Alumni

An American-born Filipino, Michael Agustin grew up in the grand old state of Texas, where he developed a passion for not only playing games, but creating them. Driven by a childlike curiosity and the need to innovate, he aspires to breathe life into interactive entertainment and enrich the human experience.

Michael received his BA in Computer Science with a Minor in Business from The University of Texas at Austin. While there, he founded the Electronic Game Developers Society, a student organization for professional game development. He also became an avid photographer and graphic designer, and he soon began to appreciate the form and function of a good Mac.

Upon completing his undergraduate degree, he worked for the console developer Edge of Reality, writing games for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and XBox. He then received a prestigious internship at Apple Computer, within their Platform Experience Group, where he worked on Mac OS X Leopard.

During his time with the Entertainment Technology Center, Michael helped to pioneer the ETC in Adelaide, Australia as a TA for its inaugural class. There, he co-led a team to explore the innovative technique known as Game Sketching, a design process and toolset for game pre- production.

He was then hired as an intern at the swashbuckling online game company known as Three Rings Design, the makers of Puzzle Pirates, Bang! Howdy, and Whirled. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon with a Masters of Entertainment Technology, Michael went to found Gendai Games LLC, which is determined to be a "new kind of game company".

Born and bred in Nashville, TN, David has wanted to make games ever since he picked up a controller. After graduating high school, he went on to study computer science and Japanese at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he first experienced the wonders of VR while working for Prof. Lars Nyland. Realizing interactive media can offer amazing experiences that no other media can, he decided the ETC was the place for him.

David wants to spend the rest of his days creating things that make people stop and say, "Wow."

Dustin was born in a small town near Sacramento California. He was an intelligent and inquisitive child with a strong desire to understand the world. This led him to study Phyics at Harvey Mudd College. He learned a great deal about not only physics but mathematics, computer science, painting, and most importantly, how to learn. Along the way he gained a great many friends as well as a budding dissatisfaction with traditional academia.

None-the-less he decided to continue his physics education at UCLA. In November off 2004 he visited a friend already attending the ETC and fell in love with the place. So he decided to trade is his sandals for a decent pair of boots and moved to Pittsburgh.

One day Mark was writing up a Power Point presentation called "My Life So Far". (He was planning to show it to his mom.) But as he absent-mindedly rubbed the magic lamp on his desk, a genie popped out and asked sonorously, "What have you done in your life so far?" Mark said, "Wait a minute! You're a genie, you're supposed to give wishes, why do you care?" The genie said that was just how he rolled--he was interested in his clients--and so Mark showed him the following:

• Early Days
• Grew up in Colorado
• Went to Space Camp for free
• Won the school geography bee thanks to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
• College
• Rice University, double major in CS and English
• Won Sammy for Best Lead Actor of the Year
• Independent study of poems by Victorian Jesuit
• Post-College
• Worked for ViaSat in San Diego as a lead test software engineer
• Saw Simon Russell Beale in Jumpers and Lucian Freud's retrospective at MOCA
• Discovered Krazy Kat

(There were also pictures and cool flying-in text things in the Power Point presentation that we can't show here. But they were cool. The genie was impressed.)

"Clearly," said the impressed genie, "you belong at the ETC." Mark inquired politely what that was. The genie told him, and then said excitedly, "Yes, I can see your future! You'll document the age-old conflict between the cyborg monkey robots and the valiant space chickens! You'll tell a story about some dead guy and his wife! You'll work for a circus made of spaghetti! All I need to do is clap my hands and....�

But Mark interrupted the genie, thanked him for his time, and threw the magic lamp out the window. Then he applied to the ETC and did all that stuff by himself, which was nice because there were all sorts of surprises, like how the genie forgot to mention that the ETC would be seventeen and a half hours ahead and upside-down. Or how Mark would leverage an in-class essay into an "extended abstract" that he got to present at a "culture technology" conference in Korea. Twice. Or how half-way through the program he'd get a full-time job from a games company with a funny name known for their realistic, sober contributions to the marketplace. (Also for their work with those Matrix boys.) Oh, and they're also in Wellington, New Zealand, Coolest Place on Earth. Anyway. The moral of the story is: genies are forgetful, and it's more fun to do stuff without their help anyway, so throw your magic lamp out the window. THE END.

Howard has been doing some "summer reading" by riding the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world (Kingda Ka), by having an all-day Civ III LAN party, and by working at a casual game company in New York City called Large Animal. This is the most fun he's ever had preparing for school.

Howard is a world-class Time Crisis II player, able to consistently acheive a co-op mode score that is 20 percent higher than any high score he's ever seen (and he's been to arcades all over the country). In addition to being faster than a speeding bullet, he is more powerful than a 386, and able to code tall buildings in a single line.

Howard is looking for employment doing design and programming for theme park or other interactive applications.

While earning his Masters in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University, Daniel designed and produced an award-winning independent game called Polarity, interned at Disney Interactive Studios, and tackled a few other projects.

After graduation Daniel joined Crystal Dynamics where he worked as a designer on several console titles such as Tomb Raider: Underworld, and the critically-acclaimed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Daniel then made the jump to Sanzaru Games where he is currently working on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for the Playstation 3.

You can check out more of Daniel’s work at www.danielbryner.com.

Javier was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in Central Florida. He was involved in many activities like baseball, football, marching band, jazz band, art, performing arts and many years of video game playing. As an undergraduate, he studied at the University of Central Florida and received a B.A. in Digital Media “Internet & Interactive systems”. There he took courses related to computer graphics, web design, game design, game production, project management, 3d modeling and animation, software design, E-commerce, interactive entertainment, sound design, and film production. After graduating, Javier then went on to work for CME3D as a 3D Production Artist. His passion for art, technology and entertainment has driven him to continue his education in this field and found the best place to do so; The ETC at CMU! He looks forward to working, learning and creating with these talented individuals.

Bryan Cash was born in Pusan, South Korea. After that, his family moved through California, Washington, Saudi Arabia, England, Nebraska, and finally Texas. The first video game he ever played was Dragon Warrior 1 for the Nintendo.

With a balanced schedule of Computer Science and Theatre in high school, Bryan hoped to continue this to college. Unfortunately, Rice University did not have a theatre major, although it had a wonderful theatre program. As a coordinator of the Rice Players, Bryan had the opportunity to act, stage manage, construct costumes, and work as the Development Chair on acquiring funding to ensure the theatre program could run perpetually. As a computer scientist, Bryan studied artificial intelligence, in particular work on motion capturing from cartoon animation. His particular interests were in realistic and believable human simulation. Throughout high school and college, Bryan joked that he'd somehow find a place where "theatre and computer science were used together."

Then he found the ETC.

Magnolia is attracted to logic and structure along with painting, sculpting and movement. After completing a math major with concentrations in art, music and physics as an undergrad, she went to work as an auditor while pursuing web design on the side. The spark of combining logic, graphic design, and interactivity caused her to leave auditing to the auditors, turn to interactive media, and come to the ETC to pursue this.

Outside interests include snowboarding, mountain biking, kickboxing, playing music and of course, a mean game of kickball.

With the love of art, music, drama and video games and the background of computer science. Yi-Hsuan decided to come to ETC to make use of her interests. After two exhausting but happy semesters, she spent a summer in Taiwan doing her internship at a studio of SOE. Although she tend to get into the video game industry, she decided to work on location-based entertainment project for a semester in order to try as many things as possible before she leaves ETC. Currently she is on the iLit project team, working as a sound designer and game designer.

Gina graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering for Computer Science. While there, she did extensive work with the Digital Media Design Program which specializes in marrying Communications, Computer Science and Fine Arts. Her projects included working on Augmented Reality (Fusion Tracker and Head Mounted Displays for the US Air Force). As a summer internship, Gina worked for the US Navy creating 3D simulations for missile trajectories to be used as a visualization tool for military brass.

She did an independent study at The University of Otago in New Zealand, where she worked on Face Recognition in order to identify head placement for future vision research. She worked as an archaeological lab technician for the University of Pennsylvania�s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, recreating a historical site by converting 2D images into 3D profiles based on accurate data points.

Gina found time in college to be on the University�s track team as a long, triple and high jumper. She was also a member of the Club Basketball team as a shooting guard and played as an outside hitter in volleyball.

Gina decided to pursue a masters at The Entertainment Technology Center in Australia to help mix her skills as a programmer with her 3D design background. She wants to eventually be a technical director of special effects on feature films.

Originally from DuBois, PA, Justin grew up all over the beaches of South Florida. His background is in interaction design, project management, and Super Smash Bros.

As a consultant, he has worked for government on the municipal, national, and international level in addition to free-lancing in the private sector.

When (if) he grows up, he wants to be Dr. Doom. If that doesn't pan out, he'll settle for electronic media production and design.

His principal inspirations include Nintendo, Disney, Jim Henson, and Fred Rogers.

Chris G. Daniel is a man of many talents. After earning a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Art and Mathematics, Chris entered the Entertainment Technology Center as a texture artist. There he filled a wide range of variety of roles from character designer, to environmental artist, to 2D animator, to even actor.

He went onto work as part of the Living History project as the User Interface Designer/Programmer and Kids’ Content Creator for a series of touch screen kiosk that were installed on the submarine the USS Requin. Simultaneously he lent his character design talent to the “keyhole” PC game Skyrates.

When he’s not designing submarine interfaces or characters for keyhole games, Chris codes his own experimental computer games and writes and draws original comics.

Albert Einstein said, “An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until he knows everything about nothing.” Aditya’s journey towards “nothingness” began in Ahmedabad, India, where he was born precisely before the earth completed its last 24 revolutions around the sun. With immense affection from parents and camaraderie with his adoring younger brother, he would say he had a blissful childhood.

During his undergraduate studies in engineering, Aditya also discovered his creative soul and passion for communication and management. He received top honors in a Corporate Communication and Advertising diploma program and found his first job as a feature writer and executive member of the production team with the country’s leading media house – The Times of India Group – which publishes the highest-selling English language newspaper in the world. Later, Aditya also worked as the Marketing Manager for a leading learning resource center: Endeavor Careers.

However, Aditya felt he required a “transformation”, that from a cog to a wheel. And shortly thereafter, he came across Carnegie Mellon’s “graduate program for the left and right brain”. Aditya feels extremely fortunate to be part of such a multi-cultural, multi-talented class at the ETC!

Melodramatic as it may appear in this picture, he is looking for an opportunity to leverage his experience in marketing and corporate communication, and expertise in writing and project management. Specifically, he wants to facilitate creative processes and promote innovative products. Aditya is really interested in the factors that affect the competitive performance of business concerns. Needless to say, he naturally inherits the traditional entrepreneurial spirit of the Gujaratis (i.e., people from the state of Gujarat in India)!

Ah, did he mention he is a Gemini?

Trey earned his undergraduate degree in Communications Media at the small-town Pennsylvania college, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). His undergraduate studies focused on the arts of screenwriting, television production and project management.

While a student at IUP, Trey co-created, produced, and wrote a national award-winning sitcom titled, "Adventures in Idiocy." The show, loosely based on his own collegiate experience, was dubbed the "College Seinfeld."

For the past seven months, Trey worked as an Assistant Producer (Intern) at Electronic Arts-Tiburon in Orlando, FL on a variety of projects. During the summer Trey assisted on Madden NFL 07, NFL Street 3 and an Unannounced Title. In the fall semester Trey worked on a highly confidential project in the Central Online group.

Currently, Trey is finishing his last semester at the ETC working with Northrop Grumman (the world's 3rd largest defense contractor).

Trey's objective is to obtain an Assistant Producer position in the interactive entertainment industry upon graduation in May.

I have a background in cartooning and illustration. From an early age, I was interested in artistic uses for technology. This is what drove me to study Computer Engineering. My goal coming to the ETC is to combine these two disciplines to create innovative gameplay experiences. My hobbies are: playing bass, video games, reading ,and sketching people when they're not looking.

Believing in the importance of personality in character design keeps John focused towards creating characters that audiences can connect with. A background of character modeling and animation, traditional life drawing, and composition and color design is complimented with client-based advertising and marketing experience.

John has worked at Schell Games as a Character TD and Animator for 2 years and was recently the animation lead for a large, interactive Theme Park Attraction. As a Design and Animation Consultant for four years prior, past clients include ETCetera Edutainment: Educational Animation; Best Promotions: Promotional Animation; Feet First: Medical Product Design and Marketing; McKenzie Illustrations: Medical Imaging and Animation; and ITT Technical Institute: Educational Physics Simulation.

Also, as a 3D Modeling and Animation instructor, John taught all 3D course levels in ITT Technical Institute's Multimedia Program for over three years. He also taught two summers of a 3D Modeling course in Carnegie Mellon University's Summer Academy for Math and Sciences, a program focusing on rapid skill advancement.

Patrick took his gifts and studied fine art at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT. It was here that he learned the value of patience, the influence of a good professor and indeed how important friends are (especially when they become your family.) He has also studied Japanese for four years and did semester abroad in Queensland at James Cook University studying Japanese Culture and language. He liked Australia so much that he jumped at the chance to come back as part of the ETC- Adelaide program. Now he is in Pittsburgh to face the challenges that ETC throws at him.

While a prelaw major at NYU, Brian enrolled in a stop motion animation class to fill an elective. He proved proficient enough to take Advanced Animation Production where he produced the short film "Home From Work," which was screened at the First Run Film Festval. He subsequently interned at Michael Sporn Animation Inc., working on DVD movies and games for Scholastic. He is very excited to be working with a larger team of specialists for the as yet untitled animated short that will result from the "Granny Project."

He worked on the interactive Disney theme park attraction "Toy Story Mania," and now works at Schell Games.

I want to help educate kids. The way that is being done is changing right now, and I want to be a part of the force that drives it. Video games will become part of this scenario because they are becoming more and more of a cultural force.

I enjoy playing drums and guitar quite a bit.

Currently Shannon Is consulting for Philips Research south of London with the amBX group... Ambient Experience Technologies - www.amBX.com.

His focus is the development of new markets, concepts and technologies in immersive, themed, theatircal and location based entertainment media and special projects.

Shannon finished his time at ETC on co-op as a Research Assistant to Don Marinelli, Executive Producer of ETC Global at Carnegie Mellon on a research tour to meet with companies to develop potential projects and expand employment opportunities for the ETC community.

His travels are documented in a new blog on Immersive Theater and 'Synesthetic Media'

http://www.immersivetheater.org

Shannon has also recently completed delivery of a feature film of The Spaghetti Circus Pirates Show. It is available on-line at http://www.circuspirates.com

Shannon was the producer of the Circus Pirates project, a Children's Circus Big Top Production collaboration with THe Spaghetti Circus. Featuring 3 20ftx15ft Rear Projections screens running the "largest video game" in Australia. In 12 weeks the Circus Pirates team created and delivered 2.5 hours of real-time content and for 11 shows over 3 weekends.

Bio: Shannon comes to the ETC with a Carnegie Mellon education in classical operatic singing, directing, production technology and theatrical management; graduating in 2004 from college of fine arts with a BFA in Theater Studies. After graduation, Shannon was the principal designer and builder of The Hkan nightclub in Pittsburgh. For the past four years Shannon has taught acrobatics, prop manipulation, and clowning in an Australian children's circus. He also worked as a producer for Alchemica Productions an independent production company in Northern NSW; developing feature film scripts and directing and editing a 50 minute documentary. With Australian and American parents, Shannon has spent much of his life hopping across the pond in an effort to finally make Australia his home. Carnegie Mellon Australia's ETC was a perfect fit for Shannon, who was looking for a graduate program in Australia that had the qualities of the academic experience he had undergone as an undergrad. Shannon's vision is to bring about artful theatrical storytelling through dynamic digital media interaction with live spectacle.

I was born and raised in the wonderful San Francisco Bay Area. My love of reading and writing has motivated me to attain a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley and my obsession for video games of all genres on all platforms has led me to 6 summers of professional experience interning for Electronic Arts. Although I have worked in marketing, almost nothing excites me more than the process of creation involved in production and design. When I am not reading, writing, or playing video games, I love to listen to music, work out, and play basketball.

Though he's traveled much of America, Peter Justeson has spent most of his life in various suburbs of New York state. Armed at an early age with an overactive imagination and an affinity for math, Peter has enjoyed both playing and making up games as a kid. An avid gamer since the NES days, Peter gained the necessary background to land a job as a game reviewer, which he has held for three years as of now. His love of programming and passion for game design brought him to computer science, and then to the ETC. Peter is enormously excited to be a part of a medium as it begins to reach its maturity and gain cultural recognition. In addition to gaming, Peter enjoys writing, dancing, and martial arts.

Anne recently completed her degree in Theatre Arts, in anticipation of a career in theatre and other entertainment fields. She has experience in performance, technical theatre, and design. While at Virginia Tech, she developed an interest in visually-based theatre-- performances which emerge from concept and environment instead of script. She also designed theatre experiences where audience members could become immersed in the story through participation in the action and exploration of the physical space. An example of this is her �Daedalus� project, which tells a story about displacement and sacrifice, based on the Greek myth of the Minotaur�s labyrinth, all while the audience physically moves through the scenes.

In addition to her theatre background, Anne spent a year in architecture expanding her perspective of design, and she spent a summer at Walt Disney World (attractions host, Haunted Mansion), learning about guest experience from an operational standpoint.

Upon graduation from the ETC, Anne would like to be part of a team creating cutting-edge theme park attractions, interactive museums, and other immersive environments.

Jung-Hyun is looking for the balance point between art and technology through researching in emotions. Although he is in technology background, he is greatly interested in arts. Through activities such as drawing and painting, he tried to understand the ‘Language of the World’ and express it with the technology. His dream is to make a game, picture, robot, interactive artwork or entirely new media that appeals to human emotions.

He found his lifelong goal when he was in undergraduate school. He explored other realms without hesitation. His minor is business administrator and he took some economic classes. He is also interested in sports and took about 10 courses such as tennis, swimming, archery, bowling, sports dance and gymnastics, etc. Since being a sophomore, steadily he took fine arts courses. Then, finally, he recognized what he has to do and came to ETC. He is extremely happy to join ETC because he met people who share his dream.

Camilla loves adventure, traveling to far off lands, and taking lots of pictures. She is currently at the new ETC campus in Adelaide, Australia, producing a mobile game to help teenage girls learn to eat healthy. As an undergraduate, Camilla studied physics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, where she gained a variety of knowledge about the mechanics of the world around us. In Africa, she designed and implemented a program to train refugee instructors in art and yoga, part of her lifelong goal to help others. Her love for photography and her desire to impact lives brought her to the ETC. Since her arrival at the ETC, Camilla has worked as the art director for several games, including a four player music-making game and an interactive fountain personality. Her career aspirations are to become a leader in bringing educational aspects to the forefront of the entertainment industry.

Lenny Larsen is an accomplished creative director/show designer for theatrical and themed entertainment experiences. He holds a bachelor’s degree in themed entertainment design and a master’s degree in entertainment technology both from Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC).

Originally trained as a theatrical designer and director, Lenny is responsible for developing the creative vision behind more than sixty major projects including themed attractions, museums, and theatrical productions. With extensive experience and proven proficiency in the worlds of design, technology, production, and even operations, he brings a comprehensive and well-rounded background to each and every project.

Lenny has been a growing presence in the leisure and entertainment industry since 2000. From an early start in theme park operations as a performer at Walt Disney World to his most recent role leading the conception and design of numerous Landmark Entertainment Group projects around the world, Lenny is quickly earning an international reputation for his contributions to innovative and immersive entertainment experiences.

Among the countless projects Lenny has contributed to: At ETC he worked as both a creative director and show producer, developing a wide variety of attractions and museum experiences including the American Music Crossroads Center, the Carnegie Science Center, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and the World’s Fair for Kids. Lenny also worked with Thinkwell Design & Production to conceive and develop a first-of-its-kind interactive fountain for The Pier in Atlantic City, NJ. With Landmark Entertainment Group, Lenny conceived and directed the initial concepts for dozens of projects including the National Air & Space Museum (Moscow, Russia), the 2010 World Expo Future Pavilion (Shanghai, China), and Chongqing Safari Park (Chongqing, China).

With the launch of Next Generation Creative, Lenny and his partners Ben Buchwald and Mitch Russon hope to usher in a new generation of creative thinkers and technology wizards developing cutting-edge experiences grounded in immersive worlds and compelling stories.

Building on his passion for pushing the creative envelope and commitment to growing the next generation of the industry, Lenny was recently elected to the board of directors for the Western Division of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), an international organization representing creators of compelling places and experiences. He also serves on the organizing committee for the TEA’s annual SATE (Storytelling, Architecture, Technology, & Experience) conference.

Phil has been a programmer interested in art and especially music for many years. He loves to write and record his own compositions at home, and is extremely excited to apply his interest in sound to a career in edutainment.

After obtaining the bachelor degree he decided to move on, and ETC was the best place offering the most proficient explorable area to surf.

It was the best moment ever in life.

Lucas was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but has spent 6/7 of his life in Kearny, New Jersey. As a result, Lucas is much better at Fifa 2005 than traditional non-virtual soccer. Lucas graduated in May 2005 from Rutgers University's School of Engineering with a double major in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Console/PC Gaming. As it turns out, Rutgers does not give out degrees in Console/PC gaming, but at least he has fought terrorism, foiled the Covenant's plans, and accumulated more online friends than real-life friends. Some of Lucas' hobbies include World of Warcraft, Texas Hold'em, seeing live bands, cycling, attempting to skateboard, and reading. Lucas is also a huge fan of the New York Yankees and whoever beats the Boston Red Sox.

The day Lucas found out there was a place where he could learn to make video games and receive a higher education degree was the second happiest day of his life (the first being the day he learned he was accepted to this magical place). Almost every kid dreams at one time or another about making video games, and Lucas, who has yet to grow up, is very excited to be living the dream.

I am currently the Founder of an unannounced Startup

Previously: - Managing Sr. Game Designer, heading up the PC, Social Online, and Mobile-Game Design Teams at Namco Networks. - Designer at leading Casual-Game Studio, iWin. - Associate Producer/Game Designer at LeapFrog in Emmeryville, CA.

I have a Master's in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Tim earned a Bachelor's Degree in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His first job was working as a post-production intern for Automat Pictures where he received his first published credit with the DVD release of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake. Tim's next job took him to network television where he went to work for NBC's hit show, FEAR FACTOR as the on-location Production Assistant. One of the more unusual aspects of this job included Tim hauling cow stomachs around a set for a particularly disgusting stunt. He then went to work at Ascendant Pictures as a Production Assistant where he did script coverage for the Producers, but also found time to freelance as a staff writer for Gamemethod.com where he wrote reviews for new console games.

Tim decided to get his Masters degree in Entertainment Technology because he hopes to expand his knowledge base and skill sets to try storytelling in new and daring mediums. His passion for films remains however, and it has helped him in creating fresh and exciting projects within the ETC.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Evan Miller graduated Magna Cum Laude with departmental honors from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Studio Arts. He has worked on several civic projects including "The Lawrenceville Chain of Life," a massive installation sculpture on four sites, where he was a principle sculptor. Evan has done extensive graphic design work, including trade show displays, memorial walls, and print layouts. He has traveled the world extensively spending time in Vietnam, Singapore, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and added yet another continent to his list when he decided to earn his Masters at the Carnegie Mellon ETC: Australia in Adelaide.

Patrick Mittereder- Native Pittsburgh artist discovered his love for art and animation from the time he was a child watching Saturday morning cartoons and sketching on any material he could get into his hands. Throughout his life he has taken a variety of art classes, but he feels that he gains most of his inspiration from his travels around the world in which he enjoys experiencing other cultures and taking in all the visuals of his surroundings. Patrick also draws inspiration from his eclectic tastes for film, music and nature. He honed his craft while attending Penn State University for a Bachelor of Art degree in Print Making and Digital Media. During his time at Penn State, Patrick was the Vice President of the Digital Media Group. Where, he was responsible for organizing meetings, and handling expenses for group trips. Patrick was the personal assistant to Professor Jean Sanders, an exhibiting printmaking artist at Penn State University. Also, he spent the Spring 2003 semester studying fine art in Rome, Italy further adding to his abilities as an artist. Upon his 2004 graduation Patrick immediately started working as a studio assistant for world renowned Pop artist Burton Morris. He assisted in the restoration of Mr. Morris's paintings and was responsible for layout/design for future projects. During this time Patrick also was a freelance artist for Pittsburgh's MANIAC Magazine were he utilized his background in digital media, designed cartoon illustrations for the publication, and he participated in promotions for the magazine. Patrick enjoys all aspects of the creative process and looks forward to furthering his artistic abilities while attending Carnegie Mellon University. Where he is focusing on modeling, textures, and special effects.

Anthony has been drawing and creating short stories since he was a young child. After high school he decided to pursue his passion for the arts by studying at college level. In 2006, he graduated with a BFA in Illustration from the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. He has had two illustrations published, both for the baseball literary magazine Spitball.

Desiring to learn more about the world of visual storytelling and refining his artistic abilities, as well as striving to adapt to team based environments, Anthony decided to pursue his Masters degree right after finishing his Bachelors. With only three weeks in between programs, Anthony traveled across the world to Adelaide, Australia to be a part of the inaugural program at The Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University. He is one of the youngest in the program, but is determined to discover what it takes to a valuable asset to any team.

Anthony's approach to anything is very instinctive but his process invariable covers as many angles as possible to ensure an understanding of the task at hand. He is not afraid to ask questions and he is determined to evolve into a well rounded creator of experiences.

During his time he has become experienced in various different software programs. Maya, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, SoundForge, Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Audition, and Microsoft Project, Perforce...and a few others as well. After graduation he will be revisiting his traditional art skills in order to balance out his time at the ETC while also looking for an internship or a job. He ultimately wants to become a creative director but wants to start out as a concept artist.

Born and raised in New Castle, PA, Brad spent entirely too much time during his formative years playing Nintendo. As a result, he has collected innumerable Super Bowl rings and saved the world from alien invaders countless times, yet still has not managed to find the castle with the princess inside. Since his early (and largely unsuccessful) exploits with QBASIC, Brad has wanted to become a video game programmer. Aside from console and PC gaming, his interests include camping, rock climbing, card games, soccer, and hockey. Brad looks forward to befriending and working with some extremely talented individuals at the ETC.

Laura Pliskin is a New York native. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she received a Bachelors degree in Studio Art. During her tenure at the school, she discovered that the art world was far richer than simple portraiture, the passion which drew her to art in the first place. Although she was being heavily recruited by the United States Olympic Weightlifting Team, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, and the Powerpuff Girls, she is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University. She is happy to be a member of the inaugural class of the Adelaide, Australia campus. Laura is passionate about improving the interactive experience afforded in video games. "Video games", says Laura, "are a great place for the development of interactive story. In particular, a great game must provide an incredible sense of individual choice."

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada; I was driven by a childhood love of video games to study Visual Arts at York University, where I specialized in computer art and multimedia installations. Thanks to my background in both art and programming, I often worked on projects that played within the space between these two subjects. After completing my BFA, I wanted to explore more possibilities where technology and art meet.

I found those possibilities in the Entertainment Technology Center for Carnegie Mellon University. Right now, I'm finishing up my last semester at the ETC and looking forward to graduation. I'm enjoying my role as a Producer on a video game project and learning a lot about balancing schedules with great game design.

When Clay was about five, he would sit down with pencil and paper and create his own video games, complete with elaborate levels and lovable heroes. He never grew out of it, the only difference became the tools he uses.

Our hero shows up at the ETC armed to the teeth, brandishing his imagination, years of programming experience, probably twice as much art experience, and last but not least, a pencil. His quest? To master the tools of the trade in hopes of becoming part of the creation of the games that will be remembered as fondly as his favourites.

Eventually he hopes to see his own ideas, stories, and artwork come together to create games that are geniunely fun, intriguing, and beautiful, simultaneously.

Originally from a New Jersey suburb just outside of New York City, Chris received his BS in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000. Six months before he graduated, Chris received a job offer from the Theater Missile Systems Engineering Group of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. His work entailed creating simulations for Ballistic Missile Defense applications as well as verifying and validating simulation performance. While perhaps not as dangerous as it may sound, Chris found it amusing to say he was a rocket scientist at parties and technically he was. While the job was interesting, Chris decided to get back to his passion of Computer Graphics and entertainment media. As it happened, his alma mater offered the best program in this field and Chris was delighted to be a part of inaugural class of the Entertainment Technology Center in Australia.

Born and bred in central Kentucky. I have always been interested in music, composition, computers. Eventually I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and graduated Dean List with 2 majors; one in Film Scoring, the other in Music Synthesis. I then worked in Public Radio as a producer, webmaster, and IT while also working for Filmburn Studios as multimedia developer. At Filmburn I developed and programmed multimedia applications for the blind as well as other continuing medical education programs. In the meantime I have been developing a 3D audio-only video game [a game without graphics for gameplay] that can be enjoyed by all. I also have an interest in creating vision assistance devices, and improving Human Computer Interaction through sound.

After receiving a BA from Macalester College in Studio Art (a cross-media degree including painting, film and installation art), Joshua worked on several independent and Hollywood films, before joining The Science Museum of Minnesota to teach game programming, animation and digital comic art. As New Media Manager of the museum he created educational multimedia to compliment Imax films, traveled to Turkey several times as a documentary videographer, and worked with researchers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of London to produce interactive media for an exhibit about artificial intelligence and robotics.

In addition to his museum work, Joshua has been a Maya and python programming instructor at The Minneapolis College of Art and Design as well as other Twin Cities area colleges. Other freelance work included a background animation for pop singer Sheryl Crow's national concert tour, Wildflower.

Joshua studied two semesters of his Masters of Entertainment Technology degree in Adelaide, Australia, as a member of the pioneering first Building Virtual Worlds class in Adelaide, and as a co-producer and designer for the Game Sketching project. In the spring of '07 he worked on the Fashion Designer project as a technical artist helping develop real-time cloth simulation for games. His final semester was spent as the technical and artistic lead on the XO Games project, designing games for children in developing countries for the One Laptop per Child Association's XO Laptop.

He is currently seeking a position in the game industry as an interactive proto-typer. He is passionate about creating beautful, immersive experiences that have meaningful positive impact on people's lives.

I'm originally from Southern IL, right across the Mississippi from St. Louis. I grew up the sixth generation on a family farm there. I fell in love with computers early on and decided to pursue programming when I decided on my college education. I have always enjoyed gaming and game design. I play the Bass Guitar, Accordian, and I sang in a Punk band called Notes From Underground during my college time.

I previously worked on Project Improv II, which used Improv techniques as a foundation for a dynamic 3D animation system.

I am currently working at Treyarch, an Activision studio, as a programming intern with a focus on AI pathfinding code.

Beth was born in Pittsburgh, but relocated to rural Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a young child. Growing up, her favorite hobby was building elaborate blanket forts. When it came time to choose a major, she had trouble choosing between the left and right brains, and so she choose to combine art with engineering. She arrived at Carnegie Mellon University with the intent of studying architecture. She learned much in her first two years of college, but grew tired of designing according to building codes. She found herself devoting more time to the theatre where design was based more on story and character. This led to a shift in her studies from architecture to drama, where she focused on scene design and technical direction since she still couldn't pick left or right brain.

In the course of her undergraduate studies, Beth completed a minor in film and digital imaging, which led her to CMU's Entertainment Technology Center. After a taste of working with a team to create interactive worlds she was hooked, and she decided to pursue her graduate studies with the ETC. When she finally leaves academia to join the ‘real world,’ she plans to create interactive theatrical experiences for location based entertainment. She hopes to ultimately funcion as both a designer and producer.

Adam moved to Pittsburgh from the frosty northern climate of Minnesota to attend Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology classes. While still using his degree in programming from UW - Stout, he also works on game design, modeling and other tasks that catch his eye. Creating things that were fun, and having fun creating them always seemed like a solid philosophy. He enjoys poker, bowling, and when he finds time, World of Warcraft.

Born and bred in Taiwan, Chien-Hung has natural "Red Hair", thus the nickname "RH". His childhood was filled with toys, video games, and attraction parks in his hometown.
A decade ago, he began to mull over what defines entertainment, and how it makes people happy and exciting. During his 7 years in architecture undergraduate and masters's courses, RH endeavored to combine technology with architecture design to improve presentation effects, and dabbled in popular entertainment mediums including MTV, classic movies, and his CG.FX animations. Between 2003 and 2005, he published several papers on motion-tracking in Lego Robotics, camera- matching, stereo display, and photo-modeling. These ideas all came from his interest in the movie industry.
Now RH is a technical Artist intern in Central Technology team of Activision Inc, Santa Monica. After this wonderful California life, he will be back ETC to spend his last semester there.

Gaurav comes from India, the Land of Mythological Tales and Oriental Culture.

After his under-grad in Comp. Science, Gaurav was working for a software firm, until we rescued him from the dungeons of Boring Applications and Oracle Databases. Recuperating at ETC, his Heart and Soul now Rock in tandem.

The Blend of Art and Technology, he believes, not only has beautiful manners of expression, but also has the potential to mesmerize, every single time it is articulated. It is this Fusion, which he intends to celebrate with his Fellow ETCers. And it is This Amalgamation that he seeks to impregnate with a purpose.

His vision is to elate the human experience with the help of technology, to an extent where it is not possible to perceive the difference between reality and technology itself.

Sam hails from scenic New York City, where he acquired a taste for easily accesible activities and all-night restaurants.

During his undergraduate career at Carnegie-Mellon University Sam worked on a variety of projects including Marvin the Paranoid Maze-Wandering Android and Ernie the Confused Elevator Bot. During this time, he also engaged himself in several internships, working for Lockheed Martin, IBM's Extreme Blue program, and IBM Research.

After graduating with a degree in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction,Sam accepted gainful employment within IBM's Software Division. However, after working there as a Software Engineer and Interaction Designer for three years, it became clear that no matter how hard he tried, IBM was unwilling to branch out into the gaming industry. Thus, Sam succmbed to the gravitational pull of Pittsburgh once more and found himself attending the ETC.

Sam enjoys such things as: fine cuisine that he does not have to cook, fencing, and sleep. He is also rather good at video games, if he does say so himself.

At the moment, Sam is looking for a full-time position as a programmer at a game company after graduation this may.

Todd's passion lies in combining film and other visual storytelling techniques. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but lived there only briefly as his family moved to many locations (Oklahoma, The Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand, and Kansas, to name a few). Todd spent over ten years of his first twenty years living outside of the United States. The cultural and ethnic diversity he took part in has opened his eyes to a myriad of different viewpoints and cultures.

At film school in Brigham Young University his focus was writing and directing. While attending school, he wrote, produced and directed a short film. This experience allowed him to direct a crew of over twenty students together to realize a unified vision. In the course of his class work, he focused an independent study on cinematic techniques as it relates to video game theory. At Carnegie Mellon, Todd found his place within the group of graduate students all exploring ideals and concepts at the Entertainment Technology Center. While there, he implemented a project with a fellow student to more closely examine the emerging medium of small-screen media such as video iPods, Sony PSPs and cell phones. He worked with ETC Media Services to help further hone the image of the ETC and its focus on creating high quality internal productions. During his final year, he worked with CERT, also located at Carnegie Mellon University, to develop a training simulation prototype to teach supervisors and managers how to detect and mitigate insider computer sabotage.

I was born in Beijing, China and grew up in Hershey, PA. I received a BS in Information Systems with a double major in Human Computer Interaction with a minor in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. In the past, I have invested my energies on a variety of fields from starting my own company building custom web-based information systems to managing information technology at a hospital to building video games.

Although it sounds broad, my passion is creating something from nothing with a group of people. I love the feeling of learning from others who share similar interests and passions as I do, one of the reasons why I chose to come to the Entertainment Technology Center.

I was always interested in games and how games work. This was why after completing my Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering from India, I did a One year Course in 3D Modeling and Animation using 3Ds Max. It was during this time that ETC came into my Life. I was browsing through the Net searching for courses in Games Designing and "LO Behold" there ETC was, staring at me, telling me to come take a look. Since ETC was part of CMU and it was Giving a Masters Degree in Entertainment Technology with more focus on gaming - This I learnt after going through the syllabus, I knew that this was my Next Logical Step. So, Here I am in ETC, finally making my passion - Games.