Hannah Norman

About Me

I’m a recent Computer Science M.S. graduate from Stanford University, where I specialized in Visual Computing — a field at the intersection of graphics, systems, and machine learning. My work focuses on computer graphics and geometric computing, and I’m especially passionate about building tools that empower creative expression and design. I enjoy working across the software stack, from numerical backends and simulation engines to interactive frontend systems.

Updates

[June 2025] Graduated from Stanford with a Master’s in Computer Science!
[Jan 2025] Went full-time at Sileom as a software engineer, where I’m integrating our meshless FE simulation back end with nTop’s computational design front end to deliver accurate, high-fidelity static analysis results in real-time to users without them ever having to leave the design environment.
[Nov 2024] Won Stanford CS Dept’s Course Assistant T-Shirt Competition!
[Oct 2024] Continuing graphics and simulation work at Sileom as an independent contractor.
[Sept 2024] Began Autumn quarter job as Course Assistant for CS148: Introduction to Computer Graphics and Imaging, the highest enrolled class in Stanford’s CS Dept (550 students).
[June 2024] Started my summer internship as a Computer Graphics Engineer at Sileom, an early-stage startup developing state-of-the-art meshless finite element analysis simulation techniques.
[June 2024] Finished Year 1 of my MSCS! Check out what I worked on below.
[Apr 2024] Won Stanford CS Dept’s Annual Unofficial T-Shirt and Hoodie Competition for the 2023-24 academic year! See my designs here.
[Sept 2023] Began MSCS Program at Stanford University with plans to graduate in June 2025.
[May 2023] Graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics.

Projects

CS281

Identifying and Addressing Bias in AI Face Generators

We benchmarked bias in popular face generators, revealing quality gaps for marginalized groups and introducing a CLIP-based sampling method to improve fidelity without retraining.

June 2025

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CS348C

VFX Studies in Houdini: Procedural Modeling, Dynamics, and Character & Audio FX

I created a series of Houdini projects exploring procedural modeling, dynamic simulations, and character-driven audio and visual effects. Three video demos are linked below.

Mar 2025

Demo Demo Demo

CS468

SDFace: Boundary-Aware Face Extraction from FM-Generated Implicit 3D Geometries

I developed SDFace, a method for extracting surfaces from implicit 3D geometries using signed distance functions, bypassing meshing to streamline FEA boundary integration.

Dec 2024

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CS348K

DyDef: A Visualization Tool for Dynamic Deformations on Shell Objects

I enhanced a software library and its accompanying application, HalfPipe, to improve the visualization and simulation of dynamic deformations on shell structures.

June 2024

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CS231N

GIMME: 3D Gaussian Inverse Rendering for Mobile Mesh Extraction

We utilized 3D Gaussian Splatting to enable real-time photorealistic mesh extraction from mobile-captured data, addressing the computational limits of Neural Radiance Fields.

June 2024

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CS131

Multispectral Satellite Image Segmentation for Agricultural Land Classification: Mapping Pineapple Plantations in Costa Rica

We leveraged Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and a Random Forest model to identify pineapple plantations in Costa Rica, filling gaps in agricultural land-use data from 2020 to 2023.

Mar 2024

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CS248A

Real-Time Pixelated Toon Shaders

We implemented shaders with Phong illumination, normal mapping, environment lighting, and shadow mapping, plus a pixelation filter and stylized toon shading.

Mar 2024

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CS148

Ray-Traced Scene Recreation in Blender

I recreated a scene from the videogame Stray in Blender, modeling almost every piece of geometry from scratch and designing all textures on my own, too.

Dec 2023

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CS248B

Pac-Man Pinball Simulation with Collision Detection

I designed and simulated a Pac-Man themed pinball game in Open Processing, using 2D shape primitives and SDFs to handle collisions with static and moving obstacles.

Oct 2023

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Relevant Coursework

Graphics / Systems

(CS148) Introduction to Computer Graphics and Imaging
(CS149) Parallel Computing
(CS248A) Computer Graphics: Rendering, Geometry, and Image Manipulation
(CS248B) Fundamentals of Computer Graphics: Animation and Simulation
(CS348C) Computer Graphics: Animation and Simulation
(CS348K) Visual Computing Systems
(CS468) Topics in Geometric Computing: 3D and 4D Foundation Models
(EE292E) Seminar Series for Image Systems Engineering

AI / Machine Learning

(CS131) Computer Vision: Foundations and Applications
(CS205L) Continuous Mathematical Methods with an Emphasis on Machine Learning
(CS221) Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques
(CS224N) Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning
(CS231N) Deep Learning for Computer Vision
(CS281) Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
(CS528) Machine Learning Systems Seminar
(ENGR319) Robotics and Autonomous Systems Seminar