This proposal supports student involvement and attendance at the 2010 ACM Siggraph Conference. This is the premier computer graphics conference in the world, attracting over 15,000 attendees and filling over 100,000 feet of exhibition space. The annual film show is a venue for viewing the latest advances in animation and visualization. Although many attendees come for the exhibition, the Siggraph Conference has long been the premier place to publish technical papers in computer graphics. The Siggraph Pioneers (20+ years of work in the field) started a mentoring program in 2003 to add more students to the technology pipeline. While small in number, the impact has been high as the students do not merely attend the conference, but rather are mentored by longstanding members of the community. Because each Pioneer is assigned no more than two students, the Pioneer guides the students to talks, courses, etc. that were not immediately on the student?s radar.
The intellectual merit and broader impact of the proposed activity lies in the educational opportunities provided the student by the mentoring process. The program also focuses on underrepresented groups (e.g., women, Hispanics, and African-American) who would have no opportunity to hear about Siggraph, let alone attend, without the mentoring program. The students are exposed to the latest research and hardware covering the use of computer graphics for numerous topics that benefit society ranging from engineering design to entertainment. Sample student reactions can be found at http://pioneers.siggraph.org/student_letters.html
The 2010 SIGGRAPH Pioneers Mentoring program has been successful on a number of different levels. Students were encouraged to technical fields based on SIGGRAPH attendance through their active partipation at the conference under the watchful eyes of a computer graphics pioneer mentor. A number of students from the 2010 program and previous programs now attend academic programs based on meeting individual professors at the conference or identified programs that fit their special interests. Some have become SIGGRAPH volunteers as college students. Even more gratifying has been that most of the students have been awakened to technology they may never have seen. They have documented their impressions in a series of letters posted on www.siggraph.org/programs/pioneers/. The Mentors have been essential in making the right introductions to both graphics people and graphics technology. The student impressions alone from spending a week at SIGGRAPH have been worth the cost of the program to date. The program involved contributions from teachers and professionals in the Los Angeles area who identified students to attend the conference. The students included some from underrepresented populations, some not on a science and technology career track, and some from outside Los Angeles. The SIGGRAPH organization contributed conference registration fees. The SIGGRAPH Pioneers provided a pool of mentors who coached and taught the students on the best ways to attend the conference on a highly individualized basis. Given the student impressions, the program continues to help steer students to careers in science and technology.
