AMPAS Invites Four SMPTE Members to Serve on Science and Technology Council

Four members of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) have accepted invitations to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Wendy Aylsworth, Douglas Greenfield, Rob Hummel, and Beverly Pasterczyk will join the council created in 2003 in response to the explosion in digital motion picture technology.

The council seeks to transform the production, postproduction, and exhibition of movies by focusing on industrywide problem-solving and research projects, preserving the history of motion picture technology, and educating professionals and the public about the role of technology in moviemaking.

"SMPTE members have played an invaluable role in shaping the industry we know today, and they are among the technology and thought leaders who will guide continued development of the motion-imaging field," says SMPTE executive director Barbara Lange. "We are very proud that four of the five new additions to the Academy's Science and Technology Council are SMPTE members, and we look forward to seeing their impact on the future of motion picture technology."

Wendy Aylsworth is senior vice president of technology for Warner Bros. Technical Operations, where she oversees the establishment of new technologies for Warner Bros. production divisions. She formerly was a member of the Walt Disney feature animation department. Aylsworth is the first woman president of SMPTE as well as a SMPTE Fellow.

Douglas Greenfield, a returning member of the council, has been at the forefront of innovations in cinema sound for more than 30 years. He is senior director of content services at Dolby Laboratories. An active academy member, Greenfield served as a Sound Branch governor for six years and in 2003 earned the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy. Greenfield is also a SMPTE Fellow and is the 2012 recipient of the Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal.

Rob Hummel, also a returning council member, began his career at Technicolor Laboratories and joined Douglas Trumbull's visual effects company during the making of Blade Runner (1982), an Oscar nominee for visual effects. Hummel has served as senior vice president of production technology at Warner Bros.; worked in postproduction, animation, and Imagineering at Walt Disney Studios; headed animation technology at DreamWorks; and helped launch digital cinema units at Technicolor and Sony. Hummel has been a member of SMPTE since 1980. Today he is president of the digital media company Group 47.

Beverly Pasterczyk began her career with Kodak as a developmental engineer specializing in process technologies and is now the regional technical director for the Americas for Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Division. A SMPTE Fellow, Pasterczyk has served as a SMPTE author, a section manager/officer, and a governor representing the Hollywood region.