Newton Lee

Education

Lee holds a B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Virginia Tech, and an electrical engineering degree and honorary doctorate from Vincennes University. He was the founding president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association.

Career

Lee is adjunct professor of Media Technology at Woodbury University School of Media, Culture & Design. Previously, he was senior producer and lead engineer at The Walt Disney Company, research scientist at VTLS where he created the world's first annotated multimedia OPAC for the U.S. National Agricultural Library, computer science and artificial intelligence researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he created Bell Labs' first-ever commercial AI tool, and research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses conducting military-standard Ada research for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Magazine

Lee is the founding editor-in-chief of the nonprofit ACM Computers in Entertainment magazine published by the Association for Computing Machinery for which he has interviewed Who's Who including Roy E. Disney, Quincy Jones, and George Lucas.

Books

Lee is an author known for his total information awareness book series:

1. Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness is touted by Adweek as "a great book for social media experts, offering a comprehensive look at Facebook in the context of social media, and covering privacy well."
2. Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness is praised by Brad Reid and Alessandro Berni at ACM Computing Reviews that the book is "a timely, informative, and interesting discussion of cybersecurity and cyberterrorism" and it is "very rich, accurate, and well-documented."
3. Google It: Total Information Awareness is applauded by Dr. Laura Wilhelm for The Hollywood Times that "Newton Lee's thorough and thoughtful analysis should please pacifists in search of lasting solutions to the planet's biggest problems."

Lee is also editor and curator of SpringerBriefs in Computer Science, Springer International Series on Computer Entertainment and Media Technology, and Springer Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games.

His academic books include:

1. Google It: Total Information Awareness (2016), ISBN 978-1-4939-6413-0
2. Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness, 2nd Edition (2015), ISBN 978-3-319-17243-9
3. Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness, 2nd Edition (2014), ISBN 978-1-4939-1739-6
4. Digital Da Vinci: Computers in the Arts and Sciences (2014), ISBN 978-1-4939-0964-3
5. Digital Da Vinci: Computers in Music (2014), ISBN 978-1-4939-0535-5
6. Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness (2013), ISBN 978-1-4614-7204-9
7. Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness (2013), ISBN 978-1-4614-5307-9
8. Disney Stories: Getting to Digital (2012), ISBN 978-1-4614-2100-9

Movies and Games

Lee was credited as a software engineer for Disney's Animated Storybooks (1994 Video Game) and Pocahontas (1996 Video Game).

He was also credited for web design and game development for the 2015 documentary film Finding Noah: The Search for Noah's Ark.

Music

Lee has executive produced dance-pop songs that have charted on U.S. Billboard, U.K. Music Week, and U.S. iTunes HOT 100 (Electronic) as well as appeared on American Idol and Lifetime original movie Cheyenne.

In 2016, he curated and released the Google It (Soundtrack) music album consisting of Roger Hodgson's The Logical Song, Princess X's Free, and six cover songs from the Beatles, the Eagles, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and Zager and Evans.

Politics

Lee is an Education and Media Advisor for the United States Transhumanist Party. Previously he was a campaign advisor to Zoltan Istvan for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Philanthropy

Lee is the founding president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships (IFERS) acknowledged by Alan Kay and Quincy Jones at the American Film Institute on November 4, 2006 during the ACM Computers in Entertainment awards ceremony as well as by Senator Richard D. Roth of the California State Senate on March 14, 2016 in support of Type 1 diabetes awareness and research.

Advisory Boards

Lee has served on the advisory boards at Virginia Tech, University of Southern California, Murdoch University, Digital Hollywood, and the High School Music Company.