This is me
About Mike Shah
(He/Him; Phonetic pronounciation: (Mike: /ˈmaɪk/) (Shah: /ˈʃɑ/))
I am primarily a Senior Lecturer at Yale University at the School of Engineering & Applied Science. My primary teaching interests are in computer graphics, building game engines, and computer systems. My current research interests are in the domains of real-time computer graphics, software visualization/program analysis, and education.
Along with teaching and research, I juggle occasional consulting work as a 3D Senior Graphics Engineer and Technical Trainer. My [Youtube] channel is also frequently updated with training and educational materials.
- Contact
- Bluesky
- [Google Scholar][CV] [Teaching Statement]
As you might have noticed, my website is a bit under construction(some links will break), but the parts that matter (the courses for students) are completed
Note: This website refactoring is after about 7 years -- so I'll likely write something up about it after it is completed.
Research
My research interest is in analyzing the performance of real time systems. Typically applications where performance matters are in the domains of game engines, computer graphics, and intensive system applications. I perform my research by building static analysis, dynamic analysis, and software visualization tools. [Google Scholar Link]
Current Yale students wanting to get involved with my research can browse some graphics and systems research projects and various Sidequests to get some ideas of projects that may be mutually interesting projects.
Introduction to Scripting in Blender3D: Computational Geometry Algorithms (2024)
ACM or IEEE Link
MD Shah
This was a course presented at SIGGRAPH on an introduction to scripting in Blender3D. It was designed to be a very accessible look at programming 3D tools, with some fun geometry algorithms. The end result is that if you can program, experiment, and used Blender3D as a sandbox -- you may gather some cool insights and build useful tools for the 3D pipeline.
There Can Be (at least) Two Introductory Graphics Courses: Teaching Introduction to Non-Interactive Computer Graphics (2024)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link
MD Shah
This work is on a new course I developed to open computer graphics to a wider diversity of students. The course is programming-language agnostic and focuses on image rendering using path tracing with utilizing only freely available resources
Teaching Assistant Training: An Adjustable Curriculum for Computing Disciplines (2023)
ACM or IEEE Link
F Muzny, MD Shah
This is an adaptable curriculum for training undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants with emphasis on both technical training and training on interpersonal skills and communication.
Dynamic Vertex Hierarchies for Parallel View-Dependent Progressive Meshes (2022)
ACM or IEEE Link
J Merrin, M Shah
This is an early work on a strategy for creating dynamic vertex hierachies for view-dependent mesh simplification.
DrAsync: Identifying and Visualizing Anti-Patterns in Asynchronous JavaScript (2022)
ACM or IEEE Link Slides Link
A Turcotte, MD Shah, MW Aldrich, F Tip (Best Artifact Award)
Dr. Async is a lightweight static analysis for identifying anti-patterns in promise-based JavaScript. The accompaning analysis is complemented with a novel software visualiztion tool for examining asynchronous JavaScript. This paper received a best artifact award.
Daisen: A Framework for Visualizing Detailed GPU Execution (2021)
Preprint Link
Y Sun, Y Zhang, A Mosallaei, MD Shah, C Dunne, D Kaeli
Daisen is a Web-Based interactive visualization for examining GPU execution traces targetted towards GPU designers.
Lightning Talks of EduHPC 2021: Attack at Dawn: Cracking Codes with CUDA and Teaching Parallelism (2021)
ACM or IEEE Link
R Toppur, MD Shah
This is a sample curriculum to integrate CUDA programming into non-traditional CUDA domains (e.g. security) to expose students to high performance computing (HPC) who would otherwise not be exposed.
Combating Run-time Performance Bugs with Performance Claim Annotations (2020)
Preprint Link
Z Casey, MD Shah
This is a framework for writing performance claim annotations ("performance assertions") for use in a dynamic analysis -- consider this an "exception" but for performance metrics.
Lib Metamorphosis: A Performance Analysis Framework for Exchanging Data Structures in Performance Sensitive Applications (2019)
Preprint Link Slides Link
M Shah
This work presents a mtehodology for exchanging data structures automatically to test performance of data structures.
Dungeon Digger: Apprenticeship Learning for Procedural Dungeon Building Agents (2018)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link
EC Sheffield, MD Shah
This is work on Procedural Conteng Generation (PCG) for game level design using reinforcement learning
Iceberg: dynamic analysis of Java synchronized methods for investigating runtime performance variability (2018)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link Slides Link
MD Shah, SZ Guyer
Iceberg is a Java-based dynamic analysis built on the Soot framework for finding performance variability in critical sections.
Critical Section Investigator: Building Story Visualizations with Program Traces (2016)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link
MD Shah, SZ Guyer
This is a collection of software visualizations used to build a 'story' capturing performance features of a program in a notebook like way.
An Interactive Microarray Call-Graph Visualization (2016)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link
MD Shah, SZ Guyer
A novel software visualization tool using for representing both static and dynamic call graph information of programs. Real-time Software Visualization helps handle challenge of understanding large software applications.
Iceberg: a tool for static analysis of Java critical sections (2016)
ACM or IEEE Link Preprint Link
MD Shah, SZ Guyer
Iceberg is a static analysis for detecting possible overuse of the 'synchronized' keyword in Java.
Teaching
The following table lists all of the courses I have developed and previously taught.
| Course Number | Title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| (Yale) CPSC 409/509 | Real-Time Computer Graphics (Ugrad/Grad) | Sp25 |
| (Yale) CPSC 411/511 | Building Game Engines (Ugrad/Grad) | F24,Sp25 |
| (Yale) CPSC 323 | Computer Systems (Ugrad) | F24 |
| (NEU) CS 4300/5310 | Computer Graphics (Ugrad/Grad) | Sp18, F18, Su19, Su20, Su21, F21, Sp22, Su22, F22, Su23, F23, Sp24, F24 |
| (NEU) CS 4360/5360 (Formerly 4910/7680) | Computer Graphics - Non-Interactive Rendering Techniques | Su21, Su22, Su23, F23 |
| (NEU) CS 7380 | CS - Advanced Computer Graphics | Su24 |
| (NEU) CS 5350 | CS - Applied Geometric Representation and Computation | Su23, Su24 |
| (NEU) CS 4910/7680 | Special Topics in CS - Performance Engineering | Su20 |
| (NEU) CS 3520 | Programming C++ | Su21, F22 |
| (NEU) CS 5008/5009 | Data Structures, Algorithms, and Their Applications within Computer Systems | Sp21, Sp22 |
| (NEU) CS 3650 | Computer Systems | F17, F18, F19 |
| (NEU) CS 5600 | Computer Systems (Grad) | Su18 |
| (Yale) CPSC 411/511 | Building Game Engines (Ugrad/Grad) | F24 |
| (NEU) CS 4850/5850 | Building Game Engines (Ugrad/Grad) | Sp18, Sp19, Sp21, Sp23, Sp24 |
| (NEU) CS 4955 | Teaching Computer Science | Sp20 |
| (NEU) CS 5500 | Foundations of Software Engineering | Sp20, F20, F21, Sp23, F23 |
| (NEU) CS 5006 | Algorithms (Align-Grad) | Sp19, Su19 |
| (NEU) CS 5007 | Computer Systems (Align-Grad) | Su18, Sp19, Su19 |
| (NEU) CS 5340 | Human Computer Interaction (Grad) | F17 |
| (NEU) CS 1802 | Discrete Mathematics | F17 |
| (Tufts) Comp 11 | Introduction to Computer Science | Su17 |
A listing of my courses that I TA'd, co-taught, or served as a lab instructor while at Ohio State and Tufts University from 2010-2017 are here
Talks
This section contains peer reviewed conference talks, guest lectures, invited lectures, and some research competitions I have participated in.
| Year | Event | Title | Resource(s) | 2025 | SIGGRAPH | Educators Forum: Coming in August | [Slides Coming Soon] | 2025 | C++ North | Graphics Programming with SDL 3 | [Slides Coming Soon] | 2025 | C++ on Sea | Understanding large and unfamiliar codebases | [Slides Coming Soon] | 2025 | C++ FRench User Group (FRUG) | Understanding large and unfamiliar codebases | [Slides Coming Soon] | 2025 | VisGap (Co-located with EuroVis) | Coming in June | [Slides Coming Soon] | 2025 | NJPLS | Revisiting the D Programming Language | [Google Doc Slides] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | ACCU | The Case for Graphics Programming using the D Language | [Slides] |
| 2024 | Yale | Guest Talk for Amoriem Labs | [Slides] |
| 2024 | NYC++ Meetup | The Little Talk of Semaphores -- and a Tour of C++ Concurrency | [Slides] |
| 2024 | DConf 2024 | The Case for Graphics Programming in Dlang Part 2 - Tech Demo | [Slides] | 2024 | CppIndia | Getting Started with Modern C++ - A Tour of Features | [Slides] | 2024 | C++ North | A Study of Plugin Architectures for Supporting Extensible Software | [Slides] | 2024 | SIGGRAPH | Talk | [Slides coming soon] | 2024 | SIGGRAPH | Course | [Slides coming soon] | 2024 | Private Corporate Event at a Gaming Company | Title/abstract to be released in 2029 | [Talks of this type available for corporate training] | 2024 | C++ FRench User Group (FRUG) | Fundamentals of ConcurrencyThreads, Pools, and Patterns -- in C++ | [Slides] | 2024 | ACCU 2024 | How DLang Improves my Modern C++ and Vice Versa | [Slides] | 2024 | Munich C++ User Group -- invited (virtual) speaker | The Flyweight Design Pattern | [Slides] | 2024 | DConf Online | The Case for Graphics Programming in Dlang | [Slides] | 2024 | C++ Online | The Strategy Design Pattern | [Slides] | 2024 | Tufts University SIGGRAPH Guest Lecture | Introduction to Scripting in Blender3D | [Slides] | 2024 | FOSDEM | The D Programming Language for Modern Open Source Development | [Slides] | 2024 | Invitation for Guest Lecture on Design patterns at CFTT - University of Tehran | Thinking about Design with Patterns -- Visitor Pattern -- in C++ | [Slides] | 2023 | Meeting Cpp 2023 | Introduction to C++ Containers-- Know Your Data Structures | [Slides] | 2023 | Blender Conference 2023 | Getting Started with Scripting in Python | [Slides] | 2023 | Cppcon 2023 | Back to Basics: Functions | [Slides] | 2023 | DConf 2023 (With 4 students) | A Semester at University: Teaching Software Engineering in DLang | [Slides] | 2023 | cppIndia Conference | Optimization Design Patterns | [Slides] | 2023 | C++ Italy Conference | Optimization Design Patterns | [Slides] | 2023 | Core CPP | Running Away From Computation -- An Introduction | [Slides] | 2023 | MIT IAP - D Programming Workshop | Introduction to Phobos Standard Library | [Slides] | 2022 | DConf Online 2022 | Engineering a Ray Tracer (The Next Weekend) | [Slides] | 2022 | Handmade Seattle 2022 - Systems Programming Conference | Introduction to Memory Allocation Design and Implementation | [Slides] | 2022 | 2022 - Northeastern University Mathematics Club | Introduction to Computational Geometry | [Slides] | 2022 | CppCon 2022 | Software Design Track - The Observer Pattern | [Slides] | 2022 | CppCon 2022 | Back to Basics - Debugging | [Slides] | 2022 | Core CPP | Introduction to Smart Pointers and Why | [Slides] | 2022 | Career Seminar | Northeastern Vancouver Campus Visit | [Slides] | 2022 | DConf 22 | Ray Tracing in (Less than) One Weekend with Dlang | DConf 2022 | [Slides] | 2022 | C++ on Sea | Beginners Guide to C++'s Best Kept Secret - std::algorithm | [Slides] | 2022 | ACCU | How I Teach Modern C++ One Pixel at a Time | [Slides] |
| 2021 | CPPCON | Back to Basics: Pointers | [Slides tbd] |
| 2021 | CPPCON | Back to Basics: Concurrency | [Slides tbd] |
| 2021 | CPPCON | Software Design: The Factory Pattern | [Slides tbd] | 2021 | First Byte Student Organization Invited Guest Speaker | Teaching in One Minute | [Slides] | 2021 | Inaugural Illinois Computer Science Summer Teaching Workshop | Evolving the Course Website and Lecture for Online Teaching | [Slides] |
| 2021 | (Invited Talk) Boston Fusion | Game Engines - What Problem Are you trying to Solve? | [Slides] |
| 2021 | Northeastern Workshop | Building a Game Portfolio | [Slides] |
| 2020 | CPPCON | Back to Basics: Design Patterns | [Slides] |
| 2020 | Northeastern U. - Khoury College Tech Talks | Performance Engineering and Program Analysis | [Slides] |
| 2019 | ACCU Autumn | Introduction to Cache Oblivious Algorithms | Slides to be posted |
| 2019 | Northeastern+MIT LLVM Seminar | Introduction to Program Analysis | [Slides] |
| 2019 | Northeastern+MIT LLVM Seminar | Introduction to Clang | [Slides] |
| 2019 | Northeastern+MIT LLVM Seminar | Introduction to LLVM | [Slides] [files] |
| 2019 | Northeastern U. ACM Student Chapter | Introduction to Program Analysis | [Slides] |
| 2019 | Northeastern U. Workshop | Building a Game Portfolio | [Slides] |
| 2018 | Northeastern U. Teaching Faculty Seminar | Introduction to Github Classroom | [Slides] [Video] |
| 2018 | CPPCON | Let's Build an OpenGL Logger | [Slides and Video] |
| 2018 | Northeastern U. Workshop | CS1200 Careers Talk | [Slides] |
| 2018 | Northeastern U. Workshop | Building a Game Portfolio | [Slides] |
| 2018 | Northeastern U. Workshop | (Guest Lecture Nathaniel Tuck) Operating Systems | [Slides] |
| 2018 | FOSDEM | Introduction to LLVM | [Slides and Video] |
| 2017 | Northeastern U. Workshop | Getting a job in the game industry | [Slides] |
| 2017 | (Guest Lecture) MIT Performance Engineering | Hands on Introduction to LLVM Lecture | [Slides] |
| 2016 | MIT LLVM Seminar | Profile-Guided Optimization LLVM Lecture at MIT | [Slides] |
| 2016 | Tufts University - 4th Tufts Ignite Talk | (CSI) Critical Section Investigator (3rd Place Talk) | N/A |
| 2016 | MIT LLVM Seminar | Introduction to LLVM | [Slides] |
| 2016 | Tufts University - Teaching Fellow talk | Introduction to Parallelism | [Video] |
| 2016 | (Invited Talk) Cambridge Pint of Science | How do Computers Compute so Fast | [Slides] |
| 2016 | 19th Annual Tufts Graduate Student Research Symposium | TBD | N/A |
| 2015 | Tufts University - 3rd Annual Tufts Ignite Talk | Microarray Visualization (3rd Place Talk) | [Slides] |
| 2015 | PLMW | Programming Language Mentoring Workshop One-Minute Madness Talk | [Slide] |
| 2014 | Tufts University | 18th Annual Tufts Graduate Student Research Symposium | TBD |
| 2014 | (Guest Lecture for Remco Chang) | Tufts University - Computer Graphics Shaders | N/A |
| 2014 | 1st Annual Tufts Ignite Talk | Code Advisor | N/A |
| 2013 | PLDI | Fun and Interesting Ideas | [Slides] [Paper] |
Service
(Please see my CV for a fully up to date list) I have participated in helping create many university organizations, and served in several roles to improve the academic experience of undergraduate and graduate students.
These days I am active in various professional programming conferences like CPPCON and serving on programming committees for SIGGRAPH and SIGCSE in various capacities.
Media/Press
- 2024
- Khoury College (Northeastern) story
- ACCU Conference Interview
- Elm Weekly Issue 339
- 2023
- Graphics Programming Weekly -
- 2023
- DConf Online 22 - Interview/Conversation
- Interview/Conversation during DConf Online 2022.
- 2022
- Undo - GDB Watchpoint tutorial and video
- Link to the article on time travel debugging.
- 2022
- Graphics Programming Weekly -
- 2022
- ISOCPP - Mention of my C++ Video Series 100th episode
- A link to my YouTube series on Modern C++.
- 2022
- Khoury College - Best Teacher Award Story
- A brief story with a few ancedotes on my teaching philosophy and journey into computer science.
- 2022
- Hacker News Front Page - Introduction to Dlang
- Introduction to DLang Video from guest speaker Ali Cehreli made it to front page of Hacker News. Ali was hosted here at Northeastern for the day to meet with students and discuss the D programming language
- 2018
- GLIMPSE Podcast Interview - Teaching Humans Computer Science
- This podcast describes my journey into computer science, a little bit about my research, and a few teaching tips!
Personal Projects and Fun
Academic Lineage
- I completed my Ph.D. at Tufts University in the Redline Research Group in 2017. My Ph.D. thesis advisor was Samuel Z. Guyer.Here is the graduation live!
- I completed my Masters degree in Computer Science in 2013 at Tufts University
- I completed my Bachelors in Computers Science Engineering at The Ohio State University in 2011.
- If it means anything, I had no idea what a Ph.D. was until I was part way through my bachelors degree.
- I enjoy tutoring programming, and am working on several Python lessons for first time programmers.
- This is my undergraduate capstone project which I am quite proud of. It was a collaboration with a team of 5 total members in the spirit of a 'Pixar' short movie. Click to watch: Shelved Souls (Note: This has sound that plays when starting)
- I drove across the country twice (Boston, MA to Portland,Oregon and back) in 2014.
- I am a world traveler -- you can find some notes and places I hae travled here: Photos available here
- I am always interested in learning about new cultures and places to travel near and far. The best part of working at a university is meeting people from all over the world.
- Please introduce yourself, and correct me if I do not pronounce your name correctly (It's a big deal to pronounce correctly! My name is relatively short and simple, but I still supply the phonetic pronounciation just in case, and to encourage others to do so.).
- I consider myself an amateur pizza maker, although this web link needs to be updated with more content. The art of pizza
- I am a long distance runner. I have run the Columbus marathon twice(2009,2010), several half marathons(2009 - Columbus, 2011 - Indiana,2013 - Columbus,2018 BAA Half, 2019 Malden, MA, 2019 Baltimore, 2021 Cambridge), full Tough Mudder(2018), and the Boston Marathon in 2023.
- I am slowly getting slower as the years go on, but I still enjoy running. In a past life, I even had a few 1st place finishes! Results
- I follow the NBA (very closely), track&field, and other competitive runners (i.e. marathon)
- I enjoy playing the guitar, typically acoustic songs or alternative rock. Some favorite bands are:
- Third Eye Blind
- The Airborne Toxic Event
- Dispatch
- Adam Ezra Group - See their yearly summertime charity event
- Recently I've also enjoyed Big Thief, Joshua Radin, Will Evans, and Fisherman Friends
- 'Survivor' is my guilty pleasure as far as prime time television.
- I believe in funding small creators, artists, and independent developers.
- Non-Academic Publications 2014, February 4. On Increasing Enrollment of Computer Science Courses. Tufts Daily. Link | PDF
- In my graduate student days I was runner-up in a Graduate Student Photo Contest at Tufts showcasing student life. You can be the judge if this photo speaks to your life as a (Computer Science) graduate student.
- I was acknowledged in a music masters project by my friend Jane West. Goethe's "Faust" and Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays and an Exhibition
- Some kickstarter and indiegogo funded projects I have sponsored include: Double Fine's original kickstarter, Eric Lyngel's Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Game Engine Development books, and FPS Documentary. There have probably been more I'll add later.
Class Photos
Note: I am slowly populating this list -- more to come!