Critical Thinking Conversations: Pairing Professors and Professionals - Evolving the Traveling Tech Artist
Join Shaun Foster, Professor, CAD, and RIT alumni Alden Pedulla, RIT 3D Digital Design program ’17, for an hour exploring the impact Artificial Intelligence has upon the expression of creativity. This webinar is presented in Zoom and is open to RIT and the wider community. These conversations are an engaging chance for the participants to think, explore implications, opportunities today and in the future. Register HERE for the Thursday, Feb 6, 7:30 pm webinar. This event is open the the RIT community and to the public.
The webinar will be auto-captioned and linked on RIT’s Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking site a few days after the event. Participants requiring interpreters should contact Access Services HERE to request an interpreter.
Alden Pedulla relishes the idea that “The job you have in five years may not exist yet.” This opens the door to innovation when creating and encourages an adaptive approach to solving problems in an ever-changing technological landscape. With a career spanning cities and countries across the globe, Alden finds excitement in exploring the unknown and brings that same curiosity to the world of creative technology. His work generating AI training data has led him to adopt proceduralism and other automated solutions when building in 3D. Using tools like Houdini, Unreal Engine, and Python, he prefers to teach the computer how to solve technical problems rather than tackle them manually.
Shaun Foster has a passion for next-gen interactive 3D and education. With 20 years of experience in 3D graphics and interactive educational design, Foster has led multiple teams and worked on numerous award-winning, national TV, advertising, and interactive education projects. Foster's work is at the intersection of next-gen interactive 3D, education, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His expertise in technology, tools, and training is the result of his work on multiple grants, including a NY State Augmented Reality Tourism (2013-14), NSF BioFuel Education (2015), (VR) HTC Vive grant (2016), VR Cary 2017, URMC VR Steroid Pathways Learning(2018), EpicMegaGrant Online Learning (2019), EpicMegaGrant Virtual Production (Co-PI 2020), VR Eye Tracking NVidia & IBM-Notre Dame (2022), and Meta (2023) grants, Global Game Makers (2024). Foster is an Authorized Unreal Instructor (2021-Present, Gold Level), the recipient of the EPIC Games ICVFX Fellowship (2022), and the Provost Innovative Teaching with Technology Award (2023) for pushing the boundaries of technology and education. Foster is an RIT CTL Faculty Fellow of Generative AI 2024. He is currently focused on XR/VR Eye tracking, AI, Virtual Production, and collaborative 3D through UEFN (Unreal Engine Fortnite). His work deals with the convergence of 3D Digital design with emerging Generative AI, collaboration, and education. Watch more HERE.
This event is sponsored by RIT’s Eugene H. Fram Chair in Applied Critical Thinking and cosponsored by RIT’s AI Hub.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
No