AVATAR Lecture Series
Interactive Machine Learning in Music Composition and Performance
Speaker: Margaret Schedel, Stony Brook University; Rebecca Fiebrink, Princeton Unversity
Date: 2011-03-02 10:30:00
Place: 338 Johnston Hall
More Info: http://www.cct.lsu.edu/events/talks/547
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
AVATAR IS SEARCHING FOR NEW FACULTY
Faculty - Assistant_Full Professor
AVATAR-Multidisciplinary Hiring Initiative(Tenure Or Tenure-track/Two Positions)
The Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies, and Research (AVATAR) Initiative is a platform for intersections among the arts, technology, and computational sciences, uniting scholars across the University, including the Schools of Art, Music, Landscape Architecture, and Mass Communication, the Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and English, as well as the Center for Computation &Technology. It builds upon a university-wide commitment to interdisciplinary research and teaching, progressive state tax credits for digital media and recent economic development in the region. The LSU Multidisciplinary Hiring Initiatives identify promising intersections of emerging research, bringing multiple departments and diverse faculty together to solve complex problems.
AVATAR research and creative projects center on two primary topics: Intelligent and Responsive Systems (which include video games, training systems, simulations and visualization) and Collaborative Digital Media Arts in visual, musical and literary forms.
LSU AVATAR invites dynamic, interdisciplinary scholars and artists dedicated to the advancement of digital media to apply to join our faculty. We are seeking world-class leaders, and emerging junior faculty, to help us build the critical mass of expertise necessary to create new technologies, advance understanding, and explore uncharted modes of expression in the realm of digital media.
Required Qualifications
Terminal degrees within their disciplines (Ph.D. or equivalent degree or M.F.A. or equivalent degree); distinguished records of research accomplishments and publications; strong reputations in their disciplines or the capacity to build the same in the case of emerging scholars.
Additional Qualifications
A history or potential to attract extramural funding and work with interdisciplinary teams that include doctoral students, post-docs, and research associates; all areas of digital media research and creativity will be considered; commitment to building interdisciplinary research teams that complement existing strengths among LSU faculty and community partners; candidates\' fields of interest should include one or more of the following: - Computer Graphics: Graphics processors and hardware, visualization, animation; digital signal processing for image, audio and video. - Digital Art & Design: Animation, shading, modeling, environmental design; computational and digital art / design, interactive installations, situated technologies; media art, narrative content creation, writing for film or games.
Special Requirements: Candidates who demonstrate an appreciation for the economic development potential of digital media are especially encouraged to apply. Responsibilities: performs research in their field of specialty of a nature and quality leading eventually to publication of papers in research journals and/or advanced level books; maintains expertise; teaches courses at all University levels, in a manner that is keeping with the designated academic departmental policy; participates in other educational and professional tasks of the Department and the University.
Application Process
Departmental affiliations will be made as appropriate, and all positions are tenure or tenure-track. Salary and rank will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. An offer of employment is contingent on a satisfactory pre-employment background check. Application deadline is February 11, 2011 or until candidates are selected. Evaluation of applications and nominations will commence immediately. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Please indicate if you are interested in being considered for the Computer Graphics position or the Digital Art & Design position.
Contact:
Apply online at: www.lsusystemcareers.lsu.edu. Position #031911 and 031286.
Quick link to ad URL: https://lsusystemcareers.lsu.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=52833
LSU IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND EQUAL ACCESS EMPLOYER
Other Places to Look | More InformationFor general inquiries, email jobs@cct.lsu.edu For information on the CCT, visit: http://www.cct.lsu.edu/ For information on LSU, visit: http://www.lsu.edu Visit the Human Resources site to learn more about working at LSU |
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Course availability for AVATAR students in Mass Comm 4260
ATTN AVATAR STUDENTS!!! We have openings for AVATAR minor students in Mass Comm 4260, Long-Format Video Production. The course meets TTh 10-12 in Hodges B11, and is taught by Tad Odell. This would be a great course for anyone interested in video aspects of digital media or who wants to incorporate video production a...s part of their digital media projects. Please contact AVATAR if you have any questions.
Tohline Named New Director of LSU Center for Computation & Technology
The LSU Board of Supervisors has officially confirmed Joel E. Tohline as the new director of the LSU Center for Computation & Technology, effective December 13. Tohline is a professor in the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy.
"Computational science and computer infrastructure are key to the growth of most all scientific disciplines," said LSU Office of Research & Economic Development Interim Vice Chancellor Thomas Klei. "At LSU we are fortunate that previous administrations at the University and the State had the wisdom to invest in the center that became CCT. Joel Tohline is uniquely suited to lead the center at this critical time. With his guidance I am excited about its potential future and what that will bring to research at LSU and elsewhere in the State."
Tohline says that since he was in high school in New Orleans 40 years ago, most of his time as a student and, later, as a scientist and teacher has been devoted to understanding how computing and communications technologies can be effectively used to solve technically challenging problems.
"Especially as we have moved into an era when computing and networking pervade all aspects of modern life, I am tremendously excited to have the opportunity to lead LSU's Center for Computation & Technology," Tohline said. "I expect to become involved in all aspects of the CCT's activities, which include innovative research in computational science & engineering and numerous related technologies; ties with Louisiana's promotion and advancement of digital arts and the digital entertainment industry; and educational outreach and training to high-school, college, and graduate students throughout the state."
Tohline earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Centenary College of Louisiana in 1974, and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1978. He has been employed by LSU since 1982.
Tohline has previously served as a member of the Applications Strategy Council of Internet2, on the Program Advisory Council of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in Livingston Parish), as Chairman of LSU's Department of Physics & Astronomy, as Interim Executive Director of LONI (Louisiana Optical Network Initiative), and as Interim Director of LSU's Center for Applied Information Technology and Learning (now the Center for Computation & Technology).
The Center for Computation & Technology is an interdisciplinary research center that advances the University's Flagship Agenda and promotes economic development for the state by using computational science applications to aid research and develop solutions that benefit academia and industry. CCT is an innovative research environment, advancing computational sciences, technologies and the disciplines they touch. By uniting researchers from diverse disciplines, ideas and expertise are disseminated across LSU departments to foster knowledge and invention. For more information, please visit: http://www.cct.lsu.edu.
"Computational science and computer infrastructure are key to the growth of most all scientific disciplines," said LSU Office of Research & Economic Development Interim Vice Chancellor Thomas Klei. "At LSU we are fortunate that previous administrations at the University and the State had the wisdom to invest in the center that became CCT. Joel Tohline is uniquely suited to lead the center at this critical time. With his guidance I am excited about its potential future and what that will bring to research at LSU and elsewhere in the State."
Tohline says that since he was in high school in New Orleans 40 years ago, most of his time as a student and, later, as a scientist and teacher has been devoted to understanding how computing and communications technologies can be effectively used to solve technically challenging problems.
"Especially as we have moved into an era when computing and networking pervade all aspects of modern life, I am tremendously excited to have the opportunity to lead LSU's Center for Computation & Technology," Tohline said. "I expect to become involved in all aspects of the CCT's activities, which include innovative research in computational science & engineering and numerous related technologies; ties with Louisiana's promotion and advancement of digital arts and the digital entertainment industry; and educational outreach and training to high-school, college, and graduate students throughout the state."
Tohline earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Centenary College of Louisiana in 1974, and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1978. He has been employed by LSU since 1982.
Tohline has previously served as a member of the Applications Strategy Council of Internet2, on the Program Advisory Council of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in Livingston Parish), as Chairman of LSU's Department of Physics & Astronomy, as Interim Executive Director of LONI (Louisiana Optical Network Initiative), and as Interim Director of LSU's Center for Applied Information Technology and Learning (now the Center for Computation & Technology).
The Center for Computation & Technology is an interdisciplinary research center that advances the University's Flagship Agenda and promotes economic development for the state by using computational science applications to aid research and develop solutions that benefit academia and industry. CCT is an innovative research environment, advancing computational sciences, technologies and the disciplines they touch. By uniting researchers from diverse disciplines, ideas and expertise are disseminated across LSU departments to foster knowledge and invention. For more information, please visit: http://www.cct.lsu.edu.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
LSU Students Prepare for Supercomputing Competition
LSU Students Prepare for Supercomputing Competition
BATON ROUGE—Whether it’s building a small cluster or solving hardware issues, six LSU students have learned more than they could have imagined about supercomputing in the last few months. The LSU team, consisting of Austin Howick, Kenny Barron, McKendon LaFleur, Tung Le, Alex Chretien and Jason Kincl, has been preparing to compete in the Student Cluster Competition at Supercomputing 2010 (SC10) in New Orleans, November 15th – 17th. The team of five LSU computer science students and one LSU computer engineering student was selected based on an application process. Each member has volunteered almost three hours every Tuesday night since June in addition to subgroup meetings and individual time to learn applications, all while keeping up with course work, as well as other extracurricular activities. They all have applications and libraries they must install and configure to perform optimally so that their benchmarks are better than any other team’s.
The team’s coach, Isaac Traxler, Unix Services Manager for LSU’s High Performance Computing, was more than happy to volunteer his time to train the students. The SC10 selection committee chose the LSU team, along with seven others, from a large number of qualified teams who applied. The winning team will be recognized at the SC10 Awards Ceremony luncheon on Thursday, November 18th. The team at LSU hit the ground running in June as they began designing and building a cutting-edge commercially available small cluster, constrained by two 13 amp circuits at 120 volts. LSU was fortunate to have Hewlett-Packard, Mellanox, LATG and the Portland Compiler Group sponsor them and supply the necessary materials.
“The preparation time each team member has put in is incredible. It is a great opportunity for them to apply what they are learning in the classroom and learn from the different obstacles and challenges that have occurred,” said their mentor.
Jason Kincl, CSC Undergrad said, “It is one thing to learn about scientific computing in a classroom. We have found that it is an entirely different story when we are speccing, building, and running a cluster along with learning the simulation software we will run on it. We have all experienced a slice of what it takes to run a HPC cluster and we have all learned a lot.”
During SC10, teams consisting of six students will utilize the amazing power of clusters and the ability to work with open source software to solve interesting and important problems. The competition, which occurs on the exhibit floor, engages students in real-time to run a workload of real-world applications on the clusters they designed, while never exceeding the allowed power limit.
The teams will put together and test their machines to run the High Performance Computing & Communications Council benchmarks on Monday night, until they receive the competition data sets for the competition. Each team will work from Monday night until the close of the exhibit floor on Wednesday evening. Conference attendees will be able to observe each team as they deal with the workload at hand. Not only will students race to complete the greatest number of application runs, but also must impress the judges with their application knowledge.
Throughout the showcase, teams will have the opportunity to show off their skills and knowledge of the equipment. Each team will be scored on the amount of workload completed, benchmark performance and interviews and outreach. The team with the highest combined score will be named the winner. Judges will also recognize the team with the highest LINPACK, as well as SC Fan Favorite.
“Each one of these guys should be extremely proud of themselves for what they have accomplished already, “ said their mentor. “It has been great to see them learn so much about aspects of supercomputing they were very unfamiliar with. Now, they talk about these things as if they are long lost friends.”
The student team will continue meeting each Tuesday to practice application runs until the competition in November. Regardless of whether they win or lose, all agree the training sessions are providing them with a valuable opportunity to practice working with open source software.
McKendon LaFleur, CSC undergrad said, “Time management is probably the most important thing I have learned out of the whole experience. I think we have all learned more about ourselves as we have faced different challenges.”
BATON ROUGE—Whether it’s building a small cluster or solving hardware issues, six LSU students have learned more than they could have imagined about supercomputing in the last few months. The LSU team, consisting of Austin Howick, Kenny Barron, McKendon LaFleur, Tung Le, Alex Chretien and Jason Kincl, has been preparing to compete in the Student Cluster Competition at Supercomputing 2010 (SC10) in New Orleans, November 15th – 17th. The team of five LSU computer science students and one LSU computer engineering student was selected based on an application process. Each member has volunteered almost three hours every Tuesday night since June in addition to subgroup meetings and individual time to learn applications, all while keeping up with course work, as well as other extracurricular activities. They all have applications and libraries they must install and configure to perform optimally so that their benchmarks are better than any other team’s.
The team’s coach, Isaac Traxler, Unix Services Manager for LSU’s High Performance Computing, was more than happy to volunteer his time to train the students. The SC10 selection committee chose the LSU team, along with seven others, from a large number of qualified teams who applied. The winning team will be recognized at the SC10 Awards Ceremony luncheon on Thursday, November 18th. The team at LSU hit the ground running in June as they began designing and building a cutting-edge commercially available small cluster, constrained by two 13 amp circuits at 120 volts. LSU was fortunate to have Hewlett-Packard, Mellanox, LATG and the Portland Compiler Group sponsor them and supply the necessary materials.
“The preparation time each team member has put in is incredible. It is a great opportunity for them to apply what they are learning in the classroom and learn from the different obstacles and challenges that have occurred,” said their mentor.
Jason Kincl, CSC Undergrad said, “It is one thing to learn about scientific computing in a classroom. We have found that it is an entirely different story when we are speccing, building, and running a cluster along with learning the simulation software we will run on it. We have all experienced a slice of what it takes to run a HPC cluster and we have all learned a lot.”
During SC10, teams consisting of six students will utilize the amazing power of clusters and the ability to work with open source software to solve interesting and important problems. The competition, which occurs on the exhibit floor, engages students in real-time to run a workload of real-world applications on the clusters they designed, while never exceeding the allowed power limit.
The teams will put together and test their machines to run the High Performance Computing & Communications Council benchmarks on Monday night, until they receive the competition data sets for the competition. Each team will work from Monday night until the close of the exhibit floor on Wednesday evening. Conference attendees will be able to observe each team as they deal with the workload at hand. Not only will students race to complete the greatest number of application runs, but also must impress the judges with their application knowledge.
Throughout the showcase, teams will have the opportunity to show off their skills and knowledge of the equipment. Each team will be scored on the amount of workload completed, benchmark performance and interviews and outreach. The team with the highest combined score will be named the winner. Judges will also recognize the team with the highest LINPACK, as well as SC Fan Favorite.
“Each one of these guys should be extremely proud of themselves for what they have accomplished already, “ said their mentor. “It has been great to see them learn so much about aspects of supercomputing they were very unfamiliar with. Now, they talk about these things as if they are long lost friends.”
The student team will continue meeting each Tuesday to practice application runs until the competition in November. Regardless of whether they win or lose, all agree the training sessions are providing them with a valuable opportunity to practice working with open source software.
McKendon LaFleur, CSC undergrad said, “Time management is probably the most important thing I have learned out of the whole experience. I think we have all learned more about ourselves as we have faced different challenges.”
Monday, October 18, 2010
***PLEASE DISTRIBUTE***
Red Stick International Animation Festival Announces 2010 Schedule
http://www.redstickfestival.org/
Red Stick International Animation Festival--a forum for animators, directors, students, artists, designers, writers and educators in which they can share their knowledge and skills and promote the ART OF ANIMATION!
As in the past, this year's festival is packed full of education, inspiration and entertainment. The Festival will be held November 10-13, 2010 at the Shaw Center for the Arts, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Old State Capitol, and Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center.
Some of the highlights of this year's festival are:
Visit the festival website for full schedule and pricing details.
http://www.redstickfestival.org/
-----------
LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the Red Stick International Animation Festival in partnership with the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Louisiana Technology Park, Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium.
Red Stick International Animation Festival Announces 2010 Schedule
http://www.redstickfestival.org/
Red Stick International Animation Festival--a forum for animators, directors, students, artists, designers, writers and educators in which they can share their knowledge and skills and promote the ART OF ANIMATION!
As in the past, this year's festival is packed full of education, inspiration and entertainment. The Festival will be held November 10-13, 2010 at the Shaw Center for the Arts, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Old State Capitol, and Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center.
Some of the highlights of this year's festival are:
- Special Screening of "Waking Sleeping Beauty" at Citiplace
- Educational Lecture by Scott Johnston titled "The ABC's of Alpha and Gamma"
- Lectures by Max Howard, Hans Rijpkema, David Corbett, Christian DeVita, Dean Wellins, Norman Twain, J. Walt, and more..
- Best of the Fest competition screenings
- Fandemonium (science fiction and fandom CON event) with special guest Robert Picardo and Bob Greenberger
- Video Games Live (featuring Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra)
- Princess Ball Fundraiser at the Old State Capitol
- Cartoon-a-Palooza (featuring children's activities and art workshops)
- VIP Dinner Fundraiser and Awards Presentation (to include a silent auction)
- School group lectures and film screenings
- Oscar nominated short films
- Tribute to Pres Romanillos, Red Stick Posthumous Lifetime Career Achievement Award winner.
Visit the festival website for full schedule and pricing details.
http://www.redstickfestival.org/
-----------
LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the Red Stick International Animation Festival in partnership with the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Louisiana Technology Park, Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Red Stick International Animation Festival is pleased to announce a special lecture by Scott Johnston.
Scott F. Johnston joined Walt Disney Feature Animation during production of "The Little Mermaid" and was part of the team that brought the first digital ink-and-paint system on-line for "The Rescuers Down Under." Johnston was one of the principal designers of the ground-breaking ballroom sequence in "Beauty and the Beast." As CGI Supervisor for "The Lion King", he oversaw the development and production of all the CG effects in the record-breaking film, including the climactic wildebeest stampede.
At Warner Bros., Johnston served as Artistic Coordinator on "The Iron Giant" to realize director Brad Bird's vision, weighing creative solutions and technical requirements against resource limitations. As Animation Special Effects Supervisor for "Looney Tunes: Back In Action", Johnston oversaw the integration of the traditionally drawn characters into the world of the live actors and recreated various artists' styles in the Louvre sequence.
Johnston helped to establish Enne Entertainment in Salamanca, Spain, instructing the management team on production methods and guiding the technical group on building the facility infrastructure. While at Enne, he continued his research in non-photorealistic rendering.
Johnston is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was honored with ASIFA/Hollywood's Ub Iwerks Technical Achievement Award in 2003.
The lecture below will be T*hursday, November 11th at 4:00pm in the Manship Theatre*. This lecture is a Gold Pass event, and you can pre-register for this workshop as an add-on to the Gold Pass.
"The ABC's of alpha and gamma"
This lecture will provide background information on digital imagery to help students understand basic compositing concepts and terms including: monitor calibration, gamma curves, linear vs. non-linear composition, bit-depth, alpha channels, aliasing, pre-multiplied vs. non-premultiplied alpha, transparency, banding and film grain.
Students working in the digital arts should be familiar with these concepts to avoid common rendering and compositing mistakes.
Scott F. Johnston joined Walt Disney Feature Animation during production of "The Little Mermaid" and was part of the team that brought the first digital ink-and-paint system on-line for "The Rescuers Down Under." Johnston was one of the principal designers of the ground-breaking ballroom sequence in "Beauty and the Beast." As CGI Supervisor for "The Lion King", he oversaw the development and production of all the CG effects in the record-breaking film, including the climactic wildebeest stampede.
At Warner Bros., Johnston served as Artistic Coordinator on "The Iron Giant" to realize director Brad Bird's vision, weighing creative solutions and technical requirements against resource limitations. As Animation Special Effects Supervisor for "Looney Tunes: Back In Action", Johnston oversaw the integration of the traditionally drawn characters into the world of the live actors and recreated various artists' styles in the Louvre sequence.
Johnston helped to establish Enne Entertainment in Salamanca, Spain, instructing the management team on production methods and guiding the technical group on building the facility infrastructure. While at Enne, he continued his research in non-photorealistic rendering.
Johnston is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was honored with ASIFA/Hollywood's Ub Iwerks Technical Achievement Award in 2003.
The lecture below will be T*hursday, November 11th at 4:00pm in the Manship Theatre*. This lecture is a Gold Pass event, and you can pre-register for this workshop as an add-on to the Gold Pass.
"The ABC's of alpha and gamma"
This lecture will provide background information on digital imagery to help students understand basic compositing concepts and terms including: monitor calibration, gamma curves, linear vs. non-linear composition, bit-depth, alpha channels, aliasing, pre-multiplied vs. non-premultiplied alpha, transparency, banding and film grain.
Students working in the digital arts should be familiar with these concepts to avoid common rendering and compositing mistakes.
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