The cutting edge technology used to create the special effects in such movies as “The Matrix” and “Mortal Kombat” will be discussed today by a man who helped create some of the movie magic himself.Kicking off the National Engineers’ Week celebration, Lewis Siegel, software engineer with Walt Disney’s visual effects unit, The Secret Lab (TSL), will give a presentation titled “Visual Effects: The Role of Engineers in Hollywood.” The two presentations begin at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. today in Howe Hall’s Lee Liu Auditorium. A reception will follow each and door prizes will be awarded.”The presentations will be both informative and entertaining,” said Pam Reinig, program director of engineering communications and marketing. “[Siegel] will give students a look at a role of engineering we don’t often think about.”Siegel said his presentation will cover both the artistic process in creating special effects and some of the technical side of engineering software capable of creating those effects.Highlights of the presentation will include clips demonstrating the final product of some of his work and “how-to” material from “Mission to Mars,” and a discussion on his professional work on “The Matrix,” he said.Siegel said he will also talk about some of his most recent projects from Disney’s TSL.”I’ll explain what it’s like to work in the Hollywood visual effects industry,” he said.The presentation will not be heavily technical, Siegel said, but he said he will go into some detail about the technological side of things.Reinig said the lecture is being funded by the Government of the Student Body through the ISU Committee on Lectures. The College of Engineering and the College of Design have also added their support to sponsor the event.Siegel, 34, said he was born and raised in Los Angeles. After graduation, he traveled to San Francisco State University to study computer science, and then went to the University of Illinois-Chicago where he earned his master’s in computer science from the school’s Electronic Visualization Lab. He worked for IBM in New York from 1992 to 1994 as a research assistant to Benoit Mandelbrot, a renowned researcher in fractal geometry, Siegel said. Mandelbrot’s research focused on fractal geometry’s impact on the development of computer graphics. In 1996, he received a master’s in the fine arts, in film, at University of Southern California. He now works for Disney in California.