Welcome to my webpage. My name is Ryan Hurd and I am a member of the Research Alliance in Math and Science (RAMS) 2006 program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I am currenty a graduate student at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) majoring in Visual Effects. I recieved a B.S. in Computer Science with a supplementary major in Japanese from the University of Notre Dame in 2005.

I joined this program to get experience producing scientific visualization. One of my goals is to use visual effects, a field mostly used for feature films and video games, to help scientists and researchers seeing their data visually and perhaps see their results in another perspective. Also,visualizations will help individuals who may not be fimiliar with the science presented, yet get a better understanding of the concepts behind it and realize why it is important to them. Basically, make them say, "OH! I get it!."

I will be working with two mentors, Sean Ahern, the task leader of the visualization program, and Jamison Daniel. I will be using 3D software such as Maya to produce 3D imagery on the Exploratory Visualization Environment for Research in Science and Technology, or (EVEREST), which is a large 11,520 by 3072 pixel screen that is designed for large scale data visualization.