Pierre Boulanger, Ph.D., P.Eng

Area of Study / Keywords

Virtual and Augmented Reality Medical Imaging Machine Learning for Biosensors Quantum Computing Geometric Signal Processing

About

Dr. Boulanger is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Alberta with dual appointments in Computing Science and Radiology. During his 42-year career he was a senior research officer at the National Research Council of Canada for 18 years (1983-2001) and spent 24 years (2001-2025) at the University of Alberta as a full professor. He was the director of the Advanced Human Computer Interface Laboratory and is still the scientific director of the SERVIER Virtual Cardiac Centre. From 2013-2023, he held the CISCO Chair in Healthcare Solutions, a $2M investment by CISCO Systems which focused on the application of network technologies and AI for healthcare. A final report on the activities of the CISCO Chair can be found in Report-2022.

During his research career, he focused on 3D sensing, geometric modeling, reverse engineering, patient-specific modeling, medical imaging, and in the past four years quantum image processing. To date, his work has resulted in 410 published papers and 8 patents. He is still serving on various editorial boards and international committees. He is currently the CTO of Naiad Lab Inc., a company which focuses on AI technologies for healthcare applications.

In January 2025, he retired from the university but continues research in image processing using quantum manifolds. He is also working on the development of a new generation of geometry-based neural networks.

Research

During my retirement, I am continuing my research in image processing using quantum manifolds. I am also working on the development of a new generation of geometry-based neural networks. In addition, I am writing a comprehensive book in Quantum Image Processing that will be published by Springer Verlag.

Teaching

Introduction to Virtual/Augmented Reality and Telepresence

 Virtual and augmented reality can provide an immersive environment for testing scenarios, games, and training. For example, manufacturing and engineering tasks, medical planning and training, art and design, rehabilitation, Physics, Biology and Chemistry concept exploration, and many others can benefit from a virtual reality environment. This course focuses on the challenges of setting up a user-friendly virtual reality scene where users can interact intuitively and naturally. Interactive techniques and sensor-based devices, such as haptic and head-mount displays, create a virtual environment for scientific analysis, visualisation exploration, and Tele-presence. How mobile users can participate in these applications will be discussed. I will be teaching this course as an external teacher in Fall 2025.