Artist • Writer • Educator

My work investigates how technologies of representation shape perception, memory, and public life. Working across moving image, computation, photography, scientific instrumentation, and public writing, I build artworks, courses, and research projects that examine the gap between the world and the systems used to describe it. My practice asks how cameras, algorithms, interfaces, scientific instruments, and artificial intelligence alter what can be seen, remembered, and known.

Academic Appointments

Lecturer

University of California, Los Angeles
Design Media Arts

July 2025 – Present

Teaching tangible media, creative coding, artificial intelligence, computational media, and interaction design.

Special Faculty

California Institute of the Arts

School of Film/Video

School of Critical Studies

September 2010 – Present

Teaching interdisciplinary courses connecting computation, media theory, experimental cinema, color, and vibecoding GLSL shaders.

Fletcher Jones Scholar in Computation

Visiting Assistant Professor of Media Studies

Scripps College

July 2019 – June 2025

Developed interdisciplinary curriculum combining computer science, media studies, and studio practice.

Teaching

My courses combine critical inquiry with direct engagement with materials and computation. Students build cameras, train machine-learning models, write software, construct scientific instruments, and investigate the histories of the technologies they use.

Selected Courses

AI for Experimental Animation

Artificial intelligence as an artistic instrument rather than an autonomous creator.

Creative Machines (DESMA 160)

Creative coding and machine learning for artists.

Interactivity (DESMA 28)

Programming interactive media and computational art.

Computational Photography I & II

History, construction, and computational analysis of photographic systems.

Machine Learning for Artists & Animators

Machine learning through studio practice.

Unconventional Computing

Biological, analog, and physical approaches to computation.

Plastics, Neon, and Psychedelia

Color as material, perception, and technology.

Information Theory in the Life Sciences

Information as a bridge between biology, communication, and computation.

Current Research

My current work explores computational systems as instruments of perception.

Research areas include

• computational color science
• computational photography
• artificial intelligence as artistic practice
• material computation
• biomedia and synthetic biology
• media archaeology
• public digital infrastructure
• scientific visualization

Artistic Practice

My work examines media fidelity, convenience, and human desire through film, computation, photography, installation, and scientific instrumentation.

Recent projects include

Companions (2024)

Nearest Neighbor (2023)

Artifact #1 (2009)

Lossless Series (2008–)

Kerouac’s Ear (2008)

The Iron Archive (2025–)

Web Anomaloscope (2026–)

Selected Exhibitions & Screenings

Toronto International Film Festival

Harvard Film Archive

George Eastman Museum

BFI London Film Festival

Oberhausen International Short Film Festival

MAK Vienna

Ambulante

Visions du Réel

REDCAT

Block Museum of Art

Curtocircuíto

Writing

My essays combine technical investigation with cultural criticism, examining the infrastructures through which contemporary life is mediated.

Selected work includes

• The Color Gap (book in progress)
• “The Wild Colors Your Phone Won’t Show You” (The Conversation)
• Essays on public infrastructure, computational photography, artificial intelligence, government interfaces, and media archaeology
• Ongoing publication on Medium

Fellowships, Residencies & Research

Caltech Data to Discovery Artist Residency

Exploratorium Artist-in-Residence (proposal)

Invited participant, Radcliffe Institute discussions

Lectures & Workshops

Transportation Research Board

UCLA

CalArts

Clockshop

Poetic Research Bureau

MIT CAVS

Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

Reading Ours

Ear Meal

International festival talks and screenings

Professional Service

Judge & Mentor

Biodesign Challenge

Member

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association

Co-founder

Computer Science Minor, Scripps College

Organizer

CalArts AI Symposium

Author

CalArts AI Community Statement

Education

MFA

Experimental Writing

Integrated Media Minor

California Institute of the Arts

BA

Directing and Playwriting

Chemistry Minor

Reed College

Software Architect • Computational Media Researcher • Educator

I design computational systems that translate between representations. Over three decades I have built early web platforms, CAD interoperability services, public transit infrastructure, computational photography tools, AI-assisted creative environments, and biological computing prototypes. Although these projects span different disciplines, they pursue a common question: how can one system faithfully represent another?

My work combines software architecture, computer vision, scientific instrumentation, and creative computing with an emphasis on transparency, maintainability, and public access. Alongside industrial practice, I develop new computational methods through research, teaching, and artistic practice.

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Professional Appointments

Lecturer

University of California, Los Angeles

Design Media Arts

July 2025 – Present

Teaching computational media, creative coding, and artificial intelligence.

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Special Faculty

California Institute of the Arts

School of Film/Video

School of Critical Studies

September 2010 – Present

Teaching unconventional computing, AI, computational photography, and interdisciplinary media.

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Fletcher Jones Scholar in Computation

Visiting Assistant Professor of Media Studies

Scripps College

2019–2025

Developed interdisciplinary computer science curriculum for artists and media scholars.

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Lead Developer

LA County Metro

2009–2019

Architected public software infrastructure supporting one of the largest transit systems in North America.

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Lead Architect

Spatial Technology / PlanetCAD

Developed early internet services for CAD interoperability, automated model repair, and manufacturing workflows.

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Creative Director & Co-Founder

RealEducation / eCollege

Designed one of the first web-based university learning environments.

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Areas of Research

My research investigates computational systems as instruments of translation.

Current interests include

• software architecture
• computational photography
• computer vision
• scientific imaging
• creative artificial intelligence
• material computation
• biomedia
• color science
• public digital infrastructure

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Selected Systems

Rather than treating software as products, I approach systems as research into representation.

Metro Real-Time API

Public infrastructure providing live transit information to mapping platforms, developers, and millions of riders.

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Web Anomaloscope

Browser-controlled scientific instrument for citizen-science studies of human color perception.

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The Iron Archive

Computational imaging pipeline generating archival cyanotype negatives through segmentation and custom halftoning.

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Touchroom

Distributed collaborative environment supporting classrooms, workshops, and performance.

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Generative Teaching Libraries

Open-source software supporting creative coding, computational photography, AI, and physical computing.

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Next.js Publication System

Publishing platform exploring sustainable technical writing and long-form web publication.

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Technical Contributions

Throughout my career I have designed systems that make specialized computational processes accessible to broader communities.

Representative work includes

• Public APIs
• CAD interoperability
• Computational photography
• Computer vision
• Creative AI
• Browser-based hardware control
• Interactive visualization
• Distributed collaboration
• Scientific instrumentation
• Educational software

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Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed

Using Smart Farecard Data to Support Transit Network Restructuring: Findings from Los Angeles.

Transportation Research Record.

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Selected Technical Writing

Essays on computational photography, AI, public infrastructure, and color science.

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Awards & Research

NASA Tech Briefs Award

Guggenheim Fellowship

Caltech Data to Discovery Residency

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Education

MFA

California Institute of the Arts

Experimental Writing

Integrated Media

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BA

Reed College

Directing & Playwriting

Chemistry