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The ACM SIGGRAPH Nominations Committee is pleased to introduce the candidates for the 2026 ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee election.  This year, there are 6 candidates running for three open positions for Director at Large. These candidates impressed us with both their bold visions and their practical ideas.

Sheldon Andrews is an Associate Professor at the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal and an Adjunct Professor at McGill University. He leads a research group focused on physics-based simulation, 3D character animation, and motion capture. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from McGill University in 2015, and his professional background includes research roles at Disney Research and Roblox, which have influenced his interest in applying academic research to industry-scale problems. Sheldon joined the SIGGRAPH community in 2009. His commitment to the SIGGRAPH organization is defined by his leadership within its specialized communities. Notably, he has served as General Chair for I3D (2019) and Papers Chair for I3D (2020), MIG (2024), and SCA (2025). He also served as Secretary for the Montreal ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter, helping to rebuild the chapter into a thriving and active group.

Derek Ham is the Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his Ph.D. in Design and Computation from MIT and a Masters of Architecture from Harvard. Previously, Derek  was a Professor and Department Head of Media Arts, Design and Technology at NC State University’s College of Design. His work focuses on immersive storytelling and VR, notably the award-winning “I Am A Man” VR experience. Derek has received honors such as  the Nashville Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for VR and the Cleveland International Film Festival Award for Immersive Storytelling. He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Derek served as the Chair of the SIGGRAPH Immersive Pavilion in both 2022 and 2024.

Brad A. Lawrence currently serves as the Imagery Engineering Lead at the Kennedy Space Center. His extensive career began in the US Navy specializing in Cryptology, followed by engineering duties for ITT and Texas Instruments before he joined the Space Shuttle team in 1985. brad eventually managed critical facilities, including the Image Analysis Facility, Motion Capture Studio, and Advanced Visualization Studio. He is presently leading the team assigned to design and implement next-generation camera systems for NASA’s Artemis II mission and commercial launch providers. brad has received the prestigious Silver Snoopy Award and three NASA Director awards. He is a dedicated SIGGRAPH volunteer, having served as ACM SIGGRAPH Treasurer for seven years and in leadership roles such as EC Media Chair. Brad has also served on the ACM SIG Governing board for the last 5 years.

Victoria E. Szabo is a Research Professor of Visual and Media Studies at Duke University. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester. At Duke, she directs the Information Science + Studies program and co-directs the Duke Game Lab. She also directs the Computational Media, Arts & Cultures Ph.D. program. Her research specializes in digital humanities, augmented reality, and virtual cities, featuring projects like “Visualizing Lovecraft’s Providence” and the “Virtual Black Charlotte Project”. She has secured numerous grants from the Mellon and Getty Foundations to advance spatial networks and digital art history. Victoria is currently  the chair of the  SIGGRAPH Art Advisory Group . She has also chaired the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community (2016–2022), Art Papers Chair for SIGGRAPH 2014 and 2025, SIGGRAPH Asia Art Papers (2023), as well as other roles.

Wenping Wang is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University and previously served as a Chair Professor at the University of Hong Kong. Holding a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, his research expertise encompasses computer graphics, computer vision, and geometric modeling. Wenping is a prolific scholar with over 400 published works and a Google Scholar h-index of 80. He is a fellow of both the ACM and IEEE. His contributions have been recognized with the Pierre Bézier Award (2023) and the John A. Gregory Memorial Award (2017), the highest honors in geometric modeling and design. Wenping’s leadership includes founding the Asian Graphics Association and chairing numerous international conferences, including SIGGRAPH Asia 2013.

Ruth West is a Professor and Director of the xREZ Art + Science Lab at the University of North Texas, with cross-appointments across art, engineering, and information. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Westminster and an MFA from UCLA. Ruth’s  interdisciplinary background is unique, spanning clinical psychology, medical genetics research and biomedical laboratory management at Cedars Sinai with immersive technologies, and big data visualization and sonification. Her current work focuses on art-science research and collaboration; specifically immersive VR environments created from scientific data. Notable projects include “ATLAS in silico” and “INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night,” which translates massive scientific datasets into sensorial experiences. Ruth serves on the International Advisory Board for the Swiss Center for Design and Health, she has been nominated for a Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship and has served as Chair of the Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF). Ruth served as the Courses chair for SIGGRAPH 2024, Art Papers Chair for SIGGRAPH 2017 and is a long-time member of the Digital Arts Committee.

This year’s election begins on June 23rd and runs through August 11th.

The Nominations Committee was inspired by all of the nominees that we interviewed. We are fortunate that our organization has so many volunteers who show strong commitment to our organization. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to talk to us.

I would like to thank the members of this year’s committee (Surapong Lertsithichai, Saskia Groenewegen, Silvia Sellán, Tao Ju, and Richard Chuang) for their service to our community and  Jade Morris and Monique Chang at ACM for their support in preparing for this year’s election.  

Deadline: June 1, 2026

The Chair of the Art Advisory Group leads the SIGGRAPH Art Advisory Group, a body established by the Executive Committee of SIGGRAPH in 2018. The AAG has been established to ensure that Art Gallery and Art Papers continue to be valued SIGGRAPH programs that serve the artist community and beyond. This group will also provide counsel to the Conference Advisory Group (CAG) and SIGGRAPH Asia Conference Advisory Group (SACAG), as needed, on multi-year, cross-conference issues that affect the Art Gallery and Papers community. The AAG membership consists of Ex-Officio members (past/current/future/ Art Chairs + current the Digital Arts Community Chair) and Executive members appointed by the Chair.

The AAG Chair convenes the Art Advisory Group members in person at the annual SIGGRAPH Conference, and online as needed. This includes periodic engagements with the DAC committee and with the Conference Chairs of SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia as they develop their programs. In this capacity the Chair:

• solicits feedback and suggestions on Art programs and initiatives from committee members
• transmits collective wisdom around best practices and suggestions for program activities
• facilitates communication across programs and program leads year-over-year
• promotes collaboration between Conference and year-round Standing Committee activities
• elicits suggestions for future program leadership and juries

The Chair also serves as a liaison between the Art program communities and the CAG/SACAG and the SIGGRAPH EC. In this capacity the Chair:

• advocates for SIGGRAPH Art community initiatives, including program support at the SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia Conferences
• Facilitates publications agreements and processes, currently with PACMCGIT for SIGGRAPH Art Papers and the ACM Digital Library for Art Gallery proceedings
• Researches and facilitates extra-institutional collaborations with partner and related organizations, such as ISEA, Leonardo, and Ars Electronica
• Reports annually to the Executive Committee on AAG activities

The Chair of the Art Advisory Group serves a three year term, plus one year as Past Chair, if applicable. An individual may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms as AAG Chair.

CHARTER: SIGGRAPH ARTS ADVISORY GROUP (AAG)

Mission:
The AAG has been established to ensure that Art Gallery and Art Papers continue to be valued SIGGRAPH programs that serve the artist community and beyond. This group will also provide counsel to the Conference Advisory Group (CAG) and SIGGRAPH Asia Conference Advisory Group (SACAG), as needed, on multi-year, cross-conference issues that affect the Art Gallery and Papers community.

1. Budget
   The AAG has no budget. If the AAG ever needs money, the AAG chair would ask for it from CAG/EC president’s budget or as a special CAG/EC allocation.
2. Authority
   The AAG is a purely advisory body and has no explicit authority.
3. Meetings
   The AAG communicates primarily electronically, with occasional in-person meetings as needed, usually at a conference or Art Jury meetings.
4. Recognition
   AAG members will receive recognition of their contributions on the SIGGRAPH web site. There is no compensation or free conference registration for members of the AAG. SIGGRAPH will not provide fi nancial coverage for AAG members to attend the conference.
5. Membership
   Members of the AAG with have their contribution recognized on the SIGGRAPH web site but there will be no conference registration provided. The types of members and their terms are:

Applications Open: 24 March, 2026
Applications Close: 22 April, 2026
Acceptances: 9 May 2026

ACM SIGGRAPH offers support, through a competitive selection and review process to new and existing members of the SIGGRAPH community whose potential career impact is recognized as extraordinary and who can demonstrate financial need to attend SIGGRAPH 2026 in Los Angeles. We most importantly intend to simultaneously highlight SIGGRAPH’s abiding recognition of the value that diversity from historically underrepresented groups brings to visual computing domains and its importance to their vibrancy and future positive impact on our communities and society. A similar call for grant applications for SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 will open May 1, 2026. 

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

1. Grant recipients must have an active ACM SIGGRAPH membership (Standard Member or Student Member) at the time funds are disbursed. Membership is not required to apply.

2. Grantees are eligible to receive no more than one grant total from this program, across all funding cycles and years.

3. Budget requests and reimbursement are subject to the ACM SIGGRAPH travel policies.

4. Nominees from universities, NGOs, industry, and governmental organizations, including students, early career, industry, and academic professionals in visual computing, will be considered and are encouraged to apply for travel grant support.

HOW IT WORKS:

Submit here by 22 April 2026 before 11:59 PM EST USA.

**Please also include 2 letters of recommendation (500-word limit) each due with application materials to be emailed to urt@siggraph.org 

REVIEW PROCESS:

A selection committee of current ACM SIGGRAPH members will review all the nominations.

GRANTEES:

All grantees will be selected by 9 May 2026, and invited to attend SIGGRAPH 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Grantees will receive a Full Conference Pass and financial support reimbursing the documented cost of SIGGRAPH 2026 attendance.

PUBLICITY: 

Any information supplied for the application must not be confidential and can be used for publicity purposes by ACM SIGGRAPH. Awardees permit ACM SIGGRAPH to use representative images of their work, member profiles, stories, subsequent activities in connection with the ACM SIGGRAPH community and organization, etc. for use in ACM SIGGRAPH publications, at conferences sponsored by ACM and/or ACM SIGGRAPH, or other publicity purposes.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: 

ACM’s conflict-of-interest (COI) guidelines apply to all award nominations. The ACM SIGGRAPH Award Chair of the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring the COI guidelines are followed and resolving any issues that cannot be resolved by the respective Award Committee Chair.

ACM LINKS TO REFERENCE:

General ACM Conflict of Interest Policy: https://www.acm.org/special-interest-groups/volunteer-resources/acm-conflict-of-interest-policy 

Guidelines on Conflict of Interest: https://awards.acm.org/awards-committees/conflict-of-interest 

In a little over a month from now – January 1st, 2026 – the ACM Digital Library will undergo an open access transformation. All of the content in the the ACM Digital Library will be free to read for everyone. This transformation is in response to a call from the computing community for research to be more accessible. This ACM article – https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen/message-to-the-community – summarizes the rationale behind this transformation. 

This will have implications for authors of ACM works as well as readers of ACM publications. This article will help you understand those implications.

In brief: There will be a fee – an Article Publishing Charge, or “APC” – that must be paid by the authors of certain works to be published by ACM. If the corresponding author of an APC-eligible work is affiliated with an institution that is part of the ACM Open program, the APC is waived. There is an APC waiver process for financial hardship cases. The APC is paid, or waiver requested and granted, at the time of the completion of the rights form for the work to be published.

What kinds of publications are “APC-eligible?” Papers – both full-length and short papers – are APC-eligible. Abstracts and course notes are “Non-APC-eligible” and no APC need be paid to publish those works with ACM. A list of ACM article types and whether they are APC-eligible or not can be found at https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen/article-types. 

In order for the fee for an APC-eligible work to be waived, the corresponding author of the work to be published must be affiliated with an institution that is participating in the ACM Open program, and use their institutional email address when completing the rights form. A list of participating institutions can be found here – https://libraries.acm.org/acmopen/open-participants.

Waiver requests are accommodated, on the basis of financial hardship – https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/policy-on-discretionary-open-access-apc-waivers – and author’s geographic location – https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/policy-on-geographic-apc-waivers-and-discounts. These articles provide information on who to contact and how to request an APC waiver.

Questions on the ACM Open program and the APC process can be directed to dl-info@hq.acm.org.