On Tuesday July 21, 2026, the Pioneers group of ACM/SIGGRAPH hosted their annual Reception at the LA Convention Center.
A photo-montage of the event can be found at https://youtu.be/uavJ8Ej-h0M
Old friends and colleagues met face-to-face over the traditional buffet of light appetizers and a cash bar. Conversations ranged from recollections of the distant computer graphics past to predictions about technologies of the future – from some of the still-sharpest minds to be found anywhere on the planet. A highlight of the 2-hour traditional gathering was presenting many former Pioneers Featured Speakers with a newly-designed 3D-printed trophy. The trophy was designed and executed by Lou Harrison, with assistance from Ari Blenkhorn and others. It acknowledged their distinguished careers, and recognized the importance of their presentations to the attending Pioneer members of that SIGGRAPH Conference’s year. The trophies were presented by Pioneers Chair Ed Kramer to:
- Turner Whitted (2011)
- David Em (2026, accepted by Catharina E. Santasilia)
- Jim Blinn (2018)
- Jeff Kleiser (2019)
- Ken Perlin (2022)
- Jim Foley (2023)
The Featured Speaker for 2026 was the SIGGRAPH Pioneers’ beloved icon Don Greenberg. His multidisciplinary career in architecture, computer graphics research and education has seeded the computer graphics industry with a steady stream of pioneers for seven decades! At age 92, Don was advised not to fly from his hometown of Ithaca New York, so the SIGGRAPH 2026 conference was hugely helpful in a last-minute transition from a live to a hybrid presentation. Don started with a pre-recorded talk projected on a large screen for attendees. The talk covered both his personal journey and his thoughts about the future. It wove together diverse topics such as using robots to verify architectural integrity, advances in nano-technology, dispersion of heat in a next generation of chipmaking, advances in material science that reduce noise in communication over vast distances, and the need for SIGGRAPH to expand its vision for the future in both biological and ecological directions. It even contained a peek at Don’s work scanning the bones of ancient creatures to reconstruct them through CG animation today.
Following his pre-recorded talk, Don joined the audience live from the audio-visual lab at Cornell University for some Q&A, where many of his former students and colleagues watching live from the conference in Los Angeles offered some truly heartfelt thanks. Because it was a Zoom event, Pioneer members not attending live in LA could also watch from their homes all over the world, and participate in the chat room. The Q&A revealed a genuine warmth and respect for Don from some of the most influential researchers in computer graphics history.
A video of Don’s presentation is on the SIGGRAPH YouTube Channel: