Commerzbank Prize for Dr. Wolfgang Büschel

Dr. Wolfgang Büschel will today be awarded the dissertation prize of Commerzbank's Dresden Cultural Foundation for his doctoral thesis on "Spatial Interaction for Immersive Mixed-Reality Visualizations". The prize is awarded annually to two outstanding dissertations by young scientists at TU Dresden.

Wolfgang Büschel's doctoral thesis, which was awarded "summa cum laude", deals with natural interaction possibilities for immersive data visualizations in mixed-reality environments. Instead of the desktop computers and mobile devices previously used for interactive data analysis, the thesis focuses on the use of new types of display and computing environments, in particular the spatial, virtual overlay of real environments with digital information (mixed reality).

Dr Büschel developed innovative solutions for the visualization and analysis of data in such environments. In addition to interaction through freehand gestures and touch on mobile devices, he used a specially developed transparent tablet for the realization of new spatial interaction techniques. He also developed a data analysis toolkit (MIRIA) with which data recorded in a physical space, such as user movements or interaction patterns, can be analyzed on site in the form of three-dimensional spatial trajectories with the help of augmented reality glasses. The international top level of his research is impressively demonstrated by the approximately 90 citations for this work alone in just three years. It will continue to be a pioneering approach for modern data visualization that is directly integrated into real environments in the years to come. "With his dissertation, Dr Büschel has presented a remarkable and pioneering work in the field of mixed reality data visualization and has also established himself internationally as a promising early-career researcher with his comprehensive scientific oeuvre," says his supervisor Prof. Raimund Dachselt, praising the doctoral thesis.

Wolfgang Büschel completed a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Computer Visualistics at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg before joining the Chair of Multimedia Technology as a Research Associate in 2012. Here he conducted research under the supervision of Prof. Dachselt, first in various projects and then for his doctoral thesis. Numerous very successful publications and five publication awards reflect his outstanding work.

We congratulate Dr. Büschel on his well-deserved award and wish him continued professional success!