Distinguished Lecture Series / 2009 Bios
Bob Taylor
Q & A
4 p.m. March 5, 2009 in San Jose State CR, 345 Park Ave, San Jose
ABSTRACT: Bob Taylor lends insights on research management from his extraordinary career as founder and manager of Xerox PARC CSL and DEC SRC.
Scott Kim
Games for Visual Thinking
12:30 p.m. February 5, 2009 in Stanford University CR, 345 Park Ave, San Jose
ABSTRACT: In this talk veteran puzzle designer Scott Kim will show you original puzzles that stimulate visual imagination. You will see magazine puzzles that introduce ideas is visual design. You will see animated ambigrams that playfully combine typography and illusion. And you will see how his new online game Photograb exercises visual thinking skills. Finally Scott will discuss what makes a good puzzle, and how games can change the way you think.
BIO: Scott Kim is one of the world’s most prolific and versatile puzzle designers. He has designed thousands of puzzles for such web game companies as PopCap, Gamehouse and the Tetris Company. He is the puzzle columnist for Discover magazine, and writes the annual Brainteasers page-a-day calendar. His strategy game MetaSquares is now available on iPhone. He has designed educational games for puzzle toy company ThinkFun. Scott has a PhD in Computers and Graphic Design from Stanford University. He is now designing smart games for his new company Shufflebrain.
Chuck Geschke (Adobe Chairman of the Board)
The Adobe Story: Lessons Learned in Building a Software Company and Dealing with Adversity
12:30 p.m. January 12, 2009 in Park Auditorium, 345 Park Ave, San Jose
ABSTRACT: Chuck will describe the lessons learned on the journey from a Silicon Valley start-up to becoming a major player in the software industry. He will discuss the impact of national support for science education in the 1960’s, the risk taking environment of Silicon Valley, the corporate culture that nurtures the growth of successful high-tech companies, and why that culture is critical when the times are tough.
BIO: Dr. Charles Geschke co-founded Adobe in 1982 with Dr. John Warnock. Through his vision and passion, Geschke helped build Adobe from a start-up into one of the world’s largest software companies. In 2000, Geschke retired from his position as Adobe president. Today, he and John Warnock are co-chairman of Adobe’s board of directors. Geschke’s outstanding technical and managerial achievements have been honored by industry and business leaders, including: the Association for Computing Machinery; Carnegie-Mellon University; the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); the National Computer Graphics Association; and the Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2000, he was ranked as the seventh most influential graphics person of the last millennium by Graphic Exchange magazine. Geschke is a recipient of the John W. Gardner Leadership Award and the Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and Inc. Magazine. Geschke received the Medal of Achievement from the American Electronics Association in 2006. Geschke is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and serves on the boards of several educational institutions, arts and non-profit organizations. He is on the board of trustees for the University of San Francisco and is a member of the computer science advisory board of Carnegie-Mellon University. He also serves on the boards of the San Francisco Symphony, the Commonwealth Club of California, the Egan Maritime Foundation, the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club and Tableau Software. Prior to co-founding Adobe, Geschke formed the Imaging Sciences Laboratory at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center where he directed research activities in the fields of computer science, graphics, image processing and optics. Previously, he was a principal scientist and researcher at Xerox PARC’s Computer Sciences Laboratory. Geschke holds a doctorate in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University as well as a master’s degree in mathematics and an A.B. in classics, both from Xavier University.
