BATON ROUGE --- The LSU Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, is leading several initiatives to develop a strong digital media industry in Louisiana through animation, scientific visualization, computational sciences and other areas of research in emerging art forms.
CCT recently hosted the fourth annual Red Stick International Animation Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the United States, which highlights the intersections among art, technology and computational science. Each year, Red Stick draws renowned animators, video game developers and other industry professionals to Baton Rouge to host lectures, workshops, and other events for aspiring artists, programmers and entrepreneurs.
Based on the success of Red Stick, CCT has embarked upon new endeavors that will boost research in this area and strengthen Louisiana’s workforce base in digital industries. LSU, along with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Baton Rouge Area Foundation and East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, created the Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium in June 2007. The consortium members work together to promote opportunities for digital industries in the state’s capital city, promoting the aggressive tax incentives that make Louisiana a lucrative place to do business.
“This consortium represents a partnership among the leading education and economic development groups in our city, who have worked hard throughout the past several years to boost digital industries in Louisiana,” said Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium Executive Director Stacey Simmons. “We are finally starting to see the benefits of this effort, and I think within the next few years, the combination of our efforts and the state’s aggressive tax incentive packages will make Baton Rouge one of the top cities to locate video game companies, animation studios and other digital media-based businesses.”
LSU also has developed several new research areas that tie into digital media. CCT and Department of Computer Science Professor Gabrielle Allen is leading a multidisciplinary hiring initiative in computational sciences that will recruit new faculty with research interests in scientific visualization, which is important for scientists who use high-performance computing to simulate and analyze complex problems such as black hole collisions, hurricane formation and the flow of oil and gas through underground reservoirs.
“Visualization is a true intersection of art and science, where we can use new technologies to give new insight into complex science problems,” Allen said.
CCT and LSU School of Music Professor Stephen David Beck is leading a different multi-disciplinary hiring initiative called AVATAR: Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research that will bring in as many as six new faculty doing research in two primary topics and their related technologies: intelligent and responsive systems (which include video games, training systems and simulation visualizations) and collaborative digital media arts.
“A crucial part of developing industry in our area is developing new technologies and a talented work force that will empower the next generation of video game developers, animators and digital artists to succeed right here,” Beck said. “AVATAR will build off successes we have seen through the Red Stick festival and will make it possible to spin off emerging technologies and establish new businesses, as well as prepare students in the area for a career in video gaming, animation or other forms of digital art.”
AVATAR will complement the digital media cluster in CCT’s Cultural Computing research focus area, which has three open faculty positions with joint appointments in music, art and electrical and computer engineering. The Cultural Computing area conducts research into virtual environments like Second Life that expand the use of these new techniques in innovative ways.
For more information on CCT research, please visit www.cct.lsu.edu or contact PR Manager Kristen Sunde at 225-578-3469.
CCT recently hosted the fourth annual Red Stick International Animation Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the United States, which highlights the intersections among art, technology and computational science. Each year, Red Stick draws renowned animators, video game developers and other industry professionals to Baton Rouge to host lectures, workshops, and other events for aspiring artists, programmers and entrepreneurs.
Based on the success of Red Stick, CCT has embarked upon new endeavors that will boost research in this area and strengthen Louisiana’s workforce base in digital industries. LSU, along with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Baton Rouge Area Foundation and East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, created the Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium in June 2007. The consortium members work together to promote opportunities for digital industries in the state’s capital city, promoting the aggressive tax incentives that make Louisiana a lucrative place to do business.
“This consortium represents a partnership among the leading education and economic development groups in our city, who have worked hard throughout the past several years to boost digital industries in Louisiana,” said Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium Executive Director Stacey Simmons. “We are finally starting to see the benefits of this effort, and I think within the next few years, the combination of our efforts and the state’s aggressive tax incentive packages will make Baton Rouge one of the top cities to locate video game companies, animation studios and other digital media-based businesses.”
LSU also has developed several new research areas that tie into digital media. CCT and Department of Computer Science Professor Gabrielle Allen is leading a multidisciplinary hiring initiative in computational sciences that will recruit new faculty with research interests in scientific visualization, which is important for scientists who use high-performance computing to simulate and analyze complex problems such as black hole collisions, hurricane formation and the flow of oil and gas through underground reservoirs.
“Visualization is a true intersection of art and science, where we can use new technologies to give new insight into complex science problems,” Allen said.
CCT and LSU School of Music Professor Stephen David Beck is leading a different multi-disciplinary hiring initiative called AVATAR: Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research that will bring in as many as six new faculty doing research in two primary topics and their related technologies: intelligent and responsive systems (which include video games, training systems and simulation visualizations) and collaborative digital media arts.
“A crucial part of developing industry in our area is developing new technologies and a talented work force that will empower the next generation of video game developers, animators and digital artists to succeed right here,” Beck said. “AVATAR will build off successes we have seen through the Red Stick festival and will make it possible to spin off emerging technologies and establish new businesses, as well as prepare students in the area for a career in video gaming, animation or other forms of digital art.”
AVATAR will complement the digital media cluster in CCT’s Cultural Computing research focus area, which has three open faculty positions with joint appointments in music, art and electrical and computer engineering. The Cultural Computing area conducts research into virtual environments like Second Life that expand the use of these new techniques in innovative ways.
For more information on CCT research, please visit www.cct.lsu.edu or contact PR Manager Kristen Sunde at 225-578-3469.
Publish Date:
05-02-2008
