Mechanical puppet wins New College alum an Oscar

Students studying at New College of Florida can now look up to a New College alumnus who has taken home Hollywood’s biggest prize.

Steven Rosenbluth, a 1991 graduate of New College of Florida, won an Academy Award for developing a visual effects system known as the “Overdrive Motion Management.” He was awarded the Oscar on Feb. 11 at the 89th Scientific and Technical Awards.

His device controls robotic puppets and environments in real time, and it is likely most of the students studying at New College have seen at least one of the films that utilized his brainchild. Rosenbluth’s device has been used in “Star Wars: Rogue One,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Life of Pi,” “Pacific Rim,” “Passengers,” “Suicide Squad,” and “Alien: Resurrection.”

Rosenbluth built a beta version of his award-winning device while a student at New College as part of his senior thesis project. That project sparked the creative energy that has fueled his career.

“The thing that has always been most rewarding to me is the thrill you get when you first turn something on — and it works. The first taste I got of that was during my thesis project at New College, late one night in the science building,” Rosenbluth said. “I’ve been pursuing those ‘It’s alive!’ moments ever since, and I’ve been lucky enough to get myself into a position to do so time and time again as a career.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Mechanical puppet wins New College alum an Oscar."