Lesley Istead

Lesley Istead is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information Technology, Carleton University (joined 2022). She holds a Bachelor and Masters in Mathematics and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, with industry experience in software development and academic experience in lecturing.

• Research Focus: Computer graphics, stereoscopic 3D, film production pipelines, visual effects, human-computer interaction, machine learning applications
• Labs: Leads the Media Production AI Lab (MPAIL)

Key Research Areas: Visual effects, virtual/augmented reality, animation, big data analytics, film data science, and hybrid conference organization (e.g., Graphics Interface 2022). Her work intersects film production technologies, simulation, and AI-driven media solutions.

Selected Publications: Recent projects include studies on gesture-based 3D modeling (2022), emotional color design in horror VR (2023), and stereoscopic disparity adjustment (2014). She teaches courses like ITEC4007 and ITEC4010.