About

Randall W. Hill, Jr. is a research professor of computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the executive director of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies since 2006. His leadership involves exploring how classic storytelling combined with high-tech tools can create meaningful learning experiences through virtual humans, mixed reality worlds, advanced computer graphics, dramatic films, social simulations, and educational video games. He oversees a diverse team of scientists, storytellers, artists, and educators as they develop and evaluate innovative methods for teaching and training in areas such as leadership, cultural awareness, negotiation, and mental health treatment and assessment. Hill's research focuses on using intelligent tutoring systems and virtual humans to create immersive learning environments. His career at USC began in 1995 at the USC Information Sciences Institute, where he worked on models of human behavior and decision-making for real-time simulation environments. He joined the USC Institute for Creative Technologies in 2000 as a senior scientist. Prior to USC, he served as a group supervisor and work area manager for network automation in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network Advanced Technology Program. Hill earned his bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for six years, with assignments in field artillery and military intelligence. He holds both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from USC and has authored over 50 technical publications, including a notable article on virtual humans published in AI Magazine.

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Pure mathematics
• Mathematics
• Algorithm
• Geometry
• Theoretical computer science

Selected publications

• Equivariant Point Network for 3D Point Cloud Analysis

  2022 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) · 2021 · 83 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science

  Features that are equivariant to a larger group of symmetries have been shown to be more discriminative and powerful in recent studies [4], [40], [5]. However, higher-order equivariant features often come with an exponentially-growing computational cost. Furthermore, it remains relatively less explored how rotation-equivariant features can be leveraged to tackle 3D shape alignment tasks. While many past approaches have been based on either non-equivariant or invariant descriptors to align 3D shapes, we argue that such tasks may benefit greatly from an equivariant framework. In this paper, we propose an effective and practical SE(3) (3D translation and rotation) equivariant network for point cloud analysis that addresses both problems. First, we present SE(3) separable point convolution, a novel framework that breaks down the 6D convolution into two separable convolutional operators alternatively performed in the 3D Euclidean and SO(3) spaces respectively. This significantly reduces the computational cost without compromising the performance. Second, we introduce an attention layer to effectively harness the expressiveness of the equivariant features. While jointly trained with the network, the attention layer implicitly derives the intrinsic local frame in the feature space and generates attention vectors that can be integrated with different alignment tasks. We evaluate our approach through extensive studies and visual interpretations. The empirical results demonstrate that our proposed model outperforms strong baselines in a variety of benchmarks. Code is available at https://github.com/nintendops/EPN_PointCloud.

  PublisherDOI

• Ethics of Immersive Technologies

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2019-10-18 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  When the US Army established the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) at the University of Southern California in 1999, the vision was to push the boundaries of immersive technologies for the purpose of enhancing training and education; not only for the military but also for the rest of society. Over the past two decades great progress has been made on the technologies that support this vision. Breakthroughs in graphics, computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), affective computing, and mixed reality have already transformed how we interact with one another, with digital media, and with the world. Yet this is in many ways only a starting point, since the application of these technologies is just beginning to be realized. The potential for making a positive impact on individuals and society is great, but there is also the possibility of misuse. This chapter describes some of the capabilities underlying the emerging field of immersive digital media; provides a couple of examples of how they can be used in a positive way; and then discusses the inherent dangers from an ethical standpoint.

  PublisherDOI

• Virtual Reality and Leadership Development

  2014-03-17 · 4 citations

  other1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• UrbanSim: Using Social Simulation to Train for Stability Operations

  2014-01-01

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Characteristics of Virtual Humans with Limited Perception-Based Mapping in Coping with Contingent Situations

  Advanced Science Letters · 2012-04-30

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• BiLAT: A Game-Based Environment for Practicing Negotiation in a Cultural Context

  International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education · 2009-08-01 · 154 citations

  article

  Negotiation skills are essential in everyday life, whether in a professional or personal context. Negotiation enables two parties to address misunderstandings and avoid conflicts through an exchange that depends as much on the interpersonal skills of the negotiators as the tactics employed. Acquiring these skills requires not only sound conceptual knowledge but also practice and mentoring. This paper describes the BiLAT game-based simulation and tutoring system developed to provide students, initially United States Army soldiers, with an environment to practice preparing for and conducting bilateral negotiations. We describe the models that were created to implement BiLAT, with a particular focus on the challenge of designing for and tutoring in the ill-defined domain of negotiation. An initial assessment of the training effectiveness of the system indicates significant situation-judgment gains by novices.

  PublisherDOI

• Learning the Lessons of Leadership: Case Method Teaching with Interactive, Computer-Based Tools and Film-Based Cases

  PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2008-01-01

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Same Case, Different Audience: The Instructional Utility of Film

  PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2008-01-01

  datasetSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Army Excellence in Leadership (AXL): A Multimedia Approach to Building Tacit Knowledge and Cultural Reasoning

  PsycEXTRA Dataset · 2007-01-01 · 10 citations

  dataset

  This report presents findings from a preliminary examination of the Army Excellence in Leadership (AXL) system, a leader intervention that targets the development of tacit leadership knowledge and cultural awareness in junior Army officers. Fifty-five junior officers interacted with a pilot version of a cultural awareness module from the AXL system. Results indicated that the AXL approach resulted in improvements in leader judgment on a forced-choice measure. Furthermore, results indicated that cultural issues were more salient to leaders after completion of the cultural awareness module. Reactions to training were generally positive, with officers indicating that the cultural awareness module was useful and stimulated thought. Additionally, this investigation explored the relationship between affect and learning and found that emotional responses to the AXL system were related to learning-relevant variables, such as judgment scores and officer reports that they could apply the training to their activities as a leader.

  PublisherDOI

• AXL.NET: WEB-ENABLED CASE METHOD INSTRUCTION FOR ACCELERATING TACIT KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION IN LEADERS

  2006-11-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract : AXL.Net is a prototype web-based immersive technology solution that supports case method teaching for U.S. Army leader development. The AXL.Net system addresses three challenges: (1) designing a pedagogically-sound research prototype for leader development, (2) integrating research technologies with the best of Web 2.0 innovations to enhance case method teaching, and (3) providing an easy to use system. Initial evaluations show that the prototype application and framework is effective for leader development.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Jonathan Gratch

  21 shared

• Shichen Liu

  16 shared

• Haiwei Chen

  The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University

  16 shared

• Changhee Han

  Yonsei University

  15 shared

• Youngjun Kim

  Sungkyunkwan University

  13 shared

• Weikai Chen

  12 shared

• Stacy Marsella

  Universidad del Noreste

  11 shared

• Michael van Lent

  11 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Computer Science

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1990

• M.S., Computer Science

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1986

• B.S., Computer Science

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1984