Curriculum Vitae

Todd Zhang

Senior Software Engineer

 ✉️ reachout@xingzhang.me | LinkedIn

Executive Summary

I am a Senior Software Engineer at Amazon, specializing in Augmented Reality (AR), Computer Graphics, and Machine Learning, with over a decade of research and engineering experience.
My background combines academic research (Ph.D. in Computer Science from Binghamton University) and industry innovation, leading the design and deployment of large-scale AR features for Amazon’s e-commerce platform — directly improving customer experience and increasing conversion rates.

Previously, my work contributed to real-time rendering, facial expression analysis, and emotion-aware human–computer interaction. I have published multiple papers in IEEE FG, CVPR, and ACM SIGGRAPH, and co-developed the widely recognized BP4D-Spontaneous 3D Facial Expression Database.
I am passionate about building intelligent visual systems that connect human perception with machine understanding, with a focus on AR/VR applications and 3D visual computing.

Professional Experience

Amazon – Software Engineer III

Palo Alto, CA | May 2017 – Present

  • Amazon Virtual Try-On for Eyewear – Designed and implemented a mobile eyewear try-on solution using Objective-C, C++, SceneKit, and Filament. Added automatic eyewear placement and temple fade-out features, increasing purchase conversion by 4.6%.
  • Amazon Virtual Try-On for Lipstick – Led the design of physically-based lipstick materials and real-time lip tracking, improving realism and robustness. Delivered measurable 1.3% sales lift.
  • AR View in Amazon App – Developed the real-time rendering engine for Amazon’s AR View (C++/Obj-C/Java), featuring PBR, dynamic shadows, and skeletal animation.
  • 3D Model Toolbox – Created a Python-based model conversion pipeline for high-fidelity, production-ready 3D assets.

Apollo Box / Mage Inc. – R&D Engineer

Santa Clara, CA | July 2015 – May 2017

  • Designed and implemented markerless AR shopping experiences in Unity, Objective-C, and Java for iOS/Android, boosting mobile sales by 25%.
  • Developed marker-based AR rendering engines with particle systems and FBX animation.
  • Built hand posture detection prototypes using Lucas–Kanade and Gaussian mixture models for real-time gesture tracking.

DreamWorks Animation – Global Shading Engineer Intern

Redwood City, CA | June 2014 – September 2014

  • Researched and developed shading and texture synthesis technologies using C++, PySide, and MetaSL, enhancing texture workflow productivity by 50%.

Binghamton University – Research & Teaching Assistant

Binghamton, NY | 2008 – 2015

  • Developed real-time 3D binary edge algorithms for facial gesture detection and emotion analysis in VR.
  • Created BP4D-Spontaneous, a 2.6 TB 3D facial expression dataset used worldwide in the FERA Challenge.
  • Mentored undergraduate students under NSF REU and BU-HHMI programs.
  • Taught Computer Graphics and Visual Information Processing courses.

Education

Binghamton University, State University of New York – Binghamton, NY

Ph.D. in Computer Science, May 2015

  • Thesis: Facial Action Understanding from Human Perception and Machine Vision Perspectives
  • Advisor: Prof. Lijun Yin

M.Sc. in Computer Science, May 2010

  • GPA: 3.97/4.0

Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) – Wuhan, China

Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology, June 2008

Wuhan University – Wuhan, China

Bachelor of Engineering in Packaging Engineering (Computer Animation Direction), June 2008

Research & Publications

Selected Publications

  1. X. Zhang, U.A. Ciftci, L. Yin – “Mouth Gesture based Emotion Awareness and Interaction in Virtual Reality,” ACM SIGGRAPH Poster, 2015.
  2. X. Zhang, L. Yin, J.F. Cohn, et al. – “BP4D-Spontaneous: A High-Resolution 3D Dynamic Facial Expression Database,” Image and Vision Computing, 2014.
  3. X. Zhang, L. Yin, J.F. Cohn – “Three Dimensional Binary Edge Feature Representation for Pain Expression Analysis,” IEEE FG 2015.
  4. U.A. Ciftci, X. Zhang, L. Yin – “Partially Occluded Facial Action Recognition and Interaction in Virtual Reality Applications,” IEEE ICME 2017.
  5. Z. Zhang, X. Zhang, et al. – “Multimodal Spontaneous Emotion Corpus for Human Behavior Analysis,” IEEE CVPR 2016.

Database Contribution

  • BP4D-Spontaneous Facial Expression Database (2.6 TB) – Principal Developer and Maintainer. Widely used benchmark dataset for emotion recognition.

Awards

  • Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research, Binghamton University (2015)
  • ACM SIGGRAPH Student Research Competition, Top 17 of 95 (2015)
  • Doctoral Consortium Travel Grant, IEEE FG Conference (2013)
  • Student Marshal, Commencement Speaker, Binghamton University (2010)

Professional Service

  • Conference Reviewer: ECCV, CVPR, ICME, ISVC
  • Journal Reviewer: Pattern Recognition, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, Pattern Recognition Letters
  • IEEE Student Member
  • Delivered multiple research presentations and demos at DreamWorks Animation and academic conferences.

Technical Skills

  • Languages: C++, Objective-C, Python, Java, Swift
  • Frameworks/Engines: SceneKit, Filament, Unity, ARKit, ARCore
  • Graphics/3D: OpenGL, Metal, Vulkan, PBR, Shader Development, Texture Synthesis
  • Machine Learning: Computer Vision, Facial Expression Analysis, Emotion Recognition
  • Tools: AWS toolset, Docker, PyTorch, Blender, Maya, DirectX