TOUCHDESIGNER PHILLY MEETUP v0

Friday, March 14, 2025

7:00 PM-9:00 PM

The TouchDesigner Philly MeetUp brings together immersive media pros, students, and enthusiasts to explore the creative possibilities of Immersive Design and Interaction. Each event features artists sharing their standout work and giving a behind-the-scenes look at their process. It’s all about building a strong community, connecting with talented creators, and sparking new ideas through collaboration, networking, and shared learning.

Speakers:
Violet Whitney – Co-founder at Spatial Pixel
William Martin – Co-founder at Spatial Pixel
Emil Polyak – Associate Professor at Drexel University
Noah Norman – Chief of Hard Work Party and Co-Founder and CEO of Third Wave


Bios:
Violet Whitney – Co-founder at Spatial Pixel
Violet co-leads Spatial Pixel, where she applies expertise in spatial UX.
Prior to co-founding Spatial Pixel, Violet served as director of product at Sidewalk Labs, the Google Future Cities initiative, where she started a generative design product now part of Google Earth. Today, she teaches tangible and spatial computing at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. At Columbia, she helped launch a new Computational Design Masters program.  Violet researches new modes of human-computer interaction outside of the screen.

William Martin – Co-founder at Spatial Pixel
William co-leads Spatial Pixel, where he applies expertise in spatial AI, the application of artificial intelligence to spatial reasoning and design. He also teaches a course called “Spatial AI” at Columbia GSAPP. Trained as an architect, he was a lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture, assistant professor at NYIT, and instructor at General Assembly. He served as head of product at Floored, a real estate tech startup that built pioneering VR marketing tools. He was a software engineer at data science startup Ufora, where he built user interfaces and distributed machine learning software. As product lead at Pivotal Software and VMware, he led a product line that automated the scalable deployment of software applications for Fortune 2000 companies that used the Microsoft tech stack, as well as led the R+D partnership with Microsoft Azure cloud. As director of product management at Recycle Track Systems, he built a new product team focused on logistics and sustainability. Most recently, he served as director of artificial intelligence at Consensys, a web3 and blockchain company.

Emil Polyak – Associate Professor at Drexel University
Emil is an associate professor at the College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University, where he directs the MS in Digital Media program. With a master's degree in Cross-Disciplinary Art and Design from the University of New South Wales, his work explores intersections of science, engineering, and art through research-informed design practice. Polyak investigates computational creativity and emerging technologies to reimagine creative practice and storytelling. His work has been exhibited internationally at museums, festivals, and conferences, including ACM SIGGRAPH, the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous art and design museums.

Noah Norman – Chief of Hard Work Party and Co-Founder and CEO of Third Wave
Noah Norman is an artist, technical director, and Chief of Hard Work Party. He's spent the last 15 years building installations, experiences, and digital objects with complex inner lives. Since 2023, through his startup Third Wave, he's been building next-generation immersive arcade games.

Contact Information

Emil Polyak
ep557@drexel.edu