The College
The Bromilow Awards
Distinguished Lecturers
Dr. Alvy Ray Smith
Dr. Alvy Ray Smith cofounded–or was otherwise present at the beginning of–four centers of computer graphics excellence
Altamira : Founder and CEO 1991-94 (purchased by Microsoft)
Pixar: Cofounder and Executive Vice President 1986-91
Lucasfilm: Director of Computer Graphics Research 1980-86
NY Institute of Technology: 1975-79
Before that he was with Xerox PARC and a professor at NY University and the University of CA at Berkeley . Most recently, he was Microsoft's first Graphics Fellow, 1994-99. Dr. Smith holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and an honorary doctorate from NMSU, his alma mater (BSEE 1964).
He received two technical Academy Awards, 1996 and 1998, for fundamental contributions to filmmaking. He was awarded the Computer Graphics Achievement Award by the Association for Computing Machinery SIGGRAPH in 1990 for “seminal contributions to computer paint systems,” including the first full-color paint program. He is featured in recent books, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs and Dealers in Lightning .
He directed the first use of full computer graphics in a successful major motion picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , the “Genesis Demo”, while at Lucasfilm. He was instrumental in hiring John Lasseter, Disney-trained animator, and directed him in his first computer graphics film, The Adventures of Andre & Wally B . The team he formed for these pieces later proceeded, under Lasseter as artistic director at Pixar, to create Tin Toy , the first computer animation to win an Academy Award, and the first completely computer generated film, Toy Story , also an Academy Award winner.
He was Regent for four years at the National Library of Medicine, where he was instrumental in inaugurating the Visible Human Project. Dr. Smith speaks extensively, has published dozens of articles, the most recent in Scientific American , and created numerous artworks.