Vizzers thank DreamWorks’ Friedman for her support

Tim McLaughlin presented Marilyn Friedman with a memory book.

Some of the most memorable characters in animated movie history such as Shrek and Po the Panda have been created at [DreamWorks Animation] (http://www.dreamworksanimation.com) , which employs approximately 35 former Texas A&M [visualization] (http://viz.arch.tamu.edu) students.

All of these Aggie animators share at least one additional thing in common — assistance in getting hired at DreamWorks from Marilyn Friedman, who began as a recruiter at the studio and eventually headed the company’s educational outreach initiatives while maintaining a close relationship with Texas A&M’s visualization program all along the way.

Friedman was also instrumental in planning and executing DreamWorks’ [participation] (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=254561564&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=BaRx&locale=en_US&srchid=610359751384197711726&srchindex=1&srchtotal=31&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A610359751384197711726%2CVSRPtargetId%3A254561564%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary) in the department’s summer industry course, in which graduate students create short, animated videos with the same production pipeline DreamWorks uses.

Tim McLaughlin, head of the Department of Visualization, and Viz students at SIGGRAPH, a July 2013 computer animation conference in Anaheim, Calif., presented the retiring Friedman with a pair of cowboy boots and a memory book of her efforts with Texas A&M’s visualization program.

posted November 19, 2013