Michael F. Cohen
Also known as Michael Cohen
Cohen's career runs from computer graphics into generative AI. He used the hemi-cube algorithm at Cornell and published a 1993 book on radiosity with John Wallace. At Microsoft Research he co-authored The Lumigraph in 1996, a method that captures the complete appearance of an object or scene. ACM SIGGRAPH honored him in 1998 and 2019. He worked at Facebook from 2015 and is a Senior Fellow in Meta's Generative AI Group.
Timeline
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1985–1989
The hemi-cube at Cornell
He serves as an assistant professor of architecture at Cornell from 1985 to 1989. In 1985 he computes a radiosity image of The Magritte Studio with the hemi-cube algorithm.
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1992–1993
A PhD and a radiosity book
He receives a PhD from the University of Utah in 1992. In 1993 he publishes Radiosity and Realistic Image Synthesis with John Wallace.
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1994–2015
Twenty-one years at Microsoft Research
He joins Microsoft Research in 1994 from Princeton University, where he served on the computer science faculty. He stays there for 21 years.
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1996
The Lumigraph
In 1996 he co-authors The Lumigraph with Steven Gortler, Radek Grzeszczuk and Richard Szeliski. The method captures the complete appearance, from all points of view, of either a synthetic or real-world object or scene.
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1998
A SIGGRAPH achievement award
ACM SIGGRAPH presents him the 1998 Computer Graphics Achievement Award for developing practical radiosity methods for realistic image synthesis.
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2015–2018
Computational photography at Facebook
He leads Facebook's computational photography team. The group's best known product, 3D Photos, first appears in the Facebook feed in 2018.
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2019
The Steven A. Coons Award
ACM SIGGRAPH presents him the 2019 Steven A. Coons Award for outstanding creative contributions to computer graphics.
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As of October 2026
Generative AI at Meta
He is a Senior Fellow in Meta's Generative AI Group, having worked at Facebook since 2015.
Sources and credits
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