In our research we specialize in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and computer graphics. We are also studying heat transfer by radiation and its application to the construction of realistic images in computer graphics. Our laboratory was the first to demonstrate the thermodynamic structure of boiling and natural convection in porous materials, and we have pioneered in the development of numerical methods for the computer simulation of heat transfer and fluid-flow problems. In joint research with the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell, we are working on ways of creating realistic, synthetic images of objects and environments using first principles from optics, geometry, and radiative heat transfer. Under development are reflection models based on wave and ray optics, and diffuse transfer models to handle multiple scattering and imaging in enclosures. We were the first to create realistic images of objects and scenes which correctly incorporated the behavior of metallic, nonmetallic, and partially transparent substances, and fully accounted for diffuse and nondiffuse scattering and multiple reflections in an environment. A measurement laboratory has been developed and is used to study the radiometric properties of surfaces and light sources, validate synthetic images against actual images, and make error assessments.

After receiving his doctoral degree, Torrance held a joint appointment with the Fire Research Section of the National Bureau of Standards, and the Factory Mutual Engineering Corporation, in Norwood, Massachusetts. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1968. At the university he is associated with the graduate Fields of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering and the Program of Computer Graphics. During 1974-75, he held a fellowship in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Physical Society and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 1994 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award.