Education

• Ph.D in Computer Science, University of Toronto, 2027 (expected)
  • Supervisor: Prof. Karan Singh
  • Funded by NSERC CGS-D ($120,000 over 36 months)
• M.S. in Computer Science, University of Toronto, 2023
  • Supervisor: Prof. Karan Singh
• B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2021

Publications

Constructing Dynamic Conversations with Neural Back-channel Generation and Voice-line Scheduling

Pan, Yifang, Chris Landreth, and Karan Singh. (2026). "Constructing Dynamic Conversations with Neural Back-channel Generation and Voice-line Scheduling." The 19th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction, and Games (MIG 2026).

FAME: Exploring Expressive Facial Avatars for Lyrical and Non-Lyrical Music Visualization for d/Deaf Individuals

Yoo, Suhyeon, Yifang Pan, Ashish Ajin Thomas, Karan Singh, and Khai N. Truong. (2026). "FAME: Exploring Expressive Facial Avatars for Lyrical and Non-Lyrical Music Visualization for d/Deaf Individuals." Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-19.

Model See Model Do: Speech-Driven Facial Animation with Style Control

Pan, Yifang, Karan Singh, and Luiz Gustavo Hafemann. (2025). "Model See Model Do: Speech-Driven Facial Animation with Style Control." SIGGRAPH Conference Papers 2025. 1-10.

Head-EyeK: Head-eye Coordination and Control Learned in Virtual Reality

Pan, Yifang, Ludwig Sidenmark, and Karan Singh. (2025). "Head-EyeK: Head-eye Coordination and Control Learned in Virtual Reality." IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. 1-11.

S3: Speech, Script and Scene Driven Head and Eye Animation

Pan, Yifang, Rishabh Agrawal, and Karan Singh. (2024). "S3: Speech, Script and Scene Driven Head and Eye Animation." ACM Trans. Graph.. 43(4).

VOCAL: Vowel and Consonant Layering for Expressive Animator-Centric Singing Animation

Pan, Yifang, Chris Landreth, Eugene Fiume, and Karan Singh. (2022). "VOCAL: Vowel and Consonant Layering for Expressive Animator-Centric Singing Animation." SIGGRAPH Asia 2022 Conference Papers. 1-9.

Patents

• System and Method of Conversational Gaze Control for Computer Animation (2026)
  • Inventors: Yifang Pan, Karan Singh, Rishabh Agrawal, Pif Edwards, Chris Landreth, Eugene Fiume
  • US Patent Application #18785109
  • Publication Date: January 29, 2026
• System and Method of Modulating Animation Curves (2024)
  • Inventors: Yifang Pan, Karan Singh, Eugene Fiume, Chris Landreth
  • US Patent Application #18519317
  • Publication Date: May 30, 2024

Work experience

• June 2026 - December 2026: Visiting Researcher
  • Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI-INF)
  • Duties: Developed joint audio and spatiotemporal generation of human motion in video models
  • Collaborated on spatial memory mechanisms for video models
• June 2024 - February 2025: Research Scientist
  • Ubisoft LaForge
  • Duties: Developed speech-driven expressive facial animation conditioned by example
  • Research resulted in first-author SIGGRAPH 2025 publication (Model See Model Do)
  • Funded by NSERC Mitacs Accelerate program ($24,000 over 8 months)
• June 2022 - November 2022: Research Scientist
  • Jali Research Inc
  • Duties: Developed procedural co-speech head and gaze gesture models
  • Research published at SIGGRAPH 2024 (S3: Speech, Script and Scene driven Head and Eye Animation)
• May 2020 - September 2020: Summer Research Student
  • University of Toronto
  • Duties: Investigated deep learning for FDD hybrid beamforming system optimization
  • Focused on joint encoding scheme and sum-rate optimization

Service and Leadership

• Peer Reviewer
  • ACM SIGGRAPH (2025)
  • ACM SIGGRAPH Asia (2025)
  • ACM User Interface Software and Technology - UIST (2025)
  • Eurographics (2024)

Other Skills

• Multilingual (English+Chinese)
• Skateboarding
• Sewing and Patterning