Matt Wallin, Professor, Communication Arts, VCU
Matt Wallin grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs in the 70’s and 80’s skateboarding and going to the movies. In 1992 he earned his degree in Cinema from San Francisco State University. That same year, Wallin began his career at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic where he worked for nearly a decade in the company’s computer graphics division. For over 25 years he has worked around the world at the top visual effects houses; Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital in New Zealand, Tippett Studio in Berkeley, Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles, Warner Bros. ESC Entertainment in California, Brainstorm Digital in New York, and the Moving Picture Company in London. His many film credits include; The Mummy, Twister, Star Wars: The Special Editions, Matrix Reloaded and Martix Revolutions, Hellboy, Constantine, King Kong, Watchmen and Jurassic Park: The Lost World. Outside of Hollywood, Wallin served as the Visual Effects Supervisor for American artist Matthew Barney's five-part Cremaster Cycle and the follow up experimental film, Drawing Restraint 9 staring the Icelandic pop star Bjork. Wallin is the co-host of the popular VFX Show podcast listened to by visual effects professionals, fans, and aspiring artists from all over the world.
Today he is the senior full-time faculty in the department of Communication Arts and a full Professor in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He teaches numerous courses specializing in 3D computer graphics, visual effects, and the creative application of emerging digital technologies.
Robert Meganck, Professor Emeritus, VCU
Robert Meganck is a professor of illustration, graphic design and digital imaging in the Depart- ment of Communication Arts. He is a freelance illustrator/ graphic designer and president of Communication Design, Inc. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Robert has received over 300 national/international awards for his research and professional practice in illustration and graphic design, and been recognized for excellence by such organization as The Society of Illustrators (N.Y.), The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, American Illustration and The Illustrators Club of Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. His work has been included in a variety of national reviews including Communication Arts Magazine’s Illustration and Design Annuals, American Illustration Annuals, Print Magazine’s Region Design Annuals, The Society of Illustrators Annuals, and 3x3 (The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration).
Dr. Peter Martin, Retired Adjunct Faculty, Physics Department, VCU
Since 1998 Dr. Peter Martin has been employed by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in both full-time and part-time faculty positions. He has helped develop and teach a course on conceptual physics for non-scientists at the VCU Richmond campus and has taught physics and mathematics at the VCU School of the Design Arts in Qatar. He received Bachelors, and Masters degrees in mathematics and physics from Cambridge University, England, and a Doctorate in physics from The College of William and Mary. After a career in industrial research where he worked in both technology and management and was awarded more than 10 patents, he elected to take early retirement in 1998. He helped develop the “Wonders of Technology” course at VCU, wrote and published the studio manual used in the course, and is stimulated by the challenge of transferring his own enthusiasm for physics and technology to students with relatively poor science and mathematical backgrounds.
He received a Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award at VCU-Richmond in 2009, and has many papers and presentations in the fields of optical inspection, laser processing, environmental monitoring, air filtration, physics education and nuclear physics. He is currently a member of the Graduate Advisory Board at The College of William and Mary, the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers, and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the International School of Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Editorial Advisory Board of “Filtration News”.