Bachelor's thesis presentation. Youssef is advised by Mario Wille.
SCCS Kolloquium
The SCCS Colloquium is a forum giving students, guests, and members of the chair the opportunity to present their research insights, results, and challenges. Do you need ideas for your thesis topic? Do you want to meet your potential supervisor? Do you want to discuss your research with a diverse group of researchers, rehearse your conference talk, or simply cheer for your colleagues? Then this is the right place for you (and you are also welcome to bring your friends along).
Upcoming talks
Youssef Bouqentar: Postprocessing and Visualization of Adaptive Mesh Data from Peano Patch Files
SCCS Colloquium |
Numerical simulations employing Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) generate large and complex datasets that require effective visualization for analysis. The Peano framework, used for parallel AMR simulations, stores its output in a hierarchical patch-based file format (.peano-patch-file). While users can convert these files to VTK format for visualization with third-party tools such as ParaView, Peano lacks integrated tools for direct, versatile postprocessing. Visualizing Peano patch files directly presents challenges due to varying data associations (cell-based vs. vertex-based), mesh structures (adaptive vs. static), dimensions (2D/3D), and the need for different output formats. This thesis addresses these challenges by developing a dedicated postprocessing and visualization pipeline specifically designed for the Peano patch file format. The pipeline comprises three core components: a Geometry Processor to construct mesh geometries from hierarchical patch data; a Plotter to generate visualizations in standard raster (PNG) and vector (PDF or PGF for LATEX) formats using libraries such as Matplotlib and PyVista; and a parallel Worker module that transforms Peano’s parsed data structures into an internal dictionary format suitable for geometric processing while enabling efficient parallel processing of multiple snapshots. The resulting tool successfully handles the diverse data types and structures found in Peano files, demonstrating its capability with examples from real-world scenarios, including multi-component vector data obtained from 3D elastic wave propagation simulations or data from the Tohoku tsunami of 2011. Ray tracing integration is also possible on 3D data in PNG format using the NVIDIA library PlotOptiX, which provides a cleaner view of the simulation by leveraging the GPU directly. This work provides a valuable and needed extension to the Peano ecosystem, significantly simplifying the process for researchers to visualize, analyze, and communicate their simulation results.
You don't want to miss a talk? Subscribe to our mailing list and our Colloquium calendar .
Contribute a talk
To register and schedule a talk, you should fill the form Colloquium Registration at least four weeks before the earliest preferred date, at the end of a semester typically even earlier reservation is necessary due to a very high influx of presentations. Keep in mind that we only have limited slots, so please plan your presentation early! In special cases, contact colloquium(at)mailsccs.in.tum.de.
Colloquium sessions are now on-campus. We have booked room MI 02.07.023 for SS25 and MI 00.13.054 for WS25/26. You can either bring your own laptop or send us the slides as a PDF ahead of time. The projector only has an HDMI connection, so please bring your own adapters if necessary.
We invite students doing their Bachelor's or Master's thesis, as well as IDP, Guided Research, or similar projects at SCCS to give one 20min presentation to discuss their results and potential future work. The time for this is typically after submitting your final text. Check also with your study program regarding any requirements for a final presentation of your project work.
New: In regular times, we will now have slots for presenting early stage projects (talk time 2-10min). This is an optional opportunity for getting additional feedback early and there is no strict timeline.
Apart from students, we also welcome doctoral candidates and guests to present their projects.
During the colloquium, things usually go as follows:
- 10min before the colloquium starts, the speakers setup their equipment with the help of the moderator. The moderator currently is Ana Cukarska. Make sure to be using an easily identifiable name in the online session's waiting room.
- The colloquium starts with an introduction to the agenda and the moderator asks the speaker's advisor/host to put the talk into context.
- Your talk starts. The scheduled time for your talk is normally 20min with additional 5-10min for discussion.
- During the discussion session, the audience can ask questions, which are meant for clarification or for putting the talk into context. The audience can also ask questions in the chat.
- Congratulations! Your talk is over and it's now time to celebrate! Have you already tried the parabolic slides that bring you from the third floor to the Magistrale?
Do you remember a talk that made you feel very happy for attending? Do you also remember a talk that confused you? What made these two experiences different?
Here are a few things to check if you want to improve your presentation:
- What is the main idea that you want people to remember after your presentation? Do you make it crystal-clear? How quickly are you arriving to it?
- Which aspects of your work can you cover in the given time frame, with a reasonable pace and good depth?
- What can you leave out (but maybe have as back-up slides) to not confuse or overwhelm the audience?
- How are you investing the crucial first two minutes of your presentation?
- How much content do you have on your slides? Is all of it important? Will the audience know which part of a slide to look at? Will somebody from the last row be able to read the content? Will somebody with limited experience in your field have time to understand what is going on?
- Are the figures clear? Are you explaining the axes or any other features clearly?
In any case, make sure to start preparing your talk early enough so that you can potentially discuss it, rehearse it, and improve it.
Here are a few good videos to find out more:
- Simon Peyton Jones: How to Give a Great Research Talk (see also How to Write a Great Research Paper)
- Susan McConnell: Designing effective scientific presentations
- Jens Weller: Presenting Code
Did you know that the TUM English Writing Center can also help you with writing good slides?
Work with us!
Do your thesis/student project in Informatics / Mathematics / Physics: Student Projects at the SCCS.