ETC Celebrates The Class of 2026

On Friday, May 8, Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) proudly celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2026 in front of friends, family, and members of the ETC community. With excitement, gratitude, and no shortage of applause, we recognized a cohort of creative technologists ready to shape the future of entertainment technology.

Recognizing Alumni Excellence

Every year, the ETC honors a graduate of the program with the alumni award, given to an alumnus who — both in their time as a student here and in the career they’ve built since then — exemplifies leadership and innovation in entertainment technology. The winner is recognized at the diploma ceremony and addresses the graduating class, giving the charge to the new ETC alumni.

The 2026 Alumni Award winner was 2007 graduate Bei Yang. Yang is currently the Director of Engineering for GenAI Asset Systems at Meta. Prior to Meta, he spent 15 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, starting as Associate Creative Designer and eventually becoming Vice President of Technology Studio. During his Imagineering tenure, he directly contributed to or led technology teams that built Carsland, Shanghai Disneyland, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

Recognizing Student Excellence

Each year, the ETC community celebrates three graduating students whose work and spirit have left a lasting mark on our program. The recipients are chosen by the faculty, who keep the winners a secret until they receive the award at the ceremony. This year, the students being honored were:

Moe Aguilar, Anne Humphreys Award

The Anne Humphreys Memorial Award is given in honor of late ETC faculty member Anne Humphreys. In recognition of Anne’s indomitable character, the award is given to a student who focused on community building projects during their time at the ETC and who is committed to making the world a better place.

Moe came to the ETC from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, where they studied Animation and Digital Arts. Moe worked on a variety of projects during his time here, including an award-winning transformational game addressing freedom of speech through the dating sim genre and a mixed reality escape room experience celebrating the anniversary of the Billy Jo Jive franchise; he also was a teaching assistant for Visual Story and Level Design courses.

Junjing Ruan, Tornado Award

The Tornado Award is given in honor of ETC Co-founder Don Marinelli. The award is given in recognition to the student who goes up against the status quo, the existing parameters and limitations of the entertainment technology industry and makes an impact.

Junjing came to the ETC from Shanghai, where she pursued an undergraduate degree in Communication. Primarily working as a character artist and illustrator, Junjing lent her skills to the award-winning freedom of speech dating sim “Speak Your Heart” and the multi-player extended reality racing game “270° Fun;” she also worked as a TA for Improvisation Acting and as a designer for the Global Game Jam.

Ming-Fen Chung, Randy Pausch Award

The Pausch Award is inspired by and in honor of ETC co-founder Randy Pausch is awarded to the ETC graduate who best epitomizes interdisciplinary leadership through artistic, technical and interpersonal initiative growth and excellence.

Ming-Fen came to the ETC from Taiwan after graduating with bachelors and masters degrees in computer science and information engineering from National Cheng Kung University. Ming-Fen worked on a variety of projects, including an R&D exploration of VR and haptics showcased at Laval Virtual and a VR puzzle game that incorporated the user’s respiratory biofeedback; she also worked as TA for both Building Virtual Worlds and National High School Games Academy.