Professor Robert Pless conducts research in the area of computer vision with applications to environmental science, medical imaging, robotics and virtual reality.  He is particularly interested in studying data-driven and geometric techniques to more robustly understand images taken “in the wild.”  This research exploits the fact that cameras are incredibly precise measurement systems: if they are calibrated properly, then the vast quantities of visual data they collect can help us learn, understand, and manipulate the world around us. At a high level, the current themes of research in his lab are: understanding visual change at scales from the sidewalk to the planet, studying next generation imaging systems for virtual reality and robotics, and democratizing visual analytics with applications to social justice.