Mengqi (Mandy) Xia

夏梦琪

Postdoctoral researcher at Yale University

About Me

Hi, this is Mandy!

My research primarily focuses on physically based rendering and inverse rendering. I'm interested in forward modeling with multiscale simulations, as well as creating effective algorithms for deducing physical properties via inverse rendering.

I am a Postdoc at Yale University, working with Prof. Julie Dorsey and Prof. Holly Rushmeier. Previously I worked at the Realistic Graphics Lab (RGL) at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), advised by Prof. Wenzel Jakob. I earned my PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2022, where I was advised by Prof. Steve Marschner. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, I received my Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2016, where I worked with Prof. Chenfanfu Jiang, and Prof. Joseph Teran.

Outside work, I enjoy spending time hiking and rock climbing.

Publications

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A Practical Wave Optics Reflection Model for Hair and Fur
Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Bruce Walter, Christophe Hery, Olivier Maury, Eric Michielssen, Steve Marschner
ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2023)
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A Full-Wave Reference Simulator for Computing Surface Reflectance
Yunchen Yu, Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Bruce Walter, Eric Michielssen, Steve Marschner
ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2023)
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Iridescent Water Droplets Beyond Mie Scattering
Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Bruce Walter, Steve Marschner
Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2023)
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A Hyperspectral Space of Skin Tones for Inverse Rendering of Biophysical Skin Properties
Carlos Aliaga, Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Hao Xie, Adrian Jarabo, Gustav Braun, Christophe Hery
Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of Eurographics Symposium on Rendering 2023)
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Gaussian Product Sampling for Rendering Layered Materials
Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Bruce Walter, Christophe Hery, Steve Marschner
Computer Graphics Forum 39:1 (February 2020), presented at Eurographics 2021
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An Efficient Primal-Dual Method for the Obstacle Problem
Dominique Zosso, Braxton Osting, Mengqi (Mandy) Xia, Stanley J. Osher
Journal of Scientific Computing, 2017

Teaching Experience

CPCS 479/579 Advanced Topics in Computer Graphics

Spring 2025
Guest Instructor, Yale University

CS 5625 Interactive Computer Graphics

Spring 2019
Teaching Assistant, Cornell University

CS 4620 Introduction to Computer Graphics

Spring 2018
Teaching Assistant, Cornell University

CS 1112 Introduction to Computing Using MATLAB

Fall 2016, Spring 2017
Teaching Assistant, Cornell University

Industry Research Experience

Facebook Reality Labs

Summer 2020, 2021
Research intern

Pixar Animation Studios

Summer 2018
Research intern

Awards and Services

Selected for WiGRAPH Rising Stars

2022, 2023
A two-year program of mentorship and workshops co-located with SIGGRAPH 2022 and 2023

Selected for EECS Rising Stars, UC Berkeley

November 9-10, 2020
An academic career workshop for women in EECS

SIGGRAPH 2025, EGSR 2025, Eurographics 2025 Short Paper, CAD/Graphics 2025

Committee member

SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, Eurographics, EGSR, Computer Graphics Forum, Pacific Graphics, Journal of Computer Graphics Techniques, Computers & Graphics, The Visual Computer, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer

Reviewer