Advisors and Speakers

Pattie Maes is the Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. She runs the Fluid Interfaces research group, which does research at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence with a focus on applications in health, wellbeing and learning. Maes is also a faculty member in MIT's center for Neuro-Biological Engineering. She is particularly interested in the topic of cognitive enhancement, or how wearable, immersive and brain-computer interface systems can actively assist people with issues such as memory, attention, learning, decision making, communication, wellbeing, and sleep.

Maes is the editor of four books, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for numerous professional journals and conferences. She has received several awards: Netguru selected her for "Hidden Heroes: the people who shaped technology (2022), Time Magazine has included several of her designs in its annual list of inventions of the year; AAAI gave her the "classic paper 2012" prize, awarded to the most influential AI paper of the year, Fast Company named her one of 50 most influential designers (2011); Newsweek picked her as one of the "100 Americans to watch for" in the year 2000; TIME Digital selected her as a member of the “Cyber Elite,” the top 50 technological pioneers of the high-tech world; the World Economic Forum honored her with the title "Global Leader for Tomorrow"; Ars Electronica awarded her the 1995 World Wide Web category prize; and in 2000 she was recognized with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council. She also received honorary doctorates from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and Open Universiteit, Netherlands, and has given several TED talks.

Jiajian engages in contemporary interpretation of digital heritage, mixed reality spatial design, as well as immersive and interactive experience. His artworks have been featured at Hermes Creative Awards, Lumen Prize Longlist, Ars Electronica Art Gallery, ACM Siggraph Asia Art Gallery, IRCAM FORUM at NYU, Chinagraph, Chengdu Biennale, Beijing Media Art Biennale, Asia Digital Art Exhibition, etc. His research has been published by ACM Siggraph Asia, IEEE AIART Workshop, etc.

Jean-Peïc is a PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford University. His interests lie at the intersection of films and computer science. His work investigates how stories are shaped and how this understanding can help build original creative tools. Jean-Peïc is a Fulbright Fellow from France where he studied at École polytechnique and Louis-Lumière film school.

Pat Pataranutaporn is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Fluid Interfaces research group at MIT Media Lab, where he works with his collaborators at NASA, NTT Data, IBM, and Harvard to examine the future of human-computer integration.

Prof. Qian Liu, Executive dean of Digital Media School, Beijing Film Academy. worked as director of digital media network collaboration of CineGrid, Visualization Integration researcher of California Institute for Telecommunication and Information Technologies, and System Research Engineer of National Center for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA).

Hossein Taghavi is a Sr. Research/Engineering Manager at the Studio Media Algorithms team. He leads a team of world-class CV, graphics, NLP, and Audio scientists and engineers to develop groundbreaking ML-based solutions in the creative domain. Their team is responsible for algorithmic innovation to support the creation of Netflix original content, including visual effects, animation, games, and content localization.

Dr. Ed Tlegenov leads a world-class team of researchers and engineers at Autodesk Research, who are creating ideas, developing software prototypes, and converting R&D outcomes into software products that impact millions of customers. His team focuses on discovering innovative technology that redefines the 'new possible' for 10 years ahead, ranging from designing the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to creating Oscar-winning films and the next AAA games. Additionally, Ed serves as an Advisory Board Member in Film & Television, Moving Image & Digital Arts at the University of Arts London and has produced several award-winning short films in the UK.

Zoya Bylinskii (MIT EECS PhD class of 2018) first joined Adobe Research as a Research Scientist working on problems in applied perception. Zoya, currently an ML manager, leads a team to develop evaluation systems for Adobe's suite of generative models in Adobe Firefly. Evaluation Science is a dynamic group of engineers and researchers with expertise spanning software engineering, web development, machine learning, human-computer interaction, and cognitive science. They leverage this interdisciplinary expertise towards building industry leading evaluation systems of model quality, bias, and harm.

With a career that began in computer graphics engineering within the visual effects industry at pioneering companies such as Softimage and Autodesk, I've always been at the forefront of technological innovation for games and VFX. At Unity, I spearheaded research initiatives that pushed the boundaries of what's possible in character animation, neural rendering and machine learning for games. My enduring passion lies in the convergence of film and games, leveraging real-time graphics techniques to blur the lines between these two worlds.

Deepti is a Staff Research Scientist and a tech lead at Runway where she focuses on improving quality and safety of generative image and video models. Previously, she was a Senior Research Scientist and a tech lead at Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) in Meta AI focusing on Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Image and Video Processing. Her research interests span several topics such as building image and video understanding models, fair and inclusive computer vision models, ML explainability, and perceptual image and video quality.

Deepti served as a program chair of Neural Information Processing Systems'22 Datasets and Benchmarks track and AIMLSystems'23 and an area chair for several conferences such as IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), IEEE Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), Women in Machine Learning (WiML), and Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). She also organized several workshops on the topics of responsible and explainable computer vision at top-tier machine learning conferences.

Dr. Ethan (Yuanming) Hu got his Ph.D. in computer graphics from MIT CSAIL in 2021, and now serves as the CEO of Meshy AI. He has been working on computer graphics research over the past decade. During his Ph.D. research, he invented a GPU programming language called Taichi Lang, which earned 24K stars on GitHub and an honorable mention for the SIGGRAPH 2022 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. In his spare time (if any), he enjoys photography and video games. Now his daily life is mostly focused on building the 3D GenAI product Meshy, which involves algorithm design, product management, coding, talking to users, and hiring top talents.

Yachen Song, with a degree from Johns Hopkins University, founded Vast in 2023. He has extensive strategic planning and execution experience in SenseTime's CEO Office, where he spearheaded bringing generative AI to life for the animation and gaming industry. Vast released the 3D Foundation Model Tripo, which generates textured 3D mesh models in 8 seconds and refines in only 5 minutes, giving you 3D models that rival the quality of handcrafted ones with an impressive 95% success rate and beyond.

I am currently employed by Luma AI with the goal of making 3D accessible. Previously I pursued a PhD in the computer science and electrical engineering department at UC Berkeley. I was advised by Ren Ng and Angjoo Kanazawa, and funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Before that I completed my undergrad and Masters of Engineering at MIT in the Camera Culture group. My interest include computer vision, computational imaging, and graphics. I am particularly interested in building tools and interfaces that make it easy for anyone to capture, create, and generate 3D assets. Outside of academics, my hobbies include hiking, backpacking, climbing, painting, and photography.

Zengyi Qin is the co-founder and AI tech lead of MyShell, an open ecosystem for AI-native apps. He has over 6 years of artificial intelligence research and development experience with focus on computer vision, language models, audios and robotics. His research publications have been cited by scholars in over 38 countries. Zengyi is also a PhD Candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, leading projects of MIT CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) and MIT IMES (Institute for Medical Engineering and Science) on foundational AI technologies. Previously, he was a Machine Learning Researcher at Microsoft and visiting researcher at Stanford University. In his leisure time, Zengyi loves working out and snowboarding.

Jessie Ma is a versatile artist and designer with experience in a variety of creative fields. She created the first campaign that used 100% AI-generated content as a live-action virtual production background, and led multiple creative projects such as Super Collaborator Program, and various AI film contests while working at Pika.

Her expertise includes AI prompt engineering, VR/AR environment design, advertising, fashion design, styling, and acting. Her fashion work has been exhibited at The Oculus and featured in top magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, where she collaborated with leading Asian actors and models. She has worked for brands such as Christian Dior, Honda, and Mashama, and has designed AI-generated fashion collections for Burberry, in collaboration with Demi, the founder of Pika. In Hearst Communications, Jessie managed influencer collaborations and led a digital art column published for ELLEMEN magazine.

Driven by her passion for digital art, Jessie pursued a Master of Science in Integrated Design and Media at New York University, and created various mixed reality projects, including VR Experience Rides, AI integrated virtual production campaign, etc.

Anna D. Gibson is a Postdoctoral Associate in MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing. She studies the intersection of community, labor, and justice in digital spaces. She earned her MA and PhD from the Department of Communication at Stanford University, where her doctoral work focused on volunteer moderation on Facebook. During her graduate career she earned fellowships with the McCoy Family for Ethics in Society and the Stanford Ethnography Lab, and she was awarded the Centennial Award for excellence in teaching. Her research on content moderation has been published in Social Media + Society and Information, Communication and Society

Ari is thrilled to join the BU Law Faculty as a Lecturer and Clinical Instructor with the BU/MIT Law Clinics. Ari’s intellectual property practice focuses on providing reasoned, empathetic counseling for early-stage companies, creatives, and entrepreneurs.

Prior to joining BU Law, Ari practiced intellectual property law for five years, first at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and then at Cooley LLP. In that time, he has counseled hundreds of clients at every stage of the life cycle. As a litigator, Ari has represented clients in proceedings before the United States Patent & Trademark Office and federal court, including several high-profile matters before the Southern District of New York, Northern District of California, Ninth Circuit, Federal Circuit, and the US Supreme Court.

Ari obtained a JD from NYU School of Law in 2018, as well as a BFA in Recorded Music from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Harvard

Tom Zick earned her PhD from UC Berkeley and is currently pursuing her JD at Harvard. Her research bridges between AI ethics and law, with a focus on how to craft safe and equitable policy surrounding the adoption of AI in high-stakes domains. In the past, she has worked as a data scientist at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, evaluating the capacity of regulations to promote open government data. She has also collaborated with graduate students across social science and engineering to advocate for pedagogy reform focused on infusing social context into technical coursework. Outside of academia, Tom has crafted digital policy for the City of Boston as a fellow for the Mayor’s Office for New Urban Mechanics and developed responsible AI resources for founders as a VC fellow at Bloomberg BETA. Her current research centers on the near term policy concerns surrounding reinforcement learning.

Nix Liu Xin is the founder and creative director of Play.Work, a creative tech company working with emerging mediums and technologies such as motion visual arts, architecture, XR, 3d scanning, and AI for the world’s top brands and organizations. His clients include Burberry, Bosie, Mercedes-Benz, Dodge Challenger, Chris Lee (Li Yuchun), London Fashion Week, Microsoft AI, NYLON, Polestar Cars, SCI-Arc Robot Lab, Victor Ma (Ma Boqian), Wallpaper, WhatWorld Club, etc. Nix was endowed with international awards. To name a few: Harvard GSD Design Studies Domain Award; CGarchitect 3D Awards, and became a judge the next year; one of 12 selected artists at the Lianzhou Foto Festival; Sheppard Robson Jicwood Prize; and five awards including the Best Film at MIT AI Filmmaking Hackathon. Nix co-founded the HarvardXR Conference and ArtTech Center. Nix has given talks at UCL, Stanford, Tongji University, and Infinity Hollywood Festival, and his work and interviews appear at Nowness, Phoenix North America Chinese Channel, Nylon Magazine, etc.

Proficient in motion capture, dynamic graphics, 3D and XR technologies, projection, and interactive media, her portfolio spans a range of fields, including animation, film, gaming, advertising, immersive exhibitions, and architectural projections. She has collaborated with numerous renowned companies, projects, and brands, including Netease Games, Sense, Nowness, WAVES, Modern Sky, bilibili, Olay Group, and the Beijing Winter Olympics. Her work has been exhibited in various cities, such as New York, Melbourne, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, and has garnered attention from multiple art galleries. She has earned accolades like the GDC Gold Award, recognition as a young director in China, and a role as a TED×Youth speaker. Currently, she serves as a collaborative artist at HarvardCAMLab, contributing to projects like "Cave Dance" and "Embodied Architecture." She is now learning at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and is cross-registered at the MIT Media Lab. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tsinghua University, and her graduation project, "The Edge of Chaos" was honored with the Tsinghua's Outstanding Graduation Design Award and collected by Art and Design Academy.

Candice Wu is a real-time designer, creative technologist based in Boston Massachusttes, intrested in game mechanisms and interactive environments to explore and provoke potential futures. She graduated from SCI-Arc's postgraduate Fiction and Entertainment program in 2022 and is currently studying at Harvard GSD.

Liu Yang is a research affiliate at MIT Media Lab as well as a PhD student in design at Tsinghua University. Her research focuses on antidisciplinary technology and design challenges, including intelligent design, space architecture, transmedium morphing matters, and radical sustainable futures. Her team won five prizes in the last MIT AI Film Hackathon, including Best Film, Best Script, Best AI Application, BestVisuals and Best Music.

Anna Borou Yu is a new media artist, interdisciplinary researcher, and dancer. She is the Director of MYStudio, Collaborative Artist at MIT Music and Theater Arts, the XR Track Member at NEW INC, Ambassador of Arte Laguna Prize, and the Visiting Design Critic at Tsinghua University, China Academy of Art and Central Academy of Fine Arts. She is selected as AACYF Top 30 under 30 in 2023. Her works have been featured at Venice Biennale, Arte Laguna Prize, Hermes Creative Awards, MIT AI Hackathon Best Film, etc. She has worked as Fellow and Project Lead at Harvard FAS CAMLab.