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Wan-Chun Alex Ma (馬萬鈞)

Google software engineer, born in 1978.

Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Computer Science & Information Engineering, National Taiwan University. Developed “facial appearance capture method” with team from the University of Southern California. Won the Scientific and Technical Achievement Award at the 91st Academy Awards this year.

Alex Ma is forty years of age. He hides a piercing stare beneath his busy eyebrows. Dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, he looks every bit like a bookish graduate student. We compare the years on our diplomas; in an instant, he smilingly acknowledges me as his senior. His face is clear and honest. There is no trace of arrogance or attitude at being recognized as the “pride of Taiwan.”

But the truth is, Ma has every reason to be proud of himself. The “facial appearance capture method” he developed with his team from the University of Southern California (USC) has changed the modern cinematic landscape. Hollywood blockbusters such as Avatar, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Furious 7, and the recent Alita: Battle Angel used his invention.

The 91st Academy Awards recognized their contribution by awarding Ma and his three-person team the Scientific and Technical Achievement Award this year. He is only the second Taiwanese to ever win an Oscar, after legendary director Ang Lee.

Ma’s entire team has been hired by Google’s virtual reality department. The leader of their team is his mentor from USC, Professor Paul Debevec.

Ma got his Bachelor's, Master’s, and PhD from the Department of Computer Science & Information Engineering at the National Taiwan University (NTU). He confesses he was never a brilliant pupil. “But when I wanted to get serious, I got really serious.”

His long years on the NTU campus made him eager to go exploring abroad. In 2005, he applied for the Graduate Student Study Abroad Program (GSSAP) provided by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology, and he enrolled in the Institute for Creative Technologies at USC. As part of Debevec’s team, he studied the art of digitally capturing actors’ performances for a year.

“Whatever comes to mind, just do it, don’t worry if it will succeed,” says Ma.

He never thought too much about what the next step was. There was no catch to applying for the GSSAP, but in any case, his application was accepted. He planned to return after the term was over, but to his surprise, USC wanted him to stay on the team.

It was two years before Ma returned to Taiwan to complete his PhD and mandatory military service. It was another year before he became a postdoctoral researcher and returned to the same lab to continue his work.

Afterwards, he spent time in famous companies such as New Zealand’s Weta Digital, which worked on The Lord of the Rings; Activision Blizzard, famous for World of Warcraft; and then Google. His globetrotting days had begun.

Ma never had to chase a job. Teachers and friends were always happy to make recommendations. “All I think about is completing the research,” he says. As for real-world problems, he doesn’t fret until he absolutely must. Most of the time, by the time he had to deal with anything, someone else already took care of it for him.

During our conversation, Ma frequently refers to himself as “naive.” He says his philosophy is simple. First, be optimistic! Second: “Man proposes, God disposes.” And because he is so optimistic, all that’s important to him is the first part: “man proposes.” “God disposes” is something that’s out of his control, so he doesn’t concern himself with it.

Global recognition is no mean feat. But in Alex Ma’s steely, determined eyes, the secret to success always seemed so simple. It was never anything more than unwavering focus coupled with the motivational mindset that there was “nothing to lose.” These two factors were the reason he always came out on top, no matter the obstacle, no matter the complication.

Q1: How did your PhD contribute to your career? Especially in Taiwan, where the number of students studying for a PhD is steadily decreasing?

The most important task of a student is to explore. Students enjoy a sort of freedom that’s nonexistent in the corporate world. I studied for a PhD as a kind of delay tactic, because although I knew I wanted to go into visual effects, there was a dearth of suitable companies in Taiwan. I used my time as a student to meet more people from the industry, to learn from those who went before me, and to wait for an opportunity.

In fact, the year I graduated college, four classmates and myself joined a competition held by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). We won second place. When HTC founder H.T. Cho (卓火土) heard the news, he personally invited the five of us to visit his newly-completed office in Taoyuan and offered us a job on the spot.

We were not so smart as Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. We were good students who felt we had an obligation to finish school. Now I think, had I signed up with HTC, wouldn’t I already be retired now? (Laughs.)

As a child, I loved playing video games and watching movies. I found them fascinating, but I did not know how they were created. It wasn’t until my junior or senior year that I began to comprehend the principle behind the effects. But when I became a PhD student, I had to seriously think about making a career out of my hobby, and I had to delve deeper into the magic.

I chose “digital actors” to be my field of expertise. Whether it was publishing my dissertation, meeting other experts from around the world, or attending seminars to learn the latest demand and trend, none of this took only a day, or even a year. It was a cumulative process. And organically, it grew into my career.

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Q2: Your first “real” job was the direct result of the Graduate Student Study Abroad Program sending you to a research institute at the USC. Was it difficult to adapt to working with the sharpest minds on the globe?

Of course. The first stumbling block was language. I understood only half of what my boss said. Another colleague had a thick indiscernible Southern accent. I had no television where I lived, so every evening I’d spend an hour or two at the local gym, watching American talk shows. I found the programs funny, and they improved my English.

I wasn’t given any important research to do during my first year. But once, the lab wanted to make a wide-screen, three-dimensional theater. However, the projector was malfunctioning, and the expert they hired couldn’t fix it. Colleagues said to me, “The principle is straightforward enough, would you like to try?” So, I wrote the program and had the thing fixed within a week. This proved to everyone that “this person could be depended upon.” (Laughs.)

When the GSSAP was coming to an end, my lab was working on facial recognition software. It just so happened that there was a shortage of manpower, and they asked if I wanted to stay. I said, sure, but I would need financial aid. The lab said, no problem, they already had it figured out. And thus, I became an official, full-fledged member.

I never worried about where I’d find work. My motto is, just keep doing what you should be doing. If you do it well, and you do it so well that no one could criticize you, then naturally someone would open their doors to invite you in.

It did not bother me that there weren’t any opportunities in Taiwan. All I had to do was step outside my comfort zone, there were a lot of chances out there in great wide world.

Q3: The Taiwanese are often quieter, more passive, so they don’t fare well competing in the global job market. But you seem very bold, ready to strike first. Why is that?

I’ve been chewed out before, of course. (Laughs.)

I often joke that when Taiwanese students studying abroad are asked a question, if they know the answer, they’ll say, “Yes, I know.” But if they don’t know the answer, they’ll still nod and make “uh-huh” sounds.

But from the teacher’s perspective, if you don’t say “I don’t know,” they will assume you know what they’re talking about. I’ve tried to get through conversations just saying “uh-huh.” The further the conversation went along, the more obvious it became that I hadn’t a clue, and it caused a lot of trouble.

I learned the hard way that it was okay to say, “I don’t know.” If you don’t know, then you don’t know, why pretend you are in the know?

Western society places great emphasis on communication. No one would look down on you for not knowing what may seem like a simple question. Ask questions, always ask questions, and through dialogue you will come to achieve greater understanding.

Q4: Besides technical expertise, digital effects are also about observation and a sense of aesthetics. How did you cultivate these skills?

This all had to do with my boss at USC, Professor Paul Debevec. He was all about aesthetics. I even think he may be better at cameras, cinematography, and cinema than he is at writing computer programs.

I learned a lot about cinematography and aesthetics in cinema from him. For example, before we scanned a person’s face, we had to photograph it. Debevec would insist that the framing of the shot was clean and neat, not a whiff off-kilter, even though it had no impact on the computer’s algorithms.

The principle was simple. A beautiful photograph would translate to beautiful effects. He demanded that we showed audiences the most perfect side of everything. This had nothing to do research, it was a lesson in “presentation,” because a film is all about presentation.

Taiwanese teachers are often good at the technical aspects, and they are good educators, but they lack this type of interdisciplinary training. I was very lucky to meet such a mentor.

As for observation, you know the Chinese saying: “A long illness turns a patient into a good doctor.” (Laughs.) I’ve touched up the scans of three, maybe four hundred faces. It wasn’t all for scholarly research, it was extra work, a “service” we provided for the audience.

Lots of people dislike this sort of work, they feel it has nothing to do with research. But I felt it was okay. I liked looking at the faces of actors and celebrities, and “interacting” with them. (Laughs.) I gradually learned more about how facial expressions worked by studying their facial structures.

Q5: Do you have any advice for readers who are inspired by your story?

Define your target. It doesn’t have to ambitious, just inch forward step by step. Look for solutions to your problems, and then execute. Something will come out of it. It may be good or bad, but you can define a new target based on the result. Repeat this process and you will begin to meet people. You will find that you can do more than you imagined, and your target will begin to expand.

I learned something very important working in the west, it’s called “managing your emotions.” When I’m under a lot of stress, I’ll think about the source of my stress. It’s often due to conflict between what I had to do and how much time I had to do it. I was worried I could not finish my work on time.

Therefore, I’ll think about it this way: first of all, can I really do all of this? If the answer is no, I’ll just admit I’m overloaded. If I realize I can do everything, I will carefully arrange my schedule, it helps to alleviate the stress.

Ability declines when a person is scared. This is a psychological barrier, not a lack of ability. You just need to spend 5% of all your time to analyze your situation, then spend the rest of your time following your plan. Plan well, and you’ll never panic.

Translated by Jack C.

Edited by Sharon Tseng