Bran Ferren
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Bran Ferren (born January 16, 1953) is an American technologist, artist, architectural designer, vehicle designer, engineer, lighting and sound designer, visual effects artist, scientist, lecturer, photographer, entrepreneur, and inventor. Ferren is the former President of Research and Development of
Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construc ...
as well as founder of Associates & Ferren, a multidisciplinary engineering and design firm acquired in 1993 by Disney. He is Chief Creative Officer of Applied Minds, which he co-founded in 2000 with
Danny Hillis William Daniel Hillis (born September 25, 1956) is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and computer scientist, who pioneered parallel computers and their use in artificial intelligence. He founded Thinking Machines Corporation, a parallel super ...
. Apple's " pinch-to-zoom" patent, which features prominently in its legal battle with Samsung, was invalidated by the
US Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
in 2013 based on a 2005 patent by Ferren and Hillis for
multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...
gestures.


Early life

Bran Ferren was the only child of artists John Ferren and Rae Tonkel Ferren. He grew up surrounded by art, artists, and technology. His father, whose work is part of the permanent collections of many American art museums, mixed with painters including
Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, Miró, and Mondrian before becoming an integral member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. His father was also personal friends with
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
and created paintings for ''
The Trouble with Harry ''The Trouble with Harry'' is a 1955 American Technicolor black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes was based on the 1950 novel by Jack Trevor Story. It starred Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Na ...
'' and designed the nightmare sequence in ''Vertigo''. Ferren's uncles came from the worlds of engineering and technology: Roy Ferren served as director of flight test for North American Aviation (later
North American Rockwell North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...
) and worked on the B-25 Mitchell bomber,
X-15 The North American X-15 is a Hypersonic speed, hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft which was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the List of X-planes, X-plane series of ...
rocket plane, XB-70 Valkyrie, and
B-1 Lancer The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). , it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with th ...
bombers. Stanley Tonkel was a noted senior recording engineer for Columbia Records, who engineered recordings for artists such as
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
,
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
,
Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
, and
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
. He first attended
Hunter College Elementary School Hunter College Elementary School is an elementary school on Manhattan's Upper East Side for select students who reside in New York City. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York or CUNY. History H ...
for gifted students in New York City, followed by a year at the American Community School, in Beirut Lebanon (1963-1964) while his father served as the first artist-in-residence for a U.S. Department of State cultural exchange program to introduce American abstract art to the Middle East. After returning from overseas, he spent three years at the McBurney School in New York City, and then the last three years of high school at East Hampton High School, in
East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...
. Ferren started his first design and engineering company, Synchronetics while in high school. He left high school at age 16 to attend
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
, but departed in 1970 to continue entrepreneurial pursuits. Despite his short stay at MIT, he was invited back by then school president Charles M. Vest to be a keynote speaker for MIT Technology Day 1996. Before his 21st birthday, Ferren had worked on TV commercials, films, and regional theater. He had also pioneered visual effects for arena concerts for groups such as
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...
,
Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
,
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
,
Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...
,
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
,
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
.
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
,
Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...
, and Foreigner, using pyrotechnics, audio, projection, and novel lighting techniques.


Career


Associates & Ferren

Ferren founded Associates & Ferren at the age of 25 to do work at the "crossroads of design and science and entertainment." One of the first projects was for Broadway play '' The Crucifer of Blood'', a
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
mystery that starred
Glenn Close Glenda Veronica Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. In a career spanning over five decades on Glenn Close on screen and stage, screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close, numerous ac ...
and won Ferren a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award. The production featured a "shattering display of thunder and lightning", which got the attention of director
Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of ...
, leading to Ferren's first prominent assignment as special visual effects director on a major Hollywood science-fiction film, ''
Altered States ''Altered States'' is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell, and adapted by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his 1978 novel of the same name. The novel and the film are based in part on John C. Li ...
''. He is a theater designer whose work has been seen on Broadway and London West End stages, Australia, and in touring productions world-wide. He has designed the Special Effects and Sound for several Broadway shows, and is a long-term member of the Broadway stagehands union, IATSE Local #1. His theatrical special effects and sound design work for the Broadway productions of ''
Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
'', ''
Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
'', and ''
Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La G ...
'', were widely acknowledged for their groundbreaking special effects.
Frank Rich Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born June 2, 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO. Rich is ...
said in his ''The New York Times'' review of ''Sunday in the Park with George'': "What Mr. Lapine, his designers and the special-effects wizard Bran Ferren have arranged is simply gorgeous." It was the first Broadway musical to utilize digitally-processed projection mapping (pre-processed, geometrically corrected 35mm film projection), a radio-controlled costume with a robotic endoskeleton, 20 kW xenon rotating-dichroic-filter light ray effects, and dazzling high powered lasers that broke the 4th wall, traveling throughout the audience. Frank Rich said of his work in ''Frankenstein'', "Bran Ferren's special audio-visual effects are also impressive by theatrical standards" and Carol Lawson, said in ''The New York Times'' that "critics have remarked that Mr. Ferren's work on this play, which included the spectacular destruction of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory by his monster, had the lavishness that audiences have come to expect in films, but have never before seen in the theater." As principal designer of Associates & Ferren, Ferren went on to lead many high-profile projects, such as special effects for the Paul McCartney World Tour,
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
,
Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...
,
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
, and visual effects for ''
Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors may refer to: * '' The Little Shop of Horrors'', a 1960 American film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (musical), a 1982 musical based on the 1960 film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986 film), a 1986 American film based on th ...
''. He was a technical consultant for the films ''Impostor'' and '' Fat Man and Little Boy'', and designed the titles for ''Simon, Dirty Rotten'' ''Scoundrels'', ''Guilty as Sin'', and ''Little Shop of Horrors''. In addition to special effects, they were considered leaders in advanced projection, simulation and laser effects technology, and provided customized equipment for dozens of major road tours, and stationary installations. He also produced, directed, and was the cinematographer for the movie "Funny" (released in 1992), which received a Nomination for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and nomination for Best Documentary at the
Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
, Gold Jury prize at the Houston International Film Festival (now called WorldFest Houston), and was featured in the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
Midnight Madness program, and at the Cleveland International Film Festival. "Funny" features over 100 individuals, from
Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States from the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cave ...
to
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
, telling their favorite jokes on camera. It was distributed by Warner New Media, in LaserDisc and CD-ROM. Ferren served as lead designer, engineer, and producer of the 50-state, 16-month tour of the
Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
, which celebrated the document's bicentennial. For the tour, he designed and built the Bill of Rights Secure Transit Vehicle, which transported the fragile parchment document, as well as a 15,000-square-foot traveling exhibit equipped with state-of-the-art lighting, A/V, security, and safety systems. He was the chief designer for the award-winning Columbus Center Hall of Exploration, a science discovery center, located at Baltimore's Inner Harbor in 1997. In addition to their work in the entertainment sector, Associates & Ferren was responsible for developing many technologies for industrial and government customers in the areas of robotics, sound systems, vehicle systems, control systems, scientific research & experiment design, optical systems, and 3D machine vision, as well as moving lighting fixtures for Strand Lighting Inc. Mr. Ferren was responsible for the development of advanced lens and thin-film dichroic coating technologies for th
Revo Sunglasses
brand, and served in the role of Director of Research & Development for Revo, which established new performance standards for sunglasses including the first to incorporate Infrared blocking. He did the lighting design and interiors concept for Ian Schrager's "White" variation of
Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...
in NYC, as well as invented the what is believed to be the first multi-monitor video wall, which premiered at the opening of the
Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...
Club, also in New York City, in 1985. He has been recognized for his unique approach working with directors in the design of special effects and visual effects across motion pictures, television, theater, concerts, and later in theme parks and architecture. This was featured in a ''New York Times'' profile on him by Stephen Farber, when
Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (; April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards for '' ...
's film '' Tempest'' (1982) was released. In this article, Farber quotes Mazursky as saying he is "a Renaissance man, a figure from another time ... If you crossed Robert Oppenheimer and Monty Woolley, you might get Bran." By the time Disney acquired Associates & Ferren in 1993, Ferren and the company had won an Academy Award for Science and Engineering as well as two Academy Awards for Technical Achievement. Ferren was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for "Little Shop of Horrors", and received a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination for special visual effects. He is a voting member of both the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
(Oscars), and th
Television Academy of Arts and Sciences
(Emmys). His entertainment industry projects at Associates & Ferren include: Film visual effects, lighting, design * ''
Altered States ''Altered States'' is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell, and adapted by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his 1978 novel of the same name. The novel and the film are based in part on John C. Li ...
'' * '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' * ''
Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors may refer to: * '' The Little Shop of Horrors'', a 1960 American film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (musical), a 1982 musical based on the 1960 film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986 film), a 1986 American film based on th ...
'' * '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' * '' Making Mr. Right'' * '' The Manhattan Project'' (also actor) * '' Tempest'' * '' Deathtrap'' * ''
Places in the Heart ''Places in the Heart'' is a 1984 American drama film written and directed by Robert Benton. It stars Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Ray Baker, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Jerry Haynes and Terry O'Quinn. The film f ...
'' * ''
Second Sight Extrasensory perception (ESP), also known as a sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was ado ...
'' * '' The Untouchables'' Film direction * '' Funny: A Bran Ferren Film'' * ''The Light Fantastic'' –
Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning (city), New York, Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Incorporated, Corning Glass Works and currently has a ...
Network television * ABC News Primetime LIVE! * ABC News: ''Day One'' * CBS News - design consultant * NBC News - technology consultant Concert visual effects *
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
*
Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...
*
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
*
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
* Rush *
Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...
*
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
*
Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...
* Foreigner Broadway visual effects, projection, sound design * '' Evita'' * ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' * '' Rock 'N Roll The First 5,000 Years'' * ''
Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
'' * ''
Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La G ...
'' * ''
Woman of the Year ''Woman of the Year'' is a 1942 American romantic comedy drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (with uncredited work on the rewritte ...
'' * '' ELVIS! An American Musical'' * '' Spookhouse'' * '' The Crucifer of Blood'' * ''
Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
''


The Walt Disney Company

Ferren led the Disney Imagineering R&D group as senior vice president, then executive vice president, eventually becoming president of R&D and Creative Technology for Disney, and head of technology for the company for 10 years. According to his former boss, CEO
Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...
, Ferren's mission was "to dream about the future and show us new and innovative ways to tell stories". Starting in 1993, he was the first corporate executive to receive the now-common job title of "Creative Technology", indicating responsibility for both creative and technical domains. When Eisner interviewed him on his new talk show, ''Conversations with Michael Eisner'', he said that he loved that Bran "pushed me against the wall, and pushed management" in the areas of creativity and technology. The idea to create the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, and its name (derived from Ferren's title at Disney), originated from discussions with US Army leadership (four-star general Paul J. Kern) on how to gain access to Hollywood entertainment industry expertise in high-technology areas such as computer-based Modeling & Simulation, and Virtual Reality. Ferren supported Disney's Strategic Planning Group and had direct creative and technical involvement in a wide variety of design and technology projects for
Disney Theme Parks Disney Experiences, commonly known as Disney Parks, is one of the three major divisions of the Walt Disney Company. It was founded on April 1, 1971, exactly six months before the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort. Led by Josh D'Amaro, t ...
, such as the Tower of Terror ride, the Test Track by
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
, the
Indiana Jones Adventure Indiana Jones Adventure is an enhanced motion vehicle dark ride attraction based on the ''Indiana Jones'' film series, located at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Guests accompany intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Indiana Jon ...
, the Virtual Reality Animation Studio, and many prime time television projects. He has had a 30+ year creative history collaborating with top senior ABC network director Roger Goodman, with dozens of news, sports, and entertainment division projects. His team was responsible for engineering the ABC
Times Square Studios Times Square Studios (TSS) is an American television studio owned by The Walt Disney Company, located on the southeastern corner of West 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The studio is best known as ha ...
armored electronic-dimming soundproof window systems, robotic cameras, large on-air displays, and a massive curved LED ticker display. In 1996, Ferren created the Disney Fellows Program which attracted some of the brightest minds in computer science, including
Alan Kay Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) published by the Association for Computing Machinery 2012 is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design. At Xerox ...
,
Marvin Minsky Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 – January 24, 2016) was an American cognitive scientist, cognitive and computer scientist concerned largely with research in artificial intelligence (AI). He co-founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...
, and
Seymour Papert Seymour Aubrey Papert (; 29 February 1928 – 31 July 2016) was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artif ...
, as well as astronaut
Story Musgrave Franklin Story Musgrave (born August 19, 1935) is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second a ...
. The first Disney fellow was parallel-computing pioneer Hillis with whom Ferren went on to found technology innovation and design firm Applied Minds in 2000. Applied Minds is now headquartered in
Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...
, a few miles from Imagineering headquarters. In 1997 Ferren and the Disney fellows were profiled in a major article in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', by
David Remnick David J. Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer, and editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book '' Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'', and is also the author of ''Resurrection'' and ''King of t ...
, and in many other publications and news service including Bloomberg, and Newsweek. In the 1990s, Ferren's research group at Disney developed many pioneering concepts, and produced demonstrations of these ideas and technologies, to familiarize Disney corporate leadership of their potential to transform the entertainment industry. These included gaming box platforms, personal navigators, electronic books, theater-scale digital cinema, direct on-demand music and video delivery to the home via telephone networks (pre World Wide Web & broadband), interactive cable television, safe browsing concepts for kids, and hybrid on-line/theme park concepts. While at Disney, Ferren developed a unique test for screening design & engineering talent, when he found that traditional Disney process of resume screening, reviewing bios, and interviews often did not identify the kinds of multi-domain savvy talent he needed at Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development. Known as the Yellow Box Test, it asks the candidate to go through 100 or so items in the box, all selected for their uniqueness and interest. As featured in a 2003 article in ''
Discover Discover may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album * ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine * "Discover", a song by Chris Brown from his 2015 album ''Royalty'' Businesses and bran ...
'' magazine, they are scored on not just how well they can correctly identify the items, but also their thoughtfulness in explaining how they would be used and why, material selection, sourcing, cost, viable alternatives, and the technical and design principles, and even aesthetics. The candidate is also evaluated subjectively as to their enjoyment of the process, speed, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and appreciation of technology. For example, do they elect to first start with the things they understand, or those they do not.


Applied Minds

Ferren's company Applied Minds L.L.C. (AMI) has been described as a "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" for geeks. AMI invents, designs, prototypes, and creates high-technology products, vehicles, architectural designs, and services for government institutions and Fortune 100 companies. For example, the Smithsonian American Art Museum selected Applied Minds as winner of an international design competition for the renovation of the Renwick Gallery's Grand Salon. AMI also spins off technology companies. Notable spinouts include
Metaweb Metaweb Technologies, Inc. was a San Franciscobased company that developed Freebase, described as an "open, shared database of the world's knowledge". The company was co-founded by Danny Hillis, Veda Hlubinka-Cook and John Giannandrea in 2005. ...
, purchased by Google in 2010 and cancer diagnostics firm Advanced Proteomics. In his role as chief creative officer and co-chairman, Ferren serves as lead technical consultant, management consultant, systems engineer, engineer, and designer across multiple disciplines. He has headed projects for
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
,
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...
,
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
,
John Deere Deere & Company, Trade name, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, Transmission (mechanical device), transmi ...
,
Herman Miller MillerKnoll, Inc., doing business as Herman Miller, is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Its best known designs include the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, Mirra chair, and t ...
,
Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...
,
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (imaging and sensing), ...
,
ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...
, the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
, Genworth Financial, the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, and several US Government agencies. He was the creative design lead at Applied Minds, for the Genworth R70i Aging Experience, featuring a novel computerized robotic exoskeleton to simulate aging with live audiences at venues such as the 2016 CES and then the
Liberty Science Center Liberty Science Center is an interactive science museum and learning center located in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. At its opening, it was the largest such planetarium in the Western H ...
, as well as Genworth Financial's new website. The R70i Aging Experience at CES received the 2016 Cool Tech award. Ferren has been named inventor on over 500 current and pending US patents. His 2005 patent with Hillis for multi-touch gestures led to the invalidation of
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
's "pinch-to-zoom" patent, which Apple cited in its billion-dollar lawsuit against
Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
. His 2009 US patent #8381985 (assigned to Intel Corporation) teaches the use of two cameras and electronic image processing to emulate the function of zoom lenses within devices such as smart phones, where traditional zoom lenses cannot fit. Another of his patents was for contextual database technology associated with Metaweb, a company acquired by Google which became part of the
Google Knowledge Graph The Google Knowledge Graph is a knowledge base from which Google serves relevant information in an infobox beside its search results. This allows the user to see the answer in a glance, as an instant answer. The data is generated automatical ...
. At Applied Minds, Ferren has also been lead designer and engineer on a number of advanced Research & Development vehicle projects, for example: * The KiraVan, the next-generation of the MaxiMog, also based on a Mercedes
Unimog The Unimog (pronunciation in American English: ''YOU-nuh-mog''; British English: ''YOU-knee-mog''; German: , ) is a Daimler Truck line of multi-purpose, highly offroad capable AWD vehicles produced since 1948. Utilizing engine-driven power tak ...
chassis. The vehicle is currently still in final construction and testing, but was recently the subject of an hour long ''Extreme RV's'' special on the
Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...
, and a Vice Motherboard video feature that has been viewed over a million times. He has also given talks on the creative design, engineering, and technology aspects of large-scale Expedition Vehicles at several EG Conference (2013), and at
ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...
in Pasadena. * The MaxiMog, designed to support scientific explorations, research, and location photography anywhere in the world. In 2001, the MaxiMog was on exhibit for three months at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York City. * The SmarTruck II, an Army concept vehicle ( TARDEC) for defense and emergency response, featured at the 2003 Detroit Auto show. * GM-CDV Concept Demonstration Vehicle, a driving demonstrator built in the early 2000s, featuring new concepts in driver interfaces, navigation, seating, infotainment, LED lighting, 3D sound, and semi-autonomous driving assistance. His architectural and interior design projects include the UCLA's Connection Lab,
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
's Center for Innovation, known as "The Lighthouse", numerous projects for Northrop Grumman, and the U.S. Government, including inside the
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
. He has been directly involved as lead designer for over 100 command centers for the United States Government and private corporations. Recently, an Applied Minds team led by Ferren was hired by leadership of the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
to help develop their digital strategy.


Public speaking, publications and appearances

Ferren has an extensive public speaking career as a subject matter expert, that has spanned a wide range of professional, government, and academic audiences. His over 250 speaking engagements include
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
's Center for Public Leadership,
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
,
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
, MIT Sloan School, Wharton,
The Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trus ...
,
SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference centered around computer graphics organized by ACM, starting in 1974 in Boulder, CO. The main conference has always been held in North ...
, the ACM/IEEE Supercomupting Conference SC98, The Art Center College of Design, ''
Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...
'' 2018, The U.S. Council on Competitiveness, The
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
Entrepreneurs Forum, The International Design Conference at Aspen ( IDCA), The Aspen Ideas Festival 2015,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, The U.S. Army, The US Air Force, The U.S. Navy,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, USC,
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
, NYU, ''
Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...
'',
Infosys Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational corporation, multinational technology company that offers business consulting, information technology, and outsourcing services. Founded in 1981 in Pune, the company is headquartered in Bengaluru. On ...
, The AUVSI Driverless Car Summit,
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...
, The Engineers' Council 2012, Tw
Optical Fiber Conferences
(OFC-2007 & OFC-2017), The Engineers Council, The Electric Infrastructure Security Summit VII, Westminster Palace, London, The Global Grand Challenges Summit 2013, in London, The EIS Council World Summit VIII on Infrastructure Security, U.S. Capitol Building, The
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
, The Smithsonian Digital Futures Conference, MIT FAB11 - 2015, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA New York City) "Working and Living: The High Tech Nomad", The Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc. (IFPA) Fletcher Conference 2007, The Envision Confeerence, Two Geodesign Summits, RealComm IBcon 2015, TTI Vanguard, Techfire, The
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...
(AIAA), '' TTI/Vanguard'', The Aspen Ideas Festival, The GEOINT Symposium, The 2017 National Competitiveness Forum, 2018 Miyamoto International, Great Minds Series, severa
E.G. Conferences
has given multiple
TED talks TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
, the IEEE EZVO19 Innovation conference, and The Explore's Club Global Exploration Summit GLEX2019 in Lisbon. He has delivered the commencement speeches to the
California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...
- College of Arts, Media and Communication (2002) The University of Redlands- College of Arts and Sciences (2014), and the University of Irvine - Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the School of Education, and the School of Physical Sciences (2015). He was one of the first lecturers and writers to discuss controversial internet-related topics such as the concept of networked human implants, and the idea that reading & writing could turn out to be a fad, to be replaced within 250 years by better and more compelling technology (enabled by what would then-be ubiquitous networked personal electronic technology). His ideas, work, and perspectives on innovation, are often cited by publications and media sources such as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...
'', ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'',''Discover'', ''
Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...
'', ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), ''
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...
'', ''
PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...
'', ''
Macworld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...
'', CSPAN,
KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...
(Dreamland documentary), Aerospace America, The
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
, '' Smithsonian'', ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'', ''Broadcasting & Cable'', ETCentric, ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'', '' Inc.'', ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'', ''
American Cinematographer The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinem ...
'', '' The East Hampton Star'', Theater Crafts/TCI, Live Design, '' Lighting & Sound America'',
Cinefex ''Cinefex'' was a quarterly journal that debuted in 1980 and covered visual effects in cinema, with a particular focus on science-fiction films. Each issue featured lengthy, detailed articles that described the creative and technical processes ...
, NBC News/
CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
, ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
'', '' CIO'', ''
Air Force Magazine The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, it ...
'', ''
Strategy+Business Strategy (from Ancient Greek, Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sens ...
'', and ''Bloomberg''. He can be seen and heard on multiple website and podcasts, expressing his ideas on a wide range of topics from autonomous vehicles, innovation, technology, creativity & curiosity, the future of computing, art & design, and tools. He was one of the first technical experts to articulate the concept of emotional resolution (as distinguished from technical resolution) for imaging systems, in particular for cinema production. The concept being that increasing the technical resolution of a system, such as sharpness and contrast (MTF/OTF) above a certain point, may have the effect of reducing the effectiveness of the medium for storytelling, as excessive sharpness encourages the audience to concentrate on the details and flaws of the scene or process (i.e. set construction, props, effects, artificial lighting) or of a performer (makeup, blemishes, wigs), rather than to ''suspend their disbelief'' to engage more deeply in the story. One can see the practical efforts to mitigate the undesirable effects of this phenomenon in the extensive range of options in diffusion filters and soft lighting used routinely in still photography, film and television production. As an early advocate for self-driving cars, his popular 2104 TED talk: "To Create for the Ages, Let's Combine Art & Engineering", has been called a must-see talk for engineers, discusses the intersection between art, design, and engineering; and why technologies such as autonomous vehicles will permanently change our world; has been viewed over a million times. He has often been invited to speak at significant US Government sponsored conferences, advancing his ideas on leadership & innovation, technology, acquisition reform, as well advancing controversial ideas such as suggesting that the US armed forces should get off as GPS/GNSS as their primary source of precision Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) within a decade. He has consulted for, and been interviewed on many TV shows and specials, for example;
The Dick Cavett Show ''The Dick Cavett Show'' is the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including: * ABC daytime, (March 4, 1968 – January 24, 1969) originally titled ''This Morning'' * ABC prime time, Tuesday ...
, ABC Nightline with Ted Koppel, The Tomorrow Society, The Charlie Rose Show, CuriosityStream, Conversations with Michael Eisner, ''Dreamland'' and The Age of A.I. (2019-2020) Hosted by
Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965), also known as RDJ, is an American actor. One of the highest-grossing actors of all time, his films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide. In 2008, Downey was named by ''Time ...
He has authored articles for numerous publications including ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...
'', ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', ''
MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...
'', '' The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'', ''Talking Back to the Machine'' (Peter J. Denning, editor), ''The Journal of Museum Education'', the ''
Proceedings of SPIE ''Proceedings of SPIE'' is the conference record of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).''Quartz''. For several years, he has been strong proponent and thought leader in the emerging field of Geodesign as a powerful tool that he believes has the ability to transform the way we think about city, regional and global planning, the environment, and effectively mitigating the negative impacts of people and development on the natural world.


Advisory board memberships and related activities

Ferren's advisory work has included board memberships at the
U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...
, Securities and Exchange Commission, International Design Conference in Aspen,
PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...
and the science magazine ''
Nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina. It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...
''. He has also served as a member of the Army Science Board for five years, the
Defense Science Board The Defense Science Board (DSB) is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters. It was established in 1956 on the second Hoover Commission's recommendation. Charter The B ...
, the Naval Historical Foundation Advisory Council, The USO Digital Advisory Council, The Department of Homeland Security, and the
Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...
Executive Panel. Bran Ferren is a member of the advisory boards for the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley, CuriosityStream, NanoMech, ReactiveCore. In 2016, he was appointed to
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
Research Institute (TRI) senior advisory board for driving autonomy, artificial intelligence, and robotics. He is a member of the board of directors for
NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
's '' The Loh Down on Science''. While serving as head of
Creative Technology Creative Technology Ltd., or Creative Labs Pte Ltd., is a Singaporean multinational electronics company mainly dealing with Audio equipment, audio technologies and products such as speakers, headphones, sound cards and other digital media. Foun ...
for Disney, and also a member the Army Science Board (ASB), Ferren played a key roll in the creation of what became USC's
Institute for Creative Technologies The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) is a University Affiliated Research Center at the University of Southern California located in Playa Vista, California. ICT was established in 1999 with funding from the US Army. Dr. Mike Andrew ...
. As a science & technology advisor to Four-star Army General Paul J. Kern in Modeling & Simulation (M&S) he recommended creating a new entity in the vicinity of Los Angeles that would be anchored at a major university. The purpose of this organization being to draw from the local talent pool, and its deep expertise in gaming, visualization, and UI/UX design. When asked why it should be there, rather than say the DC area, he stated emphatically that to be successful in this new domain, the army "needed to be where the action is." Under Gen. Kern's leadership, and with the help of Army funding, the ICT was established in 1999 at the University of Southern California (USC), and has become an important and sustaining resource for the Department of Defense in gaming, modeling, & simulation technologies.


Fine art photography

Two of his photographs have been accepted into the Smithsonian Museum for American Art permanent collection. He has presented and exhibited his artwork at 2008 the Entertainment Gathering (e.g.) Conference, and exhibited his photography and multimedia work at the Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton. His photographs are part of several private collections, and he is completing the editorial work for a large format photo book project called ''Eleven Seconds''.


Creative collaborations

In 2009, Ferren collaborated with
Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
on the exhibition "The Third Mind" at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2004, he helped to develop a gigapixel image system and 360-degree cyclorama with artist/photographer Clifford Ross. He worked with Patrice Regnier and
Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. He has also scored films by other directors such as Bill Condon, Todd Haynes ...
on his film project ''TESLA''. He had creative meetings with
Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...
in 1988 about a Muppets theme park prior to Henson selling his company to Disney. Prior to the Disney acquisition, Ferren had been in discussions with Steve Ross, CEO of
Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC (doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warner ...
about his acquiring ''Associates & Ferren'' and collaborating with
Alan Kay Alan Curtis Kay (born May 17, 1940) published by the Association for Computing Machinery 2012 is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design. At Xerox ...
on advanced entertainment and gaming technology. He is cited as a senior inventor at the company Intellectual Ventures, headed by former Microsoft CTO,
Nathan Myhrvold Nathan Paul Myhrvold (born August 3, 1959), formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and the principal author of ''Modernist Cuisine'' and its successor books. Early life and education Myhrvold w ...
. Myhrvold and Ferren are often cited as being close or best friends and collaborators.


Awards and commendations

* In 1980, winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award, for Special Visual & Sound Effects, The Crucifer of Blood * In 1980, winner of the Ahmanson Theater Award, for Distinguished Special Visual & Sound Effects * In 1982, winner of Academy Technical Achievement Award for the first computerized lightning effects system * In 1984, New York Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Special Effects, ''
Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La G ...
'' * In 1984, New York Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Special Effects, Spookhouse * The 1984 Joseph Maharam Foundation Award * The 1984 American Theater Wing, Hewes Design Award * In 1986, Academy Award Oscar nomination for Visual Effects, ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (co-nominated with Lyle Conway and Martin Gutteridge) * In 1987, winner, Academy Scientific and Engineering Award, for the design of an Advanced Optical Printer * In 1987, winner, Academy Technical and Engineering Award, for development of a laser Synchro-cu
system
* In 1998 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination for special visual effects. * In 1998, Bran Ferren received the Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award in Lighting Design. * In 2000, Bran Ferren received the Kilby International Award for significant contributions to society. * In 2011, ''Fast Company'' added Bran Ferren to the list of "100 Most Creative People in Business". * In 2014, Bran Ferren was presented with the US Intelligence Community Seal Medallion. * In 2016, Bran Ferren received the Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award for Imagination in Service to Society. *In 2016 Bran Ferren was the Theater and Tech Demo Area designer for the
ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...
Corporate Headquarters Office & Auditorium, which received the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
(AIA) Inland California Chapter, Honor Award


In popular culture

The final scene in the 1980s music video "
Take On Me "Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha. The original version, recorded in 1984 and released in October of that year, was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff (producer), John Ratcliff. The 1985 international ...
" by
A-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...
was inspired by the similar scene designed by Ferren in ''
Altered States ''Altered States'' is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell, and adapted by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his 1978 novel of the same name. The novel and the film are based in part on John C. Li ...
''. A popular 1980s MTV Television bumper featured a take-off of the final transformation scene in ''
Altered States ''Altered States'' is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Ken Russell, and adapted by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his 1978 novel of the same name. The novel and the film are based in part on John C. Li ...
'', designed and art directed by Ferren. A 2013 ''
Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...
'' magazine article on Ashton Kutcher referenced a "memorable birthday party" with Ferren and other friends.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferren, Bran American chief executives in the mass media industry Disney executives Disney imagineers American special effects people 1953 births Living people McBurney School alumni Artists from New York City Businesspeople from New York City Academy Award for Technical Achievement winners East Hampton High School alumni