Sean Yamaguchi, USC senior studying mechanical engineering, serves as president of TEA@USC (Photo/Courtesy of Sean Yamaguchi)
Whether an exhilarating roller coaster, illuminating museum, or puzzling escape room, the best immersive experiences leave the user enthralled and present in the moment created around them. However, behind these precious moments lie hours and hours of work that go into bringing these worlds to life.
Sean Yamaguchi, a senior at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, wants to be a part of that.
“I want to work on cutting-edge technology and engineering to create something that looks and feels really cool and can be really interactive,” said Yamaguchi, who is studying mechanical engineering. “I just kind of want to do something fun in my career.”
Entering USC with a strong skill set in engineering as well as a heavy interest in special effects, Yamaguchi soon discovered USC’s themed entertainment minor. It was the perfect match.
“Themed entertainment covers a wide variety of different subject matters,” he said. “From art direction to architecture to, of course, engineering and set design, theater and business.”
Taking classes like “Survey of Themed Entertainment,” where he learned about how amusement parks are designed from two retired Disney Imagineers, Joe Garlington and Larry Gertz, Yamaguchi knew he needed to get more involved. So, in his freshman year, he joined the USC branch of the Themed Entertainment Association, or TEA, a professional group of those in the industry.
That year, one of the club’s guest panels featured the creative team for Marvel’s newly opened Avengers campus; Yamaguchi was hooked. Working his way up from general member to secretary and then professional events director, Yamaguchi is now serving a year-long term as president of TEA@USC, which has about 60 members.
“TEA was a club I made a lot of memories through, and I wanted to be able to pass that on to another generation of students,” he said. “We have a ton of different types of programs. Our main one is a mentorship program called Coffee & TEA, where we match members to mentors within the industry who also have similar interests.”
Attending the California Academy of Mathematics and Science in Carson, California, for high school, Yamaguchi found an early passion for engineering. In his senior year, he helped design a quadcopter that could pick up an underwater submersible vehicle, his first introduction to what he calls the “real engineering design process.”
Not much has changed since he’s gotten to USC. Last year, Yamaguchi served as the Engineering and Technical Director for a themed miniature golf course named “Murder in Wonderland” through USC’s Themed Entertainment BFA. Whether in these opportunities, some of his favorite classes like AME 309, Dynamics of Fluids with Professor Mitul Luhar, or as a part of the USC Makers club, Yamaguchi continues to innovate and explore the industry.
“We built a movement tracker that can analyze a physical person’s dance and create music recommendations,” he said. “I think those are really cool and unique projects that I otherwise would not have seen if I didn’t go to Viterbi.”
Sean and TEA@USC at their mini golf course “Murder in Wonderland” (Photo/Courtesy of Sean Yamaguchi)
Yamaguchi recently was a mechanical intern at Universal Creative, the division of Universal Destinations & Experiences that develops themed attractions, for their ride and show team in Hollywood. He learned a lot.
“It was a lot of just seeing how many moving pieces there are to any project. There’s so many different groups and people and companies and products that need to be transported, moved, kept track of, accounted for throughout the entire process,” he said. “I think I spent a solid nine weeks testing one single product and checking on it pretty much once a week.”
Still, Yamaguchi knows that the tedious nature of his work is worth it.
“Themed entertainment are ways for people to have some fun, let loose, and be immersed in stories and worlds that take you away from some of the really not so fun parts of reality,” he said. “Being a part of that and facilitating that kind of work to allow people to be happy is something that I really want to be able to be a part of.”
As Yamaguchi’s time winds down at USC, he hopes to work on more environmental-based interactives. When asked what he was working on for his themed entertainment senior project to be showcased during the USC Games Expo, he only had one thing to say.
“No spoilers yet.”
Published on November 7th, 2024
Last updated on November 7th, 2024
