Meet the Team
Will Schroeder, Ph.D.
Opportunity Catalyst
Scientific Computing
Kitware Remote
Ph.D. in Mathematics
RPI
M.S. in Applied Mathematics
RPI
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
University of Maryland
Will Schroeder, Ph.D., is a co-founder of Kitware and served as its CEO for 19 years. His role is to identify technology and business opportunities and obtain the necessary support for Kitware to meet these opportunities. Will also provides technical leadership in large open source projects such as the National Library of Medicine Insight Toolkit (ITK) project, the NA-MIC NIH National Center for Biomedical Computing, and the Visualization Toolkit (VTK), where he is a lead developer and the first author of the VTK textbook.
Will is an advocate for open source software and business models. He has guest taught open source courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) with Luis Ibanez, Ph.D. as part of the Rensselaer Center for Open Source Software and at the University of Maine with Terry Yoo, Ph.D., as part of the Capstone Software Engineering Course. He continues to be active in the research community by presenting papers, teaching courses, and participating in panel discussions at conferences like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Visualization and SIGGRAPH. Will has also been an invited speaker at many scientific computing and open source conferences.
Prior to founding Kitware, Will was a computational scientist at the General Electric (GE) Corporate Research and Development Center. There, he developed software visualization tools for analyzing mechanical systems such as aircraft engines, as well as tools for medical and general computational visualization and fully automatic mesh generation. From 1980 through 1987, he was a design engineer at GE’s Gas Turbine Division, where he helped design and implement advanced simulation systems based on finite element, finite difference, and boundary element numerical methods.
Will received his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1991 from RPI, which he earned over an 11-year period while also working full-time at GE. He obtained his master’s degree in applied mathematics in 1983, also from RPI. Will graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland in 1980 as a mechanical engineer.
Awards
IEEE Visualization 2021 Test of Time Award for the 1996 paper on VTK, “The Design and Implementation of an Object-Oriented Toolkit for 3D Graphics and Visualization” by W. Schroeder, K. Martin, W. Lorensen.
Invited Talks & Media
ASME 2013 Frontiers in Medical Devices: Applications and Computer Modeling and Simulation Conference
KDE Akademy 2012: The Danger of Open: Disruptive Science
Publications
- W. Schroeder, S. Tsalikis, M. Halle, and S. Frisken, "A High-Performance SurfaceNets Discrete Isocontouring Algorithm," arXiv, Jan. 2024. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, J. Waters, E. Bresciani, and R. Bujack, "Topological Segmentation of 2D Vector Fields," LEVIA'22, Jul. 2022.
- B. Adhikari, Y. Scindia, L. Sordo Vieira, H. De Assis Lopes Ribeiro, J. Masison, N. Yang, L. Fonseca, M. Wheeler, A. Knapp, Y. Mei, B. Helba, C. Atkinson, W. Schroeder, B. Mehrad, and R. Laubenbacher, "Computational Modeling of Macrophage Iron Sequestration during Host Defense against Aspergillus," mSphere, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. e00074-22, Aug. 2022. [URL]
- H. Ribeiro, L. Vieira, Y. Scindia, B. Adhikari, M. Wheeler, A. Knapp, W. Schroeder, B. Mehrad, and R. Laubenbacher, "Multi-scale mechanistic modelling of the host defence in invasive aspergillosis reveals leucocyte activation and iron acquisition as drivers of infection outcome," Journal of The Royal Society Interface, vol. 19, no. 189, pp. 20210806, Apr. 2022. [URL]
- J. Masison, J. Beezley, Y. Mei, H. Ribeiro, A. Knapp, L. Sordo Vieira, B. Adhikari, Y. Scindia, M. Grauer, B. Helba, W. Schroeder, B. Mehrad, and R. Laubenbacher, "A modular computational framework for medical digital twins," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118, no. 20, pp. e2024287118, May 2021. [URL]
- A. Chaudhary, S. Jhaveri, A. Sanchez, L. Avila, K. Martin, A. Vacanti, M. Hanwell, and W. Schroeder, "Cross-Platform Ubiquitous Volume Rendering Using Programmable Shaders in VTK for Scientific and Medical Visualization," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 26-43, Mar. 2019.
- O. Ruebel, A. Tritt, B. Dichter, T. Braun, N. Cain, N. Clack, T. Davidson, M. Dougherty, J. Fillion-Robin, N. Graddis, M. Grauer, J. Kiggins, L. Niu, D. Ozturk, W. Schroeder, I. Soltesz, F. Sommer, K. Svoboda, L. Ng, L. Frank, and K. Bouchard, "NWB:N 2.0: An Accessible Data Standard for Neurophysiology," Neuroscience, Jan. 2019. [URL]
- T. Kapur, S. Pieper, A. Fedorov, J. Fillion-Robin, M. Halle, L. O'Donnell, A. Lasso, T. Ungi, C. Pinter, J. Finet, S. Pujol, J. Jagadeesan, J. Tokuda, I. Norton, R. Estepar, D. Gering, H. Aerts, M. Jakab, N. Hata, L. Ibanez, D. Blezek, J. Miller, S. Aylward, W. Grimson, G. Fichtinger, W. Wells, W. Lorensen, W. Schroeder, and R. Kikinis, "Increasing the impact of medical image computing using community-based open-access hackathons: The NA-MIC and 3D Slicer experience," Medical Image Analysis, vol. 33, pp. 176-180, Oct. 2016. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, R. Maynard, and B. Geveci, "Flying edges: A high-performance scalable isocontouring algorithm," in Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Large Data Analysis and Visualization, 2015. [URL]
- A. Bauer, B. Geveci, and W. Schroeder, "The Catalyst User's Guide v2.0," Kitware, Inc., Feb. 2015.
- L. Ibanez, W. Schroeder, and M. Hanwell, "Practicing Open Science," in Implementing Reproducible Research. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2014.
- H. Childs, B. Geveci, W. Schroeder, J. Meredith, K. Moreland, C. Sewell, T. Kuhlen, and E. Bethel, "Research Challenges for Visualization Software," Computer, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 34-42, May 2013. [URL]
- M. Hanwell, A. Perera, W. Turner, P. O'Leary, K. Osterdahl, B. Hoffman, and W. Schroeder, "Sustainable Software Ecosystems for Open Science," in Workshop on Sustainable Software: Practices and Experiences, 2013. [URL]
- T. Kapur, S. Pieper, R. Whitaker, S. Aylward, M. Jakab, W. Schroeder, and R. Kikinis, "The National Alliance for Medical Image Computing, a roadmap initiative to build a free and open source software infrastructure for translational research in medical image analysis," Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 176-180, Mar. 2012. [URL]
- B. Geveci and W. Schroeder, "VTK," in The Architecture of Open Source Applications. lulu.com, 2012, pp. online. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, F. Bertel, M. Malaterre, D. Thompson, P. Pebay, R. O'Bara, and S. Tendulkar, "Methods and framework for visualizing higher-order finite elements," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 446-460, Jul. 2006. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, L. Avila, K. Martin, W. Hoffman, and C. Law, The VTK User's Guide. Kitware, 2006.
- W. Schroeder, K. Martin, B. Lorensen, L. Sobierajski, R. Avila, and C. Law, Visualization Toolkit: An Object-Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics, 4th. Kitware, 2006.
- S. Pieper, B. Lorensen, W. Schroeder, and R. Kikinis, "The NA-MIC Kit: ITK, VTK, Pipelines, Grids and 3D Slicer as An Open Platform for the Medical Image Computing Community," in 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: Macro to Nano, 2006., 2006. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and K. Martin, "Overview of Visualization," in Visualization Handbook. Elsevier, 2005, pp. 3-35. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, F. Bertel, M. Malaterre, D. Thompson, and P. Pebay, "Framework for Visualizing Higher-Order Basis Functions," in IEEE Visualization, 2005. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and M. Shephard, "Computational Visualization," in Encyclopedia of Computational Mechanics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2004. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, L. Ibanez, and K. Martin, "Software Process: The key to developing robust, reusable and maintainable open-source software," in 2004 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: Macro to Nano (IEEE Cat No. 04EX821), 2004. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, B. Geveci, and M. Malaterre, "Compatible triangulations of spatial decompositions," in IEEE Visualization, 2004. [URL]
- B. King and W. Schroeder, "Automated wrapping of complex c++ code," Dr. Dobb's Journal, Jan. 2003.
- L. Ibáñez, W. Schroeder, L. Ng, and J. Cates, The ITK Software Guide. Kitware, Inc., 2003.
- J. Ehrhardt, H. Handels, B. Strathmann, T. Malina, W. Plötz, and S. Pöppl, "Atlas-Based Recognition of Anatomical Structures and Landmarks to Support the Virtual Three-Dimensional Planning of Hip Operations," in Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention - MICCAI 2003. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2003, pp. 17-24. [URL]
- T. Yoo, M. Ackerman, W. Lorensen, W. Schroeder, V. Chalana, S. Aylward, D. Metaxas, and W. Ross, "Engineering and Algorithm Design for an Image Processing API: A Technical Report on ITK - the Insight Toolkit," in Proceedings of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, 2002. [URL]
- R. Machiraju, J. Fowler, D. Thompson, B. Soni, and W. Schroeder, "EVITA — Efficient Visualization and Interrogation of Tera-Scale Data," in Data Mining for Scientific and Engineering Applications. Springer US, 2001, pp. 257-279. [URL]
- H. Pfister, B. Lorensen, C. Bajaj, G. Kindlmann, W. Schroeder, L. Avila, K. Raghu, R. Machiraju, and J. Lee, "The transfer function bake-off," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 16-22, 2001. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, L. Avila, and W. Hoffman, "Visualizing with VTK: A tutorial," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 20-27, Oct. 2000. [URL]
- C. Law, W. Schroeder, K. Martin, and J. Temkin, "A multi-threaded streaming pipeline architecture for large structured data sets," in Proceedings Visualization '99 (Cat. No.99CB37067), 1999. [URL]
- C. Law, L. Sobierajski Avila, and W. Schroeder, "Application of path planning and visualization for industrial-design and maintainability-analysis," in Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium: International Symposium on Product Quality and Integrity, 1998. [URL]
- Y. Chiang, C. Silva, and W. Schroeder, "Interactive out-of-core isosurface extraction," in Proceedings Visualization '98 (Cat. No.98CB36276), 1998. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and T. Citriniti, "Decimating Polygonal Meshes," Dr. Dobb's Journal, Jul. 1997. [URL]
- L. Sobierajski and W. Schroeder, "Interactive visualization of aircraft and power generation engines," in Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Visualization, 1997. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, "A topology modifying progressive decimation algorithm," in Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference, 1997. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, "Visualizing Scientific Data," Dr. Dobb's Journal, Jun. 1996. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and W. Lorensen, "3-D Surface Contours," Dr. Dobb's Journal, Jul. 1996.
- W. Schroeder, K. Martin, and W. Lorensen, "The design and implementation of an object-oriented toolkit for 3D graphics and visualization," in Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference, 1996. [URL]
- M. Shephard and W. Schroeder, "Analysis Data for Visualization," in Computer visualization: graphics techniques for scientific and engineering analysis. CRC Press, 1995.
- W. Schroeder, W. Lorensen, and S. Linthicum, "Implicit modeling of swept surfaces and volumes," in Proceedings of the IEEE Visualization Conference, 1994. [URL]
- H. Cline, W. Lorensen, and W. Schroeder, "3D Phase Contrast MRI of Cerebral Blood Flow and Surface Anatomy," Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, vol. 17, no. 2, 1993. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, W. Lorensen, G. Montanaro, and C. Volpe, "VISAGE: an object-oriented scientific visualization system," in Proceedings Visualization '92, 1992. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, J. Zarge, and W. Lorensen, "Decimation of triangle meshes," in Proceedings of the 19th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques - SIGGRAPH '92, 1992. [URL]
- W. Schroeder, C. Volpe, and W. Lorensen, "The stream polygon-a technique for 3D vector field visualization," in Proceeding Visualization '91, 1991. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and M. Shephard, "A combined octree/delaunay method for fully automatic 3‐D mesh generation," International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 37-55, Jan. 1990. [URL]
- W. Schroeder and M. Shephard, "Geometry‐based fully automatic mesh generation and the delaunay triangulation," International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, vol. 26, no. 11, pp. 2503-2515, Nov. 1988. [URL]
- M. Shephard, K. Grice, J. Lo, and W. Schroeder, "Trends in automatic three-dimensional mesh generation," Computers & Structures, vol. 30, no. 1-2, pp. 421-429, Jan. 1988. [URL]