Keynote Speakers

We are excited to announce our keynote speakers for SCF 2023 in New York City: Masoud Akbarzadeh, Ilya Baran, Zachary Cordero, Kelly Delp, Scott Hudson, Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde, Virginia San Fratello, Ezri Tarazi, and Nobuyuki Umetani.

  • Masoud Akbarzadeh
    UPenn
    Masoud Akbarzadeh is a designer with academic background and experience in architectural design, computation, and structural engineering. He is an Assistant Professor of Architecture focusing on Structures and Advanced Technologies and the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL) director. He holds a D.Sc. from the Institute of Technology in Architecture, ETH Zurich where he was a research assistant in the Block Research Group. In addition, he has two degrees from MIT: a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (Computation) and a MArch, the thesis for which earned him the renowned SOM award. He also has a degree in Earthquake Engineering and Dynamics of Structures from the Iran University of Science and Technology and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

  • Ilya Baran
    Onshape
    Dr. Ilya Baran studied mathematics and computer science at MIT (B.S., M.Eng, Ph.D.) and did postdoctoral work at Disney Research, Zurich. He has published on a wide range of computer graphics topics, including geometric modeling, CAD, animation, rendering, performance capture, and computational fabrication. In 2012 he joined Onshape as one of the first developers and helped build the world's first cloud-native CAD system. He is currently the VP of Architecture at Onshape (now PTC).

  • Zachary Cordero
    MIT
    Zachary C. Cordero is the Boeing Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he develops materials technologies for emerging spaceflight applications. His current research is focused on the design, processing, and performance of novel materials tailored to withstand the extreme operating conditions in reusable liquid-propellant rocket engines. Prior to joining the MIT faculty, Cordero was a professor of Materials Science at Rice University and prior to that a postdoctoral fellow at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is a recipient of young investigator awards from Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Army Research Office. He received an S.B. in Physics and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT.

  • Kelly Delp
    Cornell University
    Kelly Delp is a Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics Department at Cornell University. She received her PhD in Mathematics from UC Santa Barbara in 2005. Her mathematical research centers on the study of geometric structures on manifolds and orbifolds. She also works to find new ways to illustrate and share mathematical ideas with students, colleagues, and the general public. She has been an active participant in the Bridges Organization, whose goal is to foster mathematical connections to art, music, architecture, and culture; she has been on the program committee since 2012 and served as program chair in 2015. In the fall of 2019 she co-organized the Illustrating Mathematics semester program held at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics.

  • Scott Hudson
    CMU
    Scott Hudson is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon and previously held positions at the University of Arizona and Georgia Tech. He has published extensively in technical HCI. He recently received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award. Previously he received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, was elected to the CHI Academy, and received the Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence at CMU. His research interests within HCI are wide ranging, but tend to focus on technical aspects of HCI. Much of his recent work has been considering advanced fabrication technologies such as new machines, processes, and materials for 3D printing, as well as computational knitting and weaving, and applications of mechanical meta-materials.

  • Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde
    Parsons
    Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde (ayo) is a Nigerian-American artist, designer, anthropologist and time-traveler living and working in New York. He studied Visual Arts and Philosophy at Rutgers University where he earned his B.A. His works range from painting and speculative design to physically interactive works, wearable technology, and explorations of “Reclamation”. His residency participation includes ITP’s S.I.R., IDEO’s Fortnight, The Laundromat Project, Eyebeam, New INC, and Recess Assembly. He has exhibited and presented at the 11th Shanghai Biennale, Tribeca Storyscapes, EYEO Festival, Brooklyn Museum, M.I.T. Beyond the Cradle, and Afrotectopia amongst others. He holds an M.F.A. in Design and Technology and an M.A. in Anthropology from The New School. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at The New School for Social Research and serves as an Assistant Professor of Interaction and Media Design at Parsons School of Design.

  • Virginia San Fratello
    San José State University
    Virginia San Fratello is an architect, interior designer, and educator. She is Chair of The Department of Design and the Department of Art & Art History at San José State University in Silicon Valley. San Fratello recently won the International Interior Design Educator of the Year Award and is also a winner of the Metropolis Magazine Next Gen Design Competition. Her creative practice, Rael San Fratello, was named an Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York, and in 2021 they were awarded the Beazley Design of the Year. Her work is recognized by several institutions including The National Building Museum, the Bellevue Museum, For Freedoms, and is included in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the CSMVS Museum in Mumbai, LACMA and the Design Museum in London.

  • Ezri Tarazi
    Technion
    Ezri Tarazi is a full professor, chair of the Design Graduate Program, chair of Technion Hub for Innovation(t:hub), and Design-Tech Lab, at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Tarazi is a world-renowned industrial designer and researcher, and a founding principal of Tarazi Studio since 1996. His professional practice ranges widely from design-art to design for high-tech. He has exhibited experimental designs in top museums around the world. He is an award-winning designer with an international reputation. He worked at IDEO in Palo Alto and co-founded its office in Israel from 1998 to 2002. He has been involved in a variety of startup ventures in multiple industries, such as renewable energy, medical equipment, and consumer products. He has initiated and designed innovative products with global distribution. His current research lab is focused on 3D printing of coral reef ecosystems.

  • Nobuyuki Umetani
    University of Tokyo
    Nobuyuki Umetani is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo leading Graphics and Engineering Laboratory. Previously, he was a research scientist at Autodesk Research, leading the Design and Fabrication group. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Autodesk Research and Disney Research Zurich. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2012 from The University of Tokyo under the supervision of Takeo Igarashi. The principal research question he addresses through his studies is: how to integrate real-time physical simulation into an interactive geometric modeling procedure to facilitate creativity. He is broadly interested in physics simulation, especially the finite element method, applied to computer animation, biomechanics, and mechanical engineering.