2009

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA). May 2009 - August 2009

• Student Research Day Poster of the Year, Spatial sound for video games and virtual environments utilizing real-time GPU-based convolution, Faculty of Business and Information Technology, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. August 2008.

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA). May 2008 - August 2008

• University of Ontario Institute of Technology, In-Course Scholarship for Academic Excellence, December 2007.

• Durham College Award (scholarship), for achievement in the Computer Programmer Program– Year Two, November 2004.

• Durham College Award (scholarship), for achievement in the Computer Programmer Program – Year 1, November 2003.

Honours & Awards

• President’s Honour Roll, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Fall 2009 and Winter 2010 school year.

• Kid’s Internet Safety Alliance (KINSA) & UOIT Game Design Challenge, awarded first place for design proposal for a game to teach children internet safety.

• President’s Honour Roll, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 school year.

• President’s Honour Roll, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Fall 2007 and Winter 2008 school year.

• President’s Honour Roll, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Fall 2006 and Winter 2007 school year.

• President’s Honour Roll, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Fall 2005 and Winter 2006 school year.

• Highest Ranking Graduate Certificate, Durham College, June 2005.

• Dean’s List, Durham College, Fall 2004 and Winter 2005 school year.

• Dean’s List, Durham College, Fall 2003 and Winter 2004 school year.