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Tech Forum Speakers
Each week leading up to this year's TechForum, we will be featuring speakers with their bios.

Dr. Matt Kim


Title: Founder and President of QuantTera (2005 to present, Scottsdale, AZ)
Tech Forum Presentation: Nanotechnology: Engineering the Geometry of Nature

Bio: Dr. Matt Kim is the Founder and President of QuantTera (2005 to present, Scottsdale, AZ), a microelectronics research and development company that specializes in nano-engineered devices for photonic telecommunications and energy applications. He is responsible for the development of novel processes and device structures for improvements in photonics device performance and for the design and manufacture of integrated photonic components and subsystems for communications and energy applications. He specializes in the physics of low dimensional quantum based device structures. He is an expert: in the crystal growth of GaAs and InP based technology for photonic application and; the microelectronic fabrication and testing of semiconductor devices.  Through his career he has set-up many research and development labs through manufacturing facilities.

He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and has a B.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is member of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Jiva Devoe



Tech Forum Presentation: iOS & Mac Software Development

Bio: Jiva is an author, blogger, and software developer with 20 years of experience in the software industry. His first computer was a Commodore VIC-20, on which he learned BASIC and assembly language.

He has published two books on iOS software development, and has had Apps featured in the Sunday Times of London's "Best 500 Apps in the World", iLounge.com's "100 Essential iPhone Apps", O'Reilly's "Best iPhone Apps" book, and Apple's own "App Store Essentials". He teaches and speaks on iOS and Mac development internationally.

He's had Apps in the iPhone App Store, the iPad App Store, and the Mac App Store from from day one and has been providng mobile development solutions on a variety of platforms for over 15 years. Jiva is considered by many industry insiders as one of the most experienced App Developers on the platform.

Currently, Jiva focuses his time and efforts exclusively on iOS and Mac development. Jiva's philosophy on the mobile experience is that the iPhone and iPad, with their multi-touch displays and variety of sensors, opens an almost limitless opportunity for the creation of new and unique user-interactions.

Alijohn Ghassemlouei



Tech Forum Presentation: Anatomy of Pen Test - the Art and Science of Federal Pen Testing

Bio: Alijohn Ghassemlouei [CISSP, CEH] is currently a senior penetration tester for a federal agency and has been contracting technical work for over a decade. He was born in Southern California, attended college in Arizona, and currently works in the Washington DC metropolitan area. During his time in school, he led two teams to the Western Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, placing 2nd for two consecutive years.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Advancing Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Network Security, he co-authored "The Hacker's Guide to OS X: Exploiting OS X from the Root Up". For over three years, Alijohn traveled cross country with a small team of specialists assessing the technical security controls for diverse federal customers, including DOE & NASA. Throughout all this, Alijohn has volunteered at multiple Black Hat conferences and has competed in various Defcon competitions since 2008.

Professionalism, leadership, and organization are three of Alijohn's best qualities. When not in front of his Macbook Pro, Alijohn loves racing go-karts or relaxing with a good thriller novel.

Tamir Nadav



Tech Forum Presentation: Working at Playdom

Bio: Tamir Nadav is a game designer, former programmer, and a valedictorian baccalaureate graduate of Full Sail in 2005. He has been involved in the industry for over 8 years with his enthusiastic networking abilities, and can be seen at many different events and schools, assisting current students in preparing to enter the industry. Aside from his duties as a designer, Tamir has been consistently speaking at conventions and universities on business communications, how to meet people, and how to get a job in the game industry. He has quickly become a known name and face in this industry, and built a vast network of industry peers, both young and old. He has been interviewed by EGM, IGN, and was featured in the popular how-to book published by Prima Games, Paid to Play: An Insider's Guide to Video Game Careers. Tamir has spent 6 years in the MMO space, and currently is working on social games at Playdom, in Palo Alto, CA.

Chris Matthieu



Tech Forum Presentation: Emerging Technology

Bio: Chris Matthieu is the Enterprise Architect for Bechtel, most known in Arizona for building the Hoover Damn and the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant. Prior to joining Bechtel, Chris was the founder of Teleku, a cloud-based communications service, and Nodester, a Node.JS PaaS. Both start-ups have been recently acquired. Chris is charged with keeping Bechtel current on emerging technologies and would like to provide you with an insight on new technologies coming of age.

The industry term, Emerging Technologies, references ongoing advancements and innovations in various fields of technology such as APIs, big data, cloud infrastructure, web, mobile, voice, communications, artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy, etc. By combining these technological advancements and applying these technologies to our processes, products, and services, we can deliver significant improvements in making our information more valuable, increasing returns on investments, and making our world a better place to live.

Jonathan Mann



Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Jonathan has over 20 years of experience designing interfaces. He leads a talented team of PayPal UI designers, visual designers, and writers, and is a UI designer himself. He and his team have designed many of the experiences that millions of PayPal customers use every day. Several of Jonathan’s design improvements have resulted in multi-million dollar profit for PayPal, proving that good design is more than just aesthetics. He has expertise in the field of Behavioral Economics and has worked with leaders in the field to apply those principles to design as well as internal working relationships.

Jonathan has also worked at Intel Corporation and consulted with numerous clients for whom he designed applications, websites, and web-based learning. He has a background in Cultural Anthropology, and an M.Ed. in Instructional Design.

Eric Block



Tech Forum Presentation: A Revolution in Recording: The Rise of the Home Studio

Bio: Eric is a freelance marketing and writing professional. Erik attended the Institute of Audio Research in New York to prepare myself for a career as a recording engineer. Afterwards, he found a couple of jobs as an Assistant Engineer and worked on several successful albums. After he studio closed during the first wave of industry contraction, he changed careers and didn't do much with music until 4-5 years ago, when he purchased Cubase and returned to writing and recording my songs. Since then, he founded the Cubase meetup and have been collaborating with musicians across the globe. You can hear some of my recordings here.

Ben Reichert



Tech Forum Presentation: A Driving Force: Games for Mobility

Bio: Ben Reichert is an internationally published and award-winning entrepreneur with experience in video games, transportation, and conflict management. Previously, Ben worked on advocacy and fundraising for the international peacebuilding efforts of Nonviolent Peaceforce, developing and managing the European communications strategy for the International Road Transport Union, and most recently, he served as the first Assistant Director for the ASU Center for Games and Impact. He is currently combining his passions for advocacy, sustainable mobility, and learning through games as the CEO and Co-Founder of Abeona Games. Abeona Games works with transportation industry stakeholders to design and develop interactive experiences that help solve their needs in innovative ways. His areas of interest include gamification, alternate reality games, and open-source data. Ben holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Madison-Wisconsin and a Master's degree in International Relations from the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies.

Ara Shirinian



Tech Forum Presentation: Conversation with Ara Shirinian

Bio: Ara is a game designer and writer. He was most recently Design Lead for Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (3DS). His gameography also includes NightSky, Dood's Big Adventure, Cars: Mater-National, and The Red Star.

Ara's background is in human-computer interaction and specializes in player psychology. You can find out more about him at shirinian.net or hear him weekly at chatterboxgameshow.com.

Ara will be holding an open Q&A discussion without any prepared material. Bring questions! Things that Ara likes to talk about include: How designers can have very different jobs at different studios. What it's like to forge your career as an indie vs. corporate employee. The everlasting problem of creating something meaningful vs. making money. Special challenges you have to overcome to break in as a pure designer. Handling disputes between designers and artists or programmers. Anything related to design or projects he's worked on.

Betsy Cohen



Tech Forum Presentation: Creating Your Kick-A$$ Website

Bio:Betsy Cohen is the founder and lead designer at Positive Element (www.positiveelement.com), a boutique web design firm here in Phoenix, AZ. Positive Element focuses on custom web sites for authors, professionals and small businesses that are user-friendly, easy to maintain and easily optimized for search engines and social media.

Betsy primarily develops with WordPress because it provides a powerful and user-friendly foundation of features upon which to build just about anything.

Betsy takes time with each client to understand their goals, their audience and their challenges, and she works with them to develop a website plan that integrates with their business, supports their marketing plan, and complements their social media efforts.

Betsy lives in North Scottsdale, is raising 3 kids, and enjoys reading, yoga, and hiking. She used to enjoy other things too, like travel and painting... but hasn't had time for much of that lately.

The Afflicted



Tech Forum Presentation: Making it to GDC

Bio: Hear from this UAT game team on their 2 year journey of creating their game; The Afflicted. Listen to their pitch that one them a spot at GDC and ask questions to help you find your own way onto a successful gaming team.

Terra Cooke



Tech Forum Presentation:Sorry, I'm not a Spy and other Helpful Tidbits.

Bio: Terra Cooke is an information systems security engineer for the National Security Agency. She studied network security at the University of Advancing Technology and graduated in 2010 and pursuing her Masters in Cybersecurity at University of Maryland University College. Despite what many believe, she is not a spy or a hacker. In her professional life, she focuses mainly on securing infrastructures as well as program management.
Below are the Previous Speakers from the 2012 Tech Forum:

If you would like to view the videos of all past Tech

Forums, please visit the UAT YouTube Channel.


Steve Simpson


Title:
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Steve Simpson has over 20 years experience with enterprise level software engineering, architecture, and technical leadership. He has successfully designed / developed / deployed mission critical applications across industries and technologies. He is the founder of Ethos Solutions, a Technical Professional Services firm.

As Technical Director of an international professional services firm, Steve worked on projects in many of the major metropolitan cities in the United States and also worked for two years in various European cities. Steve has worked on projects in many industries with Fortune 500 companies such as Merrill Lynch, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Wellpoint, Kaiser, Genentech, Amgen, Pacific Bell, PG&E and 20th Century Fox. His projects include IT infrastructure, disaster planning, technical security, application development, and system failover. Additionally, he has been a presenter and speaker at multiple technical conferences.

Darin Travis


Title: Mobility Strategist/Microsoft
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Darin Travis is the Microsoft Mobility Strategist for Latin America and Canada, working with enterprise customers to develop solutions that allow their employees and customers to be mobile. He proudly served 11 years in the United States Air Force and since leaving the military has worked for major IT consulting firms before coming to Microsoft. Since at Microsoft, he has worked as consultant and strategies for large customers such as the U.S. Army, the Canadian government and other large commercial companies in the U.S. and Canada.

Lindsey McQueeny


Title: Senior Game Development Recruiter
Tech Forum Presentation:"Working in Game Development: Tell Me Something I Don't Know"

Bio: Once upon a time, Lindsey was toiling away in the corporate world, working in generically labeled (and often generically flavored) industries such as "Mortgages," "Insurance," and "Pharmaceuticals". Then one day, she sent exactly one application to only one game development company, along with one colorfully written cover letter about her one passion, and subsequently had one interview, was offered one job, declined one job, wrote one thank you note, worked in a different industry for one year, until she was contacted by the same one GM she met with the year before. This time, she interviewed for a different job, a job as a superhero, making dreams come true for awesome teams, awesome projects and awesome talent alike, and this one time said yes, and has been working in game development ever since. For the past 5 years, Lindsey has had the honor of working among the very best talent in the industry, on some of the most fantastic projects out there to date. She now has the honor of partnering with venerable Crystal Dynamics, a Square-Enix game development studio, on two high-profile AAA projects, including Tomb Raider (which is apropos because Lindsey has costumed as Lara Croft for Halloween at least a few times in years past).

Beyond seeking and hiring the most experienced and talented developers in the industry, Lindsey is also committed to mentorship and integrity: treating others as she would like to be treated; offering honest and good-natured guidance to those who ask for help; and sharing what little insight & knowledge she has to the newest members of the game development industry about the most incredible, dedicated and brilliant set of individuals she has ever met. Just like her own story, she believes that everyone deserves as least one chance to work in his or her dream job and is committed to doing what little she can to help.

Natasha Vita-More


Title:
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Natasha Vita-More, PhD is an expert in the field of the emerging technology of design. Her research combines technology and social narrative, which scholarship digs deeply into the social and ethical issues of human futures, including radical life extension, morphological freedom, and identity diversity. Her prototype "Primo Posthuman" unmasks the probable outcomes of biotech's regenerative media, nanorobotics, and artificial general intelligence. Natasha's essays have been published in the journals Nanotechnology Perceptions, Technoetic Arts, Evolution haute couture, Technology Imagination Future, Metaverse Creativity, New Realities: Being Syncretic, Beyond Darwin, AI Society and D'ARS. She is producer and host of H+TV "minds matter", an online educational discussion and debate series.

Natasha received Special Recognition at Women in Video and has exhibited artistic, design-based works at London Contemporary Art Museum, Niet Normal, Moscow Film Festival, and GOGBOT. She has appeared in more than 24 televised documentaries and featured in Wired, LAWeekly, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Net Business, Teleopolis, and The Village Voice. Currently, Natasha is Chair of Humanity+, a Fellow at Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a Fellow at Hybrid Reality Institute, and Advisor of Policy, Law & Ethics Track, Singularity University.

John Koop


Title:
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: John Koop is a UAT alum that specializes in 3D Animation, HD Video and Design for corporate clients for over 9 years.

He has Produced 3D animations for the Military Channel, Good Morning America Travel Channel and more. Many animations and HD videos have been shown on tradeshows, TV and magazines.

Arizona Virtual Studios is a full service production studio specialized in video production, 3d Animation, graphic design and green screen services.
They have produced many commercials, infomercials as well as corporate videos and TV shows.

Brian Chan


Title: Vice President, Information Technology, Corporate Services Group at Av
Tech Forum Presentation:  Geeky and Global

Bio: As VP of IT, Brian is a member of the global IT leadership team for Avnet. Avnet provides a vital link in the technology supply chain and is a global distributor of electronic parts, enterprise computing and storage products and embedded subsystems.

Brian moved to Phoenix, Arizona in April of this year and took on a global role to lead the corporate shared services IT organization for Avnet. Prior to Phoenix, Brian was based in Hong Kong and led the IT team for Avnet Technology Solutions in Asia Pacific, which covers over 10 countries in the region.

Prior to joining Avnet, Brian held CIO and executive positions in major Canadian companies including two of the largest financial services companies in Canada. In his tenure as VP and CIO for electronic banking for a Canadian bank in the late 90's, Brian led the IT team that built the technology platform and infrastructure which enabled the launching of one of the first internet banks in North America that continues to operate successfully to-date.

In 2005, Brian was CIO of a family-owned pension and benefits consulting firm that completed a successful IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In his technical career, Brian worked in many areas including systems development, systems programming, technical support and capacity planning. Brian is a graduate of the University of Waterloo's Computer Science program, and holds an MBA from the University of Toronto.

Brad Westfall


Title:Senior PHP Web Developer at Vianet Management, Inc
Tech Forum Presentation: CSRF Website Hacking

Brad Westfall is the Senior PHP Web Developer at Vianet Management, Inc in Scottsdale, AZ. Brad has over 13 years experience in Web Design and Development. Brad's past work includes being the founder and President of AZPixels.com, LLC.

Brad's professional experience includes building and maintaining high visibility LAMP projects, conducting search engine optimization and business branding. Brad has worked with over 200 clients including: ASU, The Department of Education (Arizona), AlphaGraphics, and Vianet Management. Owner of Roommates.com and PuppyFind.com. Brad's technical knowledge includes PHP, MySQL, browser compatible HTML and CSS, User Interface, User Experience and JavaScript.

Brad received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems Degree at ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business. In his free time, Brad participates and mentors in several Web Developer and User Experience Groups in the Phoenix area. Brad has a passion for learning and strives to bridge the gap between engineering and designer roles.

Justin Burleigh


Title: Mobile Platform Manager
Tech Forum Presentation: Enabling the Mashup Generation

Bio: Justin Burleigh manages Mobile Platform & IR Operations at Bechtel. Bechtel is once of the worlds largest engineering, procurement and construction firms building some of the world's most notable infrastructure projects . At Bechtel, Justin oversees operational elements of emerging technology groups and explores APIs, Cloud and collaborative platforms. Previous to Bechtel, Justin was the Director of Information Technology for an Arizona based communications firm. Justin is currently based in San Francisco, Ca and has been with Bechtel for 10 years.

Kelcey Tietjen


Title: CIRT Manager
Tech Forum Presentation: You've Been Back Traced and Reported to the Cyber Police - Using Trolling Skills to Find Bad Guys

Bio: is the global CIRT manager at Bechtel. Bechtel is once of the worlds largest engineering, procurement and construction firms building some of the world's most notable infrastructure projects . At Bechtel, Kelcey oversees information security operations and dabbles with forensication in his spare time. Previous to Bechtel, Kelcey worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as a CIRT analyst protecting national security information. Previous to LANL, Kelcey, traveled the country and globe responding to incidents as consultant for Mandiant.

Cliff Lasana


Title: Technical Director Level Design at Ubisoft
Tech Forum Presentation: 10 Things You Always Wanted to Know About Working in the Game Industry by were Afraid to Ask

Bio: I'm a seven-year veteran of the game industry where I've worked extensively in the fields of both level design and engineering. I graduated from UAT, while there I worked as a level designer on the COR project. I spent the first few years of my industry career working on cross-platform development for 7 Studios where I worked as a level designer

Erin Price


Title: Producer at Playdom
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Erin is a UAT alum and has multiple years of experience working in live operations on MMOs and Social Games. She specializes in video game production, live operations, interactive feature development and game studies research.

Richard Key, Charlie Key and Brandon Cannaday


Title:
Tech Forum Presentation: Building a JavaScript Game Engine

Bio: Brandon is well versed in many client-side technologies for web, mobile, and desktop applications. He has worked in government defense and knows the ins and outs of securing applications. Charlie is the web expert. If you can view it in a browser, Charlie knows how to make it happen. He’s also guru in several server-side technologies, database design, and mobile application development. Richard is a web application developer and has excellent knowledge of many client and server-side technologies, as well asmany CMS systems like Wordpress and Drupal.

NSA


Title:
Tech Forum Presentation: Internships and Opportunities

Bio:

Vincent Liu


Title: Managing Partner at Stach & Liu
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Vincent Liu, CISSP, is a Managing Partner at Stach & Liu, a security consulting firm providing IT security services to the Fortune 1000 and global financial institutions as well as U.S. and foreign governments.

Before founding Stach & Liu, Vincent led the Attack & Penetration and Reverse Engineering teams for the Global Security unit at Honeywell International. Prior to that, he was a consultant with the Ernst & Young Advanced Security Centers and an analyst at the National Security Agency. In these roles, he gained extensive experience conducting risk assessments, analyzing source code, and performing penetration testing.

Vincent is a sought after speaker and has presented his research at conferences including Black Hat, ToorCon, InfoSec World, SANS, and Microsoft BlueHat. Vincent has been published in interviews, journals, and books with highlights including: Penetration Tester's Open Source Toolkit; Writing Security Tools and Exploits; Sockets, Shellcode, Porting, and Coding; Hacking Exposed Wireless 1st and 2nd Edition; and Hacking Exposed Web Applications 3rd Edition. He led the technical editing of the critically-acclaimed Ajax Security, and is most recently the co-author of Web Application Security A Beginner's Guide.

Vincent holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Computer Science and Engineering and a minor in Psychology.

Delirium


Bio: This group was sponsored to be a part of the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco based on their work for the game "Delirium". The group will be sharing their experiences while making the game, obstacles and their personal takeaways from being a part of GDC.

"You are your own worst enemy in Delirium, a psychological horror game and 2d platform puzzler!  A divided mind has turned on itself, in a twisted, bitter attempt to quell the darkness of a sinister past.  You are the last sane piece of a broken man, and must avoid and outwit your inner demons through a wicked series of puzzles, challenges, and hidden nightmares. The confrontation approaches can you pry yourself from dementia or will the vestiges of fear and regret cripple you forever?"

Tamir Nadav



Title: Senior Producer at Playdom
Tech Forum Presentation:

Tamir Nadav is a game designer, former programmer, and a valedictorian baccalaureate graduate of Full Sail in 2005. He has been involved in the industry for over 8 years with his enthusiastic networking abilities, and can be seen at many different events and schools, assisting current students in preparing to enter the industry.

Aside from his duties as a designer, Tamir has been consistently speaking at conventions and universities on business communications, how to meet people, and how to get a job in the game industry. He has quickly become a known name and face in this industry, and built a vast network of industry peers, both young and old.

He has been interviewed by EGM, IGN, and was featured in the popular how-to book published by Prima Games, Paid to Play: An Insider's Guide to Video Game Careers. Tamir has spent 6 years in the MMO space, and currently is working on social games at Playdom, in Palo Alto, CA.

Nathan J Wagner


Title: VP of Business Development at ArmedZilla, Inc.
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Nathan is a business development strategist with over 17 yrs of experience in Technology Sales, Marketing, and Logistics.

A native of Arizona, Nathan's career in technology began when he moved to Seattle, WA and took a position in global product logistics at Microsoft in 1994. He was part of a small team that managed the launch of Windows 95, the first Office Suite and Encarta around the world.

As Nathan's career took a sales path in 1998, he joined tech-savvy entrepreneurs to begin promoting what would eventually become a billion dollar industry in display and banner advertising. In 2002, Nathan moved to Portland, OR to launch a technology startup that provided enterprise solutions, digital imagery and asset management for eCommerce platforms. And in 2006, Nathan was on the leading edge of mobile marketing and engaging audiences through SMS "text" technology.

Over the course of his career, Nathan parlayed his experience to work at some of the most dynamic interactive marketing agencies on the west coast, and he has conceptualized and executed scalable web and social media marketing campaigns with these notable clients: Microsoft, Intel, Ubisoft, T-Mobile, Nike, Adidas, Quiznos, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Outrigger Hotels, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Starbucks, Kroger and Costco.

Nathan holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Phoenix and is a Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm (1988 to 1992). Nathan is currently the VP of Business Development at ArmedZilla, a technology startup that connects veterans on a social platform headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ.   www.armedzilla.com

Pat McCormack


Title: Visualization Manager with Raytheon Missile Systems
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio: Pat McCormack is a Visualization Manager with Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ.  After serving 21 years in the United States Army, he retired from military service in 2007 and joined the Raytheon team as a Systems Engineer and military assessment analyst.  Providing operationally relevant subject matter expertise in the development of modeling, simulation and analysis scenarios for analytical war games, he applied his experience as a combat veteran to developing virtual training capabilities for customers.  Pat became the manager of the CONOPS Visualization group and Virtual Development Team within Raytheon Missile Systems in 2010, and oversees a visualization group that creates high quality cinematic videos, world class conceptual illustrations, and interactive and immersive gaming environments for use across Raytheon.

Luke Stewart


Title: Visual Effects artist
Tech Forum Presentation:

Bio:Luke is a seasoned Visual Effects artist who graduated from the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. He has been working in the 3D animation and visual effects industry for over 10 years. Currently employed as a Production Manager at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ, Stewart supervises all aspects of animation production, from script development and storyboarding, to delivering the final edit to the client. Stewart also writes, directs and produces films. He is in post production on his first feature film, Holodad.
Below are the Previous Speakers from the 2011 Tech Forum:

If you would like to view the videos of all past Tech

Forums, please visit the UAT YouTube Channel.

Steven-Elliot Altman


Title: CEO of Dark Hermit Studios
Tech Forum Presentation: From running Acclaim Games to Building a Game in your Garage: Why it's the Same but Different

Bio: Steven-Elliot Altman is a bestselling author, award-winning advertising executive, Hollywood writer-producer, and most recently a successful videogame developer, having served as The Game Director at Acclaim Games, and having won multiple awards for his massively multiplayer online role playing game 9Dragons. Steven was also recently elected as the Vice-Chairman of the steering committee of the Writer's Guild of America's Video Game Division, and served as a Finalist Judge for the 2009 and 2010 WGA Video Game Awards. He is currently the CEO of Dark Hermit Studios.

Steven joined Acclaim Games in 2005 during its inception by former Activision co-Founder and Chairman Howard Marks, initially as the writer for what would become their highest grossing title, 9Dragons. Marks later hired Steven on as Acclaim's Game Director/Director of Marketing and gave him full directorial control of Acclaim's entire download division. During Steven's tenure at Acclaim he also served in the direct capacity of active Game Director for Acclaim's two highest grossing games, 9Dragons and 2Moons, wrote Facebook social games including Mafia Payoff, and oversaw the hiring, training and content of all writers on all games, while managing staff in multiple global offices. In May 2010, Acclaim was purchased by Playdom, the fourth largest Social Game company. Steven declined an offer to join Playdom on the cusp of their sale to Disney, choosing instead to co-found Dark Hermit Studios.

Steven's novels include Captain America is Dead, Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires, Batman: Fear Itself, Batman: Infinite Mirror, The Killswitch Review, The Irregulars and Deprivers. He's also the editor of the critically-acclaimed anthology The Touch and a contributor to Shadows Over Baker Street, a Hugo Award Winning anthology of Sherlock Holmes Stories. Steve's also a WGA writer currently attached as Screenwriter / Executive Producer to the feature film of his novel Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires with director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander / Resident Evil) and three TV series in development, DEPRIVERS with director Andy Wolk (Sopranos / The Practice) for Sony;  CONTROLLERS with director Craig Baxley (Stephen King's Rose Red and Kingdom Hospital), and THE IRREGULARS (Dark Horse Prods.).

Glenn Allan Campbell (2011)


Title: Visual Effects Supervisor for AREA 51
Tech Forum Presentation: Five primary jobs of a VFX artist and how to get one

Bio: Glenn started his effects career by nearly blowing his face off with homemade fireworks at age 15 and has never looked back. Much of his misspent youth was dedicated to building models and blowing them up in front of a super 8 camera. In 1978 he managed to somehow enter the Cameraman Training Program - Effects Branch, which placed him as a trainee on such productions as The Wiz, Superman, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. After graduating, he continued on the Star Trek feature and subsequently fell in with a bad crowd, working on films of ill repute like Blade Runner, Tron, Buckaroo Banzai, Gremlins, Spaceballs, Lifeforce, Bill and Ted, and City Slickers.

Micah Wright (2011)


Micah Wright is a writer in television, movies, video games, comics and animation. His work on the Nickelodeon show The Angry Beavers was nominated for an Annie Award and Daytime Emmy. He has written over 30 videogames, and serves as the Chairman of the Writers Guild of America's Videogame Writers Caucus. His books on political writing and modern propaganda imagery have been featured in the New York Times and on the Fox News Channel.

Tech Forum presentation addresses the state of video game writing. He will discuss different types of writing, the increased emphasis on narrative design in games, and why most game writing lacks in quality.

Michael Powell (2011)


Tech Forum Presentation: How Concept Artists can Drive Quality into a Project from Conception to Completion

Bio: Michael Powell is a Principal Lecturer and Course Leader for Game Art BA Hons at De Montfort University, Leicester, England's first Games Industry accredited course. He is a National Teacher Fellow, and has been teaching, writing and presenting on games for many years. He was a contributor to the Livingstone-Hope Review panel, advising the UK Government on the future policy for Game Development and Game Education

Schuyler Towne (2011)


Title: Mechanical Security Researcher
Tech Forum Presentation: DIY Non-Destructive Entry

Bio: Tech Forum presenter Schuyler Towne is a competitive lockpicker and a cultivator of the locksport community. He is a two-time winner of the DEFCON LockCon contest and beat the second-ranked lockpicker in the world at LockCon's Dutch Open tournament in 2008. Schuyler is the creator and executive editor of Non-Destructive Entry magazine.

Jeremy Duffy (2011)


Jeremy is a "geek" and is similar to most other geeks you've met or heard of. With over 19 years of computer experience ranging from programming to secure system design, he's well equipped to understand the benefits, but also the risks that come from "cyber" technology.

But unlike the rest of his people, Jeremy is an accomplished and award-winning public speaker. Having spent years teaching and training technology and risk management to government agencies, contractors, and the military, Jeremy has perfected his ability to explain complicated concepts in simple ways to audiences of all skill levels and backgrounds.

As a specialist in information risk management, Jeremy will explain how identity theft was caused by poor data handling practices and how properly applied privacy and data control will end the identity theft problem. Attendees can be expected to learn a little about the problem and a whole lot about the solutions that will make them many orders of magnitude less likely to become victims.

James Grant (2011)


Title: Designer and Programmer
Tech Forum Presentation: Algorithmic Art, and getting your name out there so you can get a job!

Bio: James Grant is a designer/programmer, focused on data visualization projects that help normal people understand the complex systems of the world. He studied Digital Art and Design at UAT, graduating in 2009. He recently completed a year residency at Fabrica, a media research lab in northern Italy, where he worked in the interactive department.

Mark McComb (2011)


Title/Company: Academic Program Sales Engineer/Microchip
Tech Forum Presentation: Bringing an Embedded Product to Market

Bio: As Microchip's Academic Program Sales Engineer, Marc McComb is responsible for assisting academics with integrating Microchip's products and technologies into their curricula. Previously, Marc worked in Microchip's 8-bit MCU Division as an applications engineer.

Andres Mora (2011)


Title/Company: Extreme Environments Robotics and Instrumentation Laboratory /Arizona State University

Tech Forum Presentation: Planetary Exploration Robots

Bio: Andres Mora was born in San Jose, Costa Rica. Andres received his B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering in 2001 and following his graduation, he participated in an international internship in the ASPL (Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory) Johnson Space Center, NASA. At ASPL, he worked in the automatic control of Langmuir probes, which take measurements of density, temperature and force of the flow of plasma within the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket). In 2003 he moved to Japan sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and in 2005, he obtained his M.Sc. degree in Aerospace Engineering (Space Robotics). His research focused on the development of a rescue and search team of robots remotely controlled through the use of the Japanese ETS-VIII satellite.

In 2007, he attended the International Space University's Space Studies Program (SSP 2007) in Beijing, China, and later he participated in an international internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). At JPL he worked in the design, development and implementation of a remote monitoring system of volcanoes which measured temperature, humidity and sulfur dioxide emissions. Upon finishing his Ph.D. in Space Robotics in 2009, Andres worked as a researcher at ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International) in Kyoto, Japan. At ATR he carried out research on the field of mobile robots, particularly in the simultaneous control and monitoring of multiple mobile robots and GUI (graphical user interface) design.

Currently, he is a post-doctoral researcher at ASU (Arizona State University) where he works on the design and implementation of robots and instruments for extreme environments, such as hot springs, volcanoes and sub-glacial lakes. His research interests include path planning, teleoperation and mobile robot control and design of GUIs that allow control of robots in various tasks, ranging from social to mobile robots for space exploration. Andres also enjoys playing the saxophone, soccer and scuba diving.

Nate LaMartina (2011)


Title/Company: Lead Character Artist/Bioware

Tech Forum Presentation: Path to the Art Industry: Trends, Tips & Advice

Bio: Nate LaMartina is the lead character artist at Bioware, a division of Electronic Arts, and currently involved in the Dragon Age series at the Edmonton studio. He has been working in the game industry since 2005, and was part of multiple modification projects previous to his professional development, including COR Project. Nate has worked on a number of software titles, including Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online, and Dragon Age II.

Nate's Tech Forum presentation will cover his own road from student to professional, industry trends, advice to aspiring graduates, and what he looks for as a lead when seeking out new artists to hire. Nate will also be on-campus to help review art portfolios by appointment.

Darin Travis (2011)


Title/Company: Mobility Strategist/Microsoft

Tech Forum Presentation: Introduction to Microsoft's Metro Design: The User Interface of the Future

Bio: Darin Travis is the Microsoft Mobility Strategist for Latin America and Canada, working with enterprise customers to develop solutions that allow their employees and customers to be mobile. He proudly served 11 years in the United States Air Force and since leaving the military has worked for major IT consulting firms before coming to Microsoft. Since at Microsoft, he has worked as consultant and strategies for large customers such as the U.S. Army, the Canadian government and other large commercial companies in the U.S. and Canada.

David Shorey (2011)


Title: Visual Effects Artist

Tech Forum Presentation: The Generalist vs. The Specialist: What Will Work Best for You

Bio: Since graduating from UAT in 2003 and moving to California, David Shorey has been involved in the movie and television industry.  He has also taught classes at Montecito Fine Arts School in Arcadia, California. He has worked on over 50 Disney movie trailers, a number of movies, including the 007 movie Quantum of Solace and Bobby, and in the exciting and challenging new field of 3D conversion with The Last Airbender, The Green Hornet and Jackass 3D. He is currently doing work on a television show, Supah Ninjas, on Nickelodeon, and the movie Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred.

David is a member of the Visual Effects Society.  You can view his work at these websites:
http://www.mochapromagic.com/
http://www.imbd.com/name/nm1625137/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-shorey/b/102/4aa

TyRuben Ellingson (2011)


Title: Concept Designer/Visual Consultant

Tech Forum Presentation: Art School to Avatar

Bio: TyRuben was the Lead Vehicle Designer for James Cameron's Avatar. He joined the team at Lightstorm in early 2006 and provided the designs for the AMP suit and RDA combat aircraft. As the show moved into post-production, TyRuben designed the RDA mining equipment and RDA ground vehicles, several of which were also used in the Avatar video game. The son of a Minnesota art professor, TyRuben spent his childhood in his father's studio drawing and painting. While completing his master's degree at St. Cloud State University, Ellingson taught drawing and design courses at the university and exhibited his paintings in regional and national juried shows. His Master of Fine Arts degree was completed in 1987 at Southern Methodist University. Combining his fine art successes with a lifelong interest in film, Ellingson landed a position at George Lucas' Industrial, Light and Magic in 1989 as a Visual Effects Art Director. While at ILM, Ellingson contributed to the creation of ground-breaking special effects in films such as Jurassic Park, Star Wars: A New Hope and Disclosure. In 1995, Ellingson accepted an invitation by director Guillermo del Toro to act as principal designer of the signature creature for his film, Mimic. Since this initial collaboration, TyRuben has provided designs for subsequent del Toro pictures, including Blade II, Hellboy and Hellboy II, and most recently Pacific Rim, scheduled for release in 2013. Other films to which he has lent his talents include Blade: Trinity, Signs, The Surrogates, Priest, Battle: Los Angeles, and director Neill Blomkamp's next picture, Elysium. Throughout his career, Ellingson has spoken regularly to students and professionals regarding his work and the film industry at large.  In 1993, he was a keynote speaker at the National Association of Art Department Deans, and that same year taught a semester in the cinema department at San Francisco State University.

Jeremy Leung (2011)


Title/Company: Information Security Engineer/Wells Fargo

Tech Forum Presentation: The Making of a Mustache Maker

Bio: UAT alum Jeremy Leung is the champion, co-founder and current co-director of hackerspace HeatSync Labs, a non-profit community lab and workshop in Arizona. He ensures that the completely community-funded company sticks with their mission statement of providing tools, space, and expertise for the local community. He manages and leads a team of passionate industry professionals to provide an environment that fosters creativity and direction for the next generation of inventors. Originally from Germany, Jeremy fell in love with the American hacker community and is driven to promote the positive connotations of the word "hacker." After graduating from UAT and joining the work force, he still wanted to make a mad scientists lab with his friends. During the day he works as a security engineer at Wells Fargo; at night, he dons the appropriate safety gear to create and push HeatSync Labs forward.

Francis Brown (2011)


Title/Company: Managing Partner; Stach and Liu

Tech Forum Presentation: Pulp Google Hacking: The Next Generation Search Engine Hacking Arsenal

Last year's Lord of the Bing presentation stabbed Google Hacking in the heart with a syringe full of adrenaline and injected life back into a dying art form. New attack tools and modern defensive techniques redefined the way people thought about Google Hacking. Among these were the first ever Bing Hacking tool and the Google/Bing Hacking Alert RSS feeds, which have grown to become the world's single largest repository of live vulnerabilities on the web. And it was only the beginning!

This year, we once again tear down the basic assumptions about what Google/Bing Hacking is and the extent to which it can be exploited to target organizations and even governments. In our secret underground laboratory, we've been busy creating an entirely new arsenal of Diggity Hacking tools.

Bio: Francis Brown, CISA, CISSP, MCSE, is a Managing Partner at Stach & Liu, a security consulting firm providing IT security services to the Fortune 500 and global financial institutions as well as U.S. and foreign governments. Before joining Stach & Liu, Francis served as an IT Security Specialist with the Global Risk Assessment team of Honeywell International where he performed network and application penetration testing, product security evaluations, incident response, and risk assessments of critical infrastructure. Prior to that, Francis was a consultant with the Ernst & Young Advanced Security Centers and conducted network, application, wireless and remote access penetration tests for Fortune 500 clients. Francis has presented his research at leading conferences such as Black Hat USA, DEFCON, InfoSec World, ToorCon and HackCon, and has been cited in numerous industry and academic publications. Francis holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Computer Science and Engineering and a minor in Psychology. While at Penn, Francis taught operating system implementation, C programming, and participated in DARPA-funded research into advanced intrusion prevention system techniques.
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