Celebrating Women's History Month | Trina Roy, Beta Pi-Willamette
By Archivist/Historian Diane Hall, Eta Upsilon-Drexel
During Women's History Month, we celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of extraordinary women who have left a lasting impact on society. Among these barrier-breakers are the Notable Delta Gammas, who have advanced our mission of doing good and left lasting legacies in various fields, from business and politics to arts and philanthropy. This month serves as a reminder to honor their achievements, inspire future generations, and reflect on the collective power of women who continue to shape our world.
Have you seen any of these movies: Shrek (2001), Madagascar (2005), King Kong (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), Incredibles 2 (2018), Toy Story 4 (2019) or Soul (2020)? If you have, then you have seen the work of Trina Roy, Beta Pi-Willamette. She is currently the Senior RenderMan Engineer for Pixar Animation Studios. What is RenderMan? It is, “a photorealistic 3D rendering software produced by Pixar Animation Studios.” This technology has been an integral part of Pixar’s production for three decades.
Trina's passion for computer graphics started early in life. In high school, her hobby was creating homemade music videos. She earned a bachelor of science in computer science from Willamette University in 1988 and then attended the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she earned a master of science in electronic visualization. While attending UIC, she worked as a research assistant in the university’s internationally recognized interdisciplinary Electric Visualization Laboratory (EVL). While there, she collaborated with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). After graduation, Trina worked for Silicon Graphics, Inc., PDI/DreamWorks, Weta Digital, and Double Negative Visual Effects, and finally, she joined Pixar in 2013. You can learn more about all the films she has worked on her IMDb page.
Trina has also been heavily involved in reaching out and inspiring young women to join the STEM field by participating in various conferences and talks. In 2015, she spoke on a panel for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (the world’s largest technical conference for women), at GeekGirlCon in 2016, she was part of a five-member panel called “The Women of Pixar” and in 2018 she participated in SIGGRAPH (an annual conference focused on computer graphics). She was also the program co-chair of the Digital Production Symposium in 2019 and 2020.
Is there a Delta Gamma you think should be included on our Notable Delta Gamma’s list? Submit their name for consideration by filling out this form.