Meet Our Team - Konstantinos G. Kakoulis

Role at Tom Sawyer Software

Konstantinos G. Kakoulis joined Tom Sawyer Software in 1998 as a research staff member after completing his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. During his time at the company, he contributed to foundational work in graph visualization and label placement algorithms, and he is a co-inventor of a U.S. patent on labeling graphical features of drawings. He continues to collaborate with Tom Sawyer Software on research and development topics related to graph drawing and visualization.

Academic Career

Professor Kakoulis is a faculty member in the Department of Products and Systems Design Engineering at the University of Western Macedonia in Greece, where he has been a professor since 2019. He previously served as department head (2019–2023) and as director of the MSc program in Product Design and CAD/CAM Systems since 2015. He has also held academic appointments at the University of Texas at Dallas and West Macedonia's Institute of Technology.

Research and Contributions

Professor Kakoulis’ research lies at the intersection of information visualization, algorithm engineering, CAD, cartography, and human-computer interaction. His work has been published in numerous international journals and conferences, and his research on automatic label placement in graphs and maps has been widely cited. He has co-authored multiple book chapters in major handbooks on graph drawing and visualization.

He has served as editor for journal special issues on CAD/CAM technologies and is actively involved in interdisciplinary research connecting computational geometry with product design and manufacturing.

Education

Konstantinos G. Kakoulis earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1998, his M.S. in Computer Science from Saint Joseph's University in 1994, and a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Ioannina in 1990.

Selected Publications

• A System for Automatic Dimensioning of Mechanical Drawings
• Automatic Placement of Labels in Maps and Drawings
• Algorithms for Visualizing Phylogenetic Networks
• A Unified Approach to Automatic Label Placement
• On the Edge Label Placement Problem
• Computational Wearable Design: Shoe Sole Modelling and Prototyping
• A CAD-Based System for the Automatic Design of Lower Prosthetic Limbs
• See full list of publications