Academy’s Tech Council Adds 2 New Members

Cary Phillips and Dr. Doug Roble have accepted invitations to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing the Council’s 2015–2016 membership roster to 25.

Phillips is currently the co-head of research and development at Industrial Light & Magic. In the more than 20 years since he joined the company, he has won three Academy Technical Achievement Awards: for the design and development of the Caricature Animation System in 1998, and for his contributions to the ILM Creature Dynamics System and the ILM Shape Sculpting System in 2001 and 2014, respectively.

His software was integral to the visual effects of such films such as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001), “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011). He is a new Academy member, joining the Visual Effects Branch earlier this year.

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Roble is the creative director of software at Digital Domain, where he has worked since the company’s founding in 1993.

His contributions as a software developer and engineer have been recognized with a 1998 Technical Achievement Award, for the TRACK system for camera position calculation and scene reconstruction, and a 2007 Scientific and Engineering Award, for the development of Digital Domain’s fluid simulation system.

His software has been used in the production of dozens of films, including “Titanic” (1997), “The Day after Tomorrow” (2004) and “Meet the Robinsons” (2007).

A longtime member of the Visual Effects Branch, Roble also serves on the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards Committee and is co-chair of the Digital Imaging Technology Subcommittee.

The 2015–2016 Council co-chairs are two members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch: Craig Barron, an Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor and former Academy governor; and Paul Debevec, chief visual officer at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and a lead developer of Light Stage, an image capture and rendering technology for which he received a Scientific and Engineering Award in 2009.

The Council’s 21 other members are Wendy Aylsworth, Academy vice president John Bailey, Rob Bredow, Lisa Zeno Churgin, Elizabeth Cohen, Academy governor Richard Edlund, Doug Greenfield, Don Hall, John Hora, Jim Houston, Rob Hummel, Randal Kleiser, Academy governor John Knoll, Bev Pasterczyk, Josh Pines, Milt Shefter, Dave Stump, Steve Sullivan, Academy governor Bill Taylor, Academy governor Michael Tronick and Beverly Wood.

Established in 2003 by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities, and preserves the history of the science and technology of motion pictures.

Photo courtesy: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences