ETC team members
The core G.I.R.L. Tech team is made up of eight graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center: Laura Lantz, Lindsay Williams, Charles Sam Daniels, Shashank Srinivasan, Theresa Chen, Betsy McIver, Rebecca Riggs, and Lauren Etta. Our advisers are Ruth Comley and Shirley Saldamarco.
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Laura
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Producer/Designer
Laura Lantz spent her summers rollerblading through Chicago suburbs with her three siblings, stirring the playgrounds into massive, impromptu games of monster tag and cops and robbers.
Nowadays, Laura is an aspiring designer of interactive museum exhibits. She has tread wet clay barefoot in petticoats to illustrate 18th century brick making methods, created numerous web-based multimedia applications for Darden Graduate School of Business, and helped establish a lab at the University of Plymouth, UK that uses virtual reality as a tool for psychology research. Her goal is to work on exhibits similar to the Museum of Science and Industry's "The Coal Mine" and the National Postal Museum's "What's in The Mail For You!"
The Iron Giant, Eve, QRIO
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rriggs
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Mechanical Engineer/Sound Designer
Rebecca Riggs in an imaginative mechanical engineer whose passion lays in designing theme park rides and attractions. Rebecca also has the desire to work in a global environment where co-workers can combine their expertise and learn from each other.
In order to pursue her dream, Rebecca has received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Union College where she designed an interactive Lion King safari theme ride.
After school, she proceeded to work for the IAESTE program in Erlangen, Germany where she researched Artificial Intelligence.
Following her internship, Rebecca was chosen for the International Management Trainee Program at Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances where she worked as a mechanical engineer in an international group for 9 months in Munich Germany. She then worked her remaining time for BSH in New Bern, North Carolina as a plastic and acoustics engineer for their dishwasher design division.
Rebecca is now very excited to be with new colleagues in the immersion semester at the ETC center in Pittsburgh where she can apply her international experience and mechanical engineer skills to interactive entertainment!
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Lauren
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Mechanical Engineer
Born and raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA, Lauren quickly discovered she had a natural curiosity in mechanical technology - dismantling toasters and VCRs to see how the internal components made the devices function. Naturally, Lauren elected to attend Virginia Tech and concentrate on Mechanical Engineering to further develop her affinity for mechanical technology. While there, Lauren specialized in 3D modeling applications and became the first student at the school to be certified by the SAE in the use of Unigraphics NX3.
Lauren, who still holds onto her childhood passions, enjoys: building twisting and turning bobsled paths in the snow, riding mattresses down stairs, and amusement parks with incredible roller coasters. She also loves simulation and role-playing games, such as: Rollercoaster Tycoon, World of Warcraft, and the first Sims.
Lauren's dream is to combine her mechanical engineering ingenuity with her childhood passions to design entertaining experiences for children.
Johnny 5
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Charles
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Programmer
Charles holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from Penn State University. He has worked for almost a decade in the Internet Advertising industry as a Senior Developer. Leaving it all behind he enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University's Masters of Entertainment Technology program to pursue his dreams of working as a Computer Graphics Software Developer / Technical Director at a special effects/3D animation production house. He would like to contribute his artistic, writing and technological skills to help create stories that entertain and evoke intense emotions in their audiences.
Data, Wall-E, Marvin
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Theresa Chen
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Designer/Artist
Theresa Chen graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in May 2008 with a BFA in Fine Arts where she concentrated in electronic, time-based media, and 2D traditional arts. She then enrolled at the Entertainment Technology Center to pursue a Masters, hoping to take what she learned in her undergraduate years to a new level.
Theresa's interests cover a wide range in art and technology that she believes is embodied in the ETC. She is especially interested in the communicative qualities of interaction and play as well as the idea of games as art. She is looking forward to the opportunities that new media brings.
Wall-E! And the robots from Castle in the Sky. ^_^
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Lindsay
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Programer
Whether it was playing “pretend” in the backyard with friends or inventing stories in her head, Lindsay Williams has always had an active imagination. As a child she would build towering fortresses in far off places and scary haunted houses, consisting of various objects located around her house. She would then create a story for the scene with the help of her sisters as actresses. When Lindsay deemed her worlds ready she would bring any guest she could find on a tour of her fantasy worlds. To this day as her imagination grows Lindsay is continuing to expand her technical skills in ways that will help her create all the fantasy worlds that one can imagine.
Lindsay attended the University at Albany, State University of New York where she obtained her Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science. While in her senior year at Albany her research led her to a conference called OurCS. This conference was created by and for women in computer science and was to be held at Carnegie Mellon University. OurCS opened her eyes to her future path at the Entertainment Technology Center, finally a place where she can imagine the improbable and make it reality. Currently she is in her “boot camp” semester at the ETC. There she is creating virtual worlds every two weeks with a group of 4 likeminded students from all over the globe.
Speaking of all over the globe, some of Lindsay’s favorite activities are traveling and meeting new and interesting people. Lindsay’s first foray into international waters was her summer long camp experience located in Rhinebeck, NY. Camp Rising Sun, operated by the Louis August Jonas Foundation (LAJF), is an international camp bringing youth together from all over the world. With this amazing experience behind her Lindsay continued to travel with different groups of people to many countries including, Spain, Germany, Ireland, and China. In each country she met many different people and soaked in the culture that surrounded her.
WALL-E, my little purple gal, AIBO, EVE, IROBOT
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Shashank
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Modeler/Technical Artist
My interest in Computer Graphics started since the day I saw Jurassic Park. I was awestruck by the living dinosaurs. I was old enough to know that dinosaurs were extinct, but was really surprised how they made it look so real on screen. So Computer Graphics and Animation has been a childhood dream. So boldly and enthusiastically I decided to pursue a career in the field of Animation. During the course of my undergrad I quickly realized that animation was only a small part of the broader term Multimedia. I was introduced to the concepts of 2D animation, 3D animation, Web Designing, DVD authoring and Game development. My first Multimedia project "Guitar" was rated as one of the best projects among the first year students. Though my Bachelors helped me get a good generalistic foundation, I felt the need to specialize. After my Bachelors, I applied to Vancouver Film School (VFS) and got admitted.VFS is one the top Animation and Digital Effects schools in the world. Here I learnt really advanced CG techniques like Camera Tracking, Blue Screen Keying, High Dynamic Image Based Rendering ( HDRI ), Hierarchy Based Rigging and Advanced Multi channel - Multi pass Integration. I have graduated with an Advanced Diploma and created a demo reel incorporating almost all aspects of a 3D production pipeline. But All through my student career I have felt a need to collaborate with a team of creative individuals with various skill sets and be a part of a team that realizes a project from the Concept through the Execution to the Final Presentation. So I took a decision to apply to the Masters in Entertainment Technology programme at Carnegie Mellon University. It seemed to be the perfect road towards this goal. Working with different people from different backgrounds of Art, Design, Film and Programming is a rare opportunity at the student level. A very few educational institutions encourage this kind of cross disciplinary interaction and project development. Now at Carnegie Mellon – Entertainment Technology Center, I am really enjoying the Creative, Artistic and Technical collaboration in realizing visions and experiences and continue to ponder the endless boundaries that this new medium can explore and conquer....
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Betsy McIver
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Mechanical Engineer
Always a tinkerer with a big imagination, Betsy's interest in themed entertainment blossomed from a childhood fascination for building moving things combined with a passion for the magic she experienced on annual family trips to Disneyland.
In an effort to pursue her goal of going into themed entertainment design, Betsy received degrees in both Management- Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and earned her certificate as an engineering intern. During her undergraduate studies she also became involved in theatrical design and received an award for excellence in mechanical design projects.
Today, she feels right at home at the Entertainment Technology Center. Her past projects include the creation of an interactive exhibit for the Carnegie Science Center. Currently, she is working with a team to create and interactive experience for the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and is loving every minute of it!
R2D2 and Wall-E
