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avatar for Michael Gourlay

Michael Gourlay

Microsoft HoloLens
Principal Dev Lead
Dr. Michael J. Gourlay works as a Principal Software Engineer Lead at Microsoft on HoloLens, where he leads software engineering teams in the Analog Platform R&D organization, under the Environment Understanding group, for augmented reality, virtual reality & mixed reality platforms such as HoloLens and Windows Holographic.

Michael leads the team that develops the inside-out tracking system which fuses computer vision, signal processing and inertial tracking techniques. This technology underlies rendering world-locked holograms. He also led the team that performs calibration using computer vision and numerical optimization. That team creates calibration solutions for both factory and field operation. Michael’s team also developed the surface reconstruction solution (branded Spatial Mapping) for Windows Holographic. That gives devices a virtual representation of real-world surfaces, permitting virtual objects to appear to interact with real-world objects, both visually and physically.

Michael previously worked at Electronic Arts (EA Sports) as the Software Architect for the Football Sports Business Unit, as a senior lead engineer on Madden NFL, on character physics and the procedural animation system used by EA, on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and as a lead programmer on NASCAR. He wrote Lynx, the visual effects system used in EA games worldwide and patented algorithms for interactive, high-bandwidth online applications. He also architected FranTk, the game engine behind Connected Career and Connected Franchise.

He also developed curricula for and taught at the University of Central Florida (UCF) Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA), an interdisciplinary graduate program that teaches programmers, producers and artists how to make video games and training simulations.

Prior to joining EA, he performed scientific research using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the world's largest massively parallel supercomputers. His previous research also includes nonlinear dynamics in quantum mechanical systems, and atomic, molecular and optical physics, stealth, RADAR and massively parallel supercomputer design. He also developed pedagogic orbital mechanics software.

Michael received his BS in Physics from Georgia Tech and his PhD in Physics from University of Colorado at Boulder.