Maryann Simmons is a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Walt Disney Animation Studios where she has developed software tools for artists since 2004. She received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Computer Science with a focus in Computer Graphics. In 2021, Maryann and her colleagues received an Academy SciTech Award for the studio’s Hair Simulation System. Maryann is active in the Computer Graphics research and production community as a reviewer and committee member. She enjoys using outreach to expose a wide audience of all ages to opportunities in Animation, Computer Graphics, and Software Engineering.