From SoVaNow.com - Inventor Ryan Rusnak visited the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) on Friday, Feb. 25 to speak to Halifax County High School dual enrollment students in Digital Art & Design, Product Design & Development, and Hi-Performance Technology classes.

Rusnak has made a name for himself in the world of physical computing with his invention of the beverage cannon. The cannon is a converted mini-fridge that will launch the beverage of your choice with the touch of an iPhone app button.

During the lecture, “What’s in your toolbox,” Rusnak encouraged students to gain a broad set of skills and to seek out different experiences. Rusnak is an example of what he preaches. He attended Virginia Tech as a psychology and biology major, and is currently working for an accounting firm in Northern Virginia. “I did some construction in high school and I know some limited programming. I’m interested in design and engineering, and physical computing ties a lot of that together. I couldn’t have made the beverage cannon without have a broad set of skills,” Rusnak said.

Physical computing involves connecting the physical world with the digital world and is an increasingly large part of our lives. From car thermostat controls to mini blinds that open and close according to sunlight, physical computing is all around us.

“A lot of people think the Digital Art & Design program is just a graphic design program, but it’s not. It has design at its core but you have to think about the future of digital art for building interfaces for things like the iPad or websites and making all of these devices talk to each other. That’s the nice thing about physical computing,” said Ben Capozzi, curriculum coordinator for the Business of Art & Design program offered in partnership with Danville Community College.  Read the rest of the article on SoVaNow.com.