James Parente received his MFA in Computer Art from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. He has worked as a visual effects artist on both live action & animated features including Ice Age – The Meltdown, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II, and Hotel Transylvania for companies like Blue Sky Studios, Rising Sun Pictures and Sony Imageworks. Prior to joining the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, James taught at Villanova University and the University of North Dakota.