Dr. Ed Catmull is President and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Dr. Catmull has been honored with five Academy Awards, including the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry, the Academy Award of Merit, two Scientific and Engineering Awards and a Technical Achievement Award.

Dr. Catmull also received the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for his lifetime contributions in the computer graphics field, and the animation industry’s Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancements in the art or industry of animation, and in 2008 the Randy Pausch Prize from Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. Previously, Dr. Catmull was vice president of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he managed development in the areas of computer graphics, video editing, video games and digital audio.

Dr. Catmull earned B.S. degrees in physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah. In 2005, the University of Utah presented him with an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Engineering. He is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Visual Effects Society.