This funding supports student involvement and attendance at the 2013 ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. SIGGRAPH is the premier computer graphics conference in the world, attracting over 15,000 attendees and filling over 100,000 feet of exhibition space. Although many attendees come for the exhibition and advanced technology demonstrations, the SIGGRAPH Conference has long been the premier place to publish technical papers in computer graphics. The papers are published as a special issue of the ACM Transactions on 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 students radar. The Pioneer mentors perform this service without compensation.
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 simulation and entertainment. Written student feedback has, in the past, been extremely favorable.
We had 15 students from local area schools participate in the program. All attended each day pf the conference, paired with a volunteer mentor from industry or academia. Each student was required to submit a report on their expereinces. Including their total will exceed the limits allowed, so I will include a portion of their total responses below. The complete reports acan be viewed at: www.siggraph.org/connect/spend-week-siggraph --------------------- Upon initially arriving at the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday morning, I was in awe at the number of people present. People of all different ethnicities and ages made the crowd colorful with diversity. No two people were the same, with the exception of the lime green lanyard around their necks. Everyone was bound together as a community by them -- A community of artists, programmers, innovators, and much more. Left brain and right brain was the theme of this gathering. Inspiration, wonder, creativity meeting order, balance, and technicalities. Two halves coming together in harmony to create a bigger picture, SIGGRAPH. Being an artist myself, I was immediately struck with a sense of belonging. It was like a natural habitat, and once I got that hi-lite green lanyard that was slightly offending to the eyes, I was in. Like my other pioneers, I had full access to the conference. Anything that happened to pique my interest, I could be a part of! As a result, I got to sit in on various talks, courses, technical papers, making of, etc. Admittedly, most of the technical stuff went right over my head, but no matter what I was sitting in on, the visuals were striking. Seeing the original idea, then the time and effort going into making said idea into a piece of digital art was fascinating. Moreover, it made me want to be a part of the process. I also realized that I was interested in more than just concept work. Visual effects, lighting, storyboarding, and screen play were also topics that I found interesting. Although the lectures and behind the scenes shows were interesting, what grabbed my attention the most was the exhibits. Several booths lined the massive halls, all showcasing their own up and coming technology. I was able to step into virtual reality with Canon’s 3D reality glasses. My thumbprint was scanned and played as an audio file. Next door they had hands-on activities with programs and techniques used already in the professional environment. This was perfect for high-school students (myself included) who might not have such tools available to them. For example, you could create games with Unity, or make digital sculptures with zBrush and then print them with a 3D printer. I even got a digital 3D model of myself scanned and printed. Although I was only to meet my mentor a couple days out of the week due to her busy schedule, she was able to offer me some very valuable information. We met for about 45 minutes each time, and she enlightened me on several different topics. We conversed about what I wanted to do professionally, colleges, companies, and my opinion on the conference. It was refreshing to be able to talk to someone in the digital arts field, after simply listening to several while in their lectures. We got along very well, and have agreed to keep in touch. Not only did I make a friend, I also was able to market myself to her.
