About Me
Hi, I’m Barney — welcome to my corner of the internet!
I’m an incoming Ph.D. student in the Geometric Data Processing Group at MIT CSAIL , advised by Justin Solomon . I’m broadly interested in how we can represent, simulate, and render the world in ways that are both principled and expressive. Most of my research lives at the intersection of physics-based simulation, geometry processing, and machine learning, with a recurring focus on controllability and interpretability; differentiable simulations, reduced-order models, and scene representations that let people interact with complex systems intuitively. At heart, I’m motivated by building tools that support storytelling, creativity, and exploration.
Previously, I was a Machine Learning Engineer at Adobe, where I worked on translating fun research ideas into user-facing features in creative drawing systems. I completed my M.S. in Computer Science at Georgia Tech , where I was fortunate to be advised by Bo Zhu and Greg Turk . Before that, I received my B.S. from TU Budapest , where I was lucky to be advised by László Szécsi in the Computer Graphics Group .
I am happy to share with you tidbits from my life and things I find interesting. You can check out my…
- blog posts
- projects
- public code repositories: GitLab / GitSch / GitHub
- Instagram for the occasional sketch, doodle, or relic from my juggling-and-flipping era.
Professional Background
I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked on truly exciting problems with people I deeply admire, across academia and industry, and across several countries and cultures. Throughout these experiences, I’ve tried to stay close to what first pulled me into this field: merging art and technology into tools and systems that support artistic expression, meaningful interaction, and storytelling.
For more details, feel free to check out my Projects page.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PhD Student
September, 2026 –
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
I’ve recently relocated to Cambridge to work on fun applied math problems in the
Geometric Data Processing Group
.
Adobe
Machine Learning Engineer (Creative Drawing Apps)
July, 2025 – August, 2026
San Jose, California, USA
After graduating from Georgia Tech, I returned to Adobe to translate
innovative research ideas into [user-facing product features]https://barney.graphics/projects/#pose-in-adobe-fresco on creative drawing systems.
Software Engineer Intern (Creative Drawing Apps)
May, 2024 – August, 2024
San Jose, California, USA
During the summer of 2024, I had a wonderful time interning with the Drawing
& Painting team at Adobe, where I explored and implemented 2D geometry
processing research papers to enhance some of the world’s most well-known
creative software, fulfilling my lifelong dream of creating tools to tell
amazing stories, and invoke emotions.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Graduate Student (MS) Researcher
August, 2023 – May 2025
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Advisor: Bo Zhu, co-advised by Greg Turk
MSc Thesis: Differentiable 3D Scene Representations with Point-based Neural Methods
During my Master’s studies at Georgia Tech , I had a wonderful time delving into multiple topics in computer graphics, from physics-based deep learning to differentiable rendering, with my thesis research focusing on geometry representations.
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Research & Teaching Assistant
September, 2022 – July, 2023
- & February, 2020 – December, 2020
Budapest, Hungary
Advisor: László Szécsi
BSc Thesis: Controlling Laplacian Eigenfluids
I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (TU Budapest) in January 2023, conducting my research with the Computer Graphics Group .
Partly inspired by an eventful exchange year at TUM, my undergraduate thesis focused on reduced-order fluid simulations and using differentiable physics to teach neural networks to control physical systems.
After graduation, I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the 6th semester BSc course “3D Graphics”. (As an undergraduate, I had also been a TA for the “Programming 1” and “System Modelling” courses.)
Technical University of Munich
Erasmus Exchange Student
October, 2021 – September, 2022
Munich, Germany
During my undergraduate studies, I spent two semesters (2021–2022) at the
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
as an Erasmus Exchange Student. I completed 50 credits, mostly cherry-picking some of the coolest research-based courses at the intersection of physics-based simulation, deep learning, computer graphics, and computer vision.
Dassault Systèmes 3DEXCITE
Graphics Engineer Intern
April, 2022 – September, 2022
Munich, Germany
Mentor: Holger Dammertz
While studying at TUM, I also had a wonderful time doing a 6-month internship with the Rendering R&D team at Dassault Systèmes 3DEXCITE , where I built a web-based 3D material editor from the ground up to enhance in-house artist workflows.
Outside academia, I enjoy long-distance running, music, board games, baking bread, cooking, and spending time with friends.