Katzenberg

Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation since 2002 and co-founder of DreamWorks Studios, producer of such computer-animated films as the Academy Award-winning "Shrek," "Shrek 2," "Shark Tale," "Madagascar" and "Over The Hedge," will visit Cornell for "A Conversation with Jeffrey Katzenberg: The Future of Computer Animation" at 2 p.m., Oct. 30, in Statler Auditorium.

The event will be a sort of "Inside the Actors' Studio" presentation, with Don Greenberg, director of the Cornell Program of Computer Graphics, asking the questions. The event is free and open to the wider Cornell community and affiliated educational partners.

Prior to co-founding DreamWorks in 1994, Katzennerg served as chairman of the board of Walt Disney Studios from 1984-1994 where he was responsible for the worldwide production, marketing and distribution of all Disney-filmed entertainment, including motion pictures, television, cable, syndication, home entertainment and interactive entertainment. Before Disney, Katzenberg was president of Paramount Studios.

Katzenberg will be accompanied on his visit by Mahesh Ramasubramanian, Cornell M.S. '00, head developer of special effects at DreamWorks, and other DreamWorks executives. The event is sponsored by the faculty of Computing and Information Science and the Cornell Program of Computer Graphics.

Several graduates of the Cornell Program of Computer Graphics are currently employed at DreamWorks. Yekaterina Isichenko '06 was one of six students across the country selected to participate in the "DreamWorks Animation Effects Challenge" and spent six months in rigorous, hands-on training at the PDI/DreamWorks campus in Redwood City, Calif.