Tony DeRose, a senior scientist and lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios, will lecture at Hamilton College as part of the James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture series. His talk, "Math in the Movies," will take place on Thursday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel.
Film making is undergoing a digital revolution brought on by advances in areas such as computer technology, computational physics, geometry, and approximation theory. Using numerous examples drawn from Pixar's feature films, this talk will provide a behind the scenes look at the role that math plays in the revolution.
DeRose received a bachelor's degree in physics in from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 he was a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. In 1998, DeRose was a major contributor to the Oscar® winning short film "Geri's Game," in 1999 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2006 he received an Academy® Award for his work on surface representations.
The James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture series was established in 1987 through a bequest from Dr. Plant, class of 1912 and an eminent child psychiatrist, to bring to the campus outstanding scientists as guest lecturers.
About Pixar:
Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and most recently, Ratatouille. The Northern California studio has won 20 Academy Awards® and its seven films have grossed more than $4 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The next film release from Disney•Pixar is WALL•E (June 27, 2008).
Film making is undergoing a digital revolution brought on by advances in areas such as computer technology, computational physics, geometry, and approximation theory. Using numerous examples drawn from Pixar's feature films, this talk will provide a behind the scenes look at the role that math plays in the revolution.
DeRose received a bachelor's degree in physics in from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 he was a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. In 1998, DeRose was a major contributor to the Oscar® winning short film "Geri's Game," in 1999 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2006 he received an Academy® Award for his work on surface representations.
The James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture series was established in 1987 through a bequest from Dr. Plant, class of 1912 and an eminent child psychiatrist, to bring to the campus outstanding scientists as guest lecturers.
About Pixar:
Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation. Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and most recently, Ratatouille. The Northern California studio has won 20 Academy Awards® and its seven films have grossed more than $4 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The next film release from Disney•Pixar is WALL•E (June 27, 2008).
