Introduction

I am Stephanie Whealy and I am working on my Master’s of Technology. If all goes as planned, I will be graduating this May. This semester I am taking N503, Technology in Education, and an independent study for my Master’s project.

I received my Bachelor’s in Computer Graphics Technology in the summer of 2008. I started out my college career as a fine arts major at Ball State University. I transferred to IUPUI after my freshman year because I wanted to focus more on the technology side of art rather than the traditional painting and drawing. I do still enjoy painting as a hobby whenever I get a little free time however.

Throughout my undergrad years I focused mostly on 3-D graphics. This has also been my focus for graduate school. For my graduate project I am working with Marina Sichuga, also in N503, to create an interactive tool to be used by IUPUI anthropology students. It will present them with a walk cycle animation of both a human and chimpanzee and allow them to study the differences caused by variations of specific areas in the skeletal structures. This semester we will be finishing up the 3-D models, animating, and bringing it all together in a flash application.

I’ve had a few work experiences in graphic design. I’ve done 2-D work for a graduate school at Ball State and had a graphic design internship with a real estate company based in Arizona. The last summer of my undergrad years I was also able to have the terrific experience to travel to Poland with the CGT program and teach 3-D graphic design courses at two different Polish universities. I learned more from this experience than I could’ve ever imagined when I applied to go. Not only did I learn an immense amount from teaching the students and interacting with my CGT peers, but I learned so much about a culture that I previously knew nothing about. That was my first international experience but I hope that I have the opportunity to travel abroad again soon.

I currently work for Kaleidoscope as a contract graphic designer. I’ve been working on projects for this company for over a year now. Kaleidoscope works closely with Proctor & Gamble designs for all types of research. This is the area that I have been working on and I have used programs such as Adobe Photoshop, 3d Studio Max, and Strata Foto3D. Most recently I worked on a project with very tight time constraints over Christmas break and just finished this up the weekend before the semester started. Our finished asset was very well received so I hope to have the opportunity to work on similar projects for this company.

My plans for the near future are the finish up this semester with a few great portfolio pieces and graduate in May. I am hoping to have a full time graphic design job lined up to start on or before graduation. I enjoy working for the company I am currently a contractor for and hope to be considered for a full time position, but I am also looking at openings at other companies. I am hoping that this class, N503, will help me strengthen my skills and get ready to enter the professional world.