We often don’t think about all the ways software can be used to create art, yet there are examples almost everywhere you look. From graphic design to interactive art installations to artificial intelligence, the overlap and the potential is huge! Drawing inspiration from real world creations, Lilli Szafranski will walk you through several examples that illustrate the myriad ways that art and engineering can come together to create beautiful things.

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Lilli Szafranski is a software engineer and an artist. She currently works as a Senior Software Engineer (and advocate for education) at Khan Academy. Creating things from a very young age, she has experience across several artistic disciplines. She taught painting in high school, and in the years following she has built several art installations. Her art has previously been shown at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Burning Man, the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Portland Winter Light Festival, Oregon Country Fair, and many other venues and events around Oregon and California. Lilli Szafranski’s goal is to inspire more women to pursue careers in STEM. She wants to break down the negative stereotypes that software engineers are anti-social, nerdy men, and show people that technology can be extremely exciting and fun and a wonderful outlet for creativity. She wants to reshape how we see success in software engineering and demonstrate that a successful software engineer can be anyone, look like anything, and do everything.