[aras_p]

I am the author. I'm not from the US, so no idea about your thesis question. I did my thesis many years ago, so this investigation is completely not related to that topic :)

[WalterGR]

> I am the author.

Cool. Thanks for publishing your research!

What was your thesis topic, if you don't mind sharing?

[aras_p]

> What was your thesis topic, if you don't mind sharing?

"Rendering Soft Shadows in Real Time" (https://aras-p.info/texts/files/ArasPranckevicius_Magistras_...), which was an overview of rendering techniques from that era (2005), and also two new approaches that were both kinda silly in retrospect :)