Professor of Motion Picture Science, School of Film and Animation, College of Art and Design, MAGIC Center, Rochester Institute of Technology

My research and teaching focuses on human perception of materials, 3D shape, and motion — mainly through vision and touch.

My background includes undergraduate training in architecture, design, and computer graphics at The Computer Graphics Research Group of The Ohio State University; user interface and medical imaging research and development at OSU and Pixar; animation and technical direction at Pixar Animation StudiosI was the original ‘Animation Scientist’. ; graduate training in environment and behavior, cognitive science, mathematical modeling and vision science at OSU; and teaching in computer graphics, computational methods, psychology, and neuroscience at OSU and Skidmore College.

I am presently teaching Virtual Production I & II.

Previously, at OSU, I taught Programming for Artists and Introduction to Psychology. At Skidmore, I taught Computational and Quantitative Methods, Comparative Vision, Perception, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Cognitive Science and seminars on Sensory Compensation, Sensory Neuroscience, High Level Vision, Ecological Perception, and Computational and Perceptual Aesthetics. I also taught First Year Seminars on Designing a Mind and a cross-institution course with Union College on Psychology and Neuroscience in the Real World. In addition to my current classes, at RIT I have taught Human Visual Perception and Visual Effects and Compositing, and the RIT Freshman Imaging Project.

I am a member of the Visual Effects Society and Vision Sciences Society and a past member of ACM-SIGGRAPH, ACM-SIGPLAN, ACM-SIGCHI, Sigma Xi, International Society of Rudimental Percussionists, American Federation of Musicians, Environmental Design Research Association, Society for Neuroscience, APA, APS.

I am incredibly honored to be associated with Project Prakash.

I collaborate with folks at MIT, OSU, WKU, Tel Aviv U & U Gießen.

Lastly, I am thankful to be part machine – titanium, Dacron, and cow.