The SIGGRAPH Pioneers group is proud to announce our Featured Speakers for 2023.
For the first time, we will have co-presenters, the two pioneers who literally wrote the book on CGI that launched innumerable careers, James D. Foley and Andries van Dam!
Their 1982 book, Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics (the original “Foley and van Dam”) helped to define for an entire generation what computer graphics was and how it could be taught. Both Jim and Andy will speak in person at the Pioneers Reception in Los Angeles on the evening of August 8, 2023. They will reflect on their careers and the influence of their original book and the two subsequent editions. They are the perfect speakers to help the Pioneers celebrate the 50th anniversary of the conference!
Andries van Dam is the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Professor of Technology and Education, and Professor of Computer Science, at Brown University. He contributed to the first hypertext system in the late 1960s, and co-founded the precursor of today’s ACM SIGGRAPH organization. In 2019, he was awarded the inaugural ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Educator Award. Andy’s research includes work on computer graphics, hypermedia systems, user interfaces including immersive virtual reality pen- and touch-computing, and educational software. He has been working for over four decades on systems for creating and reading electronic books with interactive illustrations for use in teaching and research. The character of Andy in the film Toy Story is named after van Dam.
James D. Foley is Professor Emeritus at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he held the Fleming Chair in the College of Computing. He was Interim Dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing from 2008 to 2010, is an IEEE Fellow, and won both the SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award and the prestigious ACM SIGGRAPH Steven F. Coons award. According to Wikipedia “He is perhaps best known as the co-author of several widely used textbooks in the field of computer graphics, of which over 400,000 copies are in print and translated in ten languages.” He has also held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The George Washington University, and management positions at Mitsubishi Electric Research.
The SIGGRAPH Pioneers is a network of researchers, developers, artists, and educators who have been working in the fields of computer graphics and interactive techniques for at least 20 years. Many members have been in the field since its beginnings more than 50 years ago. The Pioneers hold annual receptions at the SIGGRAPH conference as an informal get-together with old friends, and to hear remarks from a Featured Speaker whose career had a profound influence on the field. Jim and Andy will join a pantheon of recent speakers, including future technologist Ken Perlin, scientific visualization artist Donna Cox, effects wizard Douglas Trumbull, production pioneer Jeff Kleiser, researcher Jim Blinn, co-founder of PIXAR Alvy Ray Smith, and CGI Art pioneer David Em.
-Ed Kramer
Chair, SIGGRAPH Pioneers