SIGGRAPH 2022 Presents its Lineup of Featured Speakers

From the Metaverse to Artificial Intelligence, Industry Experts Touch on Some of the Most Prominent Topics in Computer Graphics

CHICAGO, Aug. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SIGGRAPH 2022 presents its lineup for its Featured Speakers program. Industry experts will discuss a variety of topics from artificial intelligence and the metaverse to accelerated computing and digital realities. Their talks will cover themes such as the advancements and evolution in technology, their personal and professional experiences, and how art, design, and technology can be blended to create amazing storytelling. The 49th annual conference will run 8–11 August in person, and virtually 25 July–31 October 2022.

"We're honored to have these distinguished and notable Featured Speakers at SIGGRAPH 2022," said Munkhtsetseg Nandigjav, SIGGRAPH 2022 Conference Chair. "Our community continues to create and merge art, design, and technology, developing and innovating for the future, and our celebrated speakers are a big part of this progression. Having Sougwen Chung, Ed Catmull, Pat Hanrahan, Sarah Bond, and Ime Archibong, among others, share their experiences with us is a unique distinction that only SIGGRAPH can provide. Their talks on how the various disciplines in the SIGGRAPH community can help the industry move forward and grow will be invaluable."

Featured Speaker: Sougwen 愫君 Chung
Monday, 8 August 2022
9–10:15 am PT

Sougwen Chung's performance lecture, 'Seeing Double—Bridging Dualities with Relational Intelligence' questions: Where does "AI" end and "we" begin? Chung's ever-evolving work in human and machine collaboration builds upon a decade-long international journey. Starting with a simple line, the process has led to interdisciplinary insights, philosophical inquiry, and technological invention through pioneering artistic practice. Intertwining perspectives in art and science, Chung's practice envisions alternative futures for the relationship of humans and machines.

Bio:
Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-Canadian artist and researcher, and is the founder and artistic director of Scilicet, a London-based studio exploring human & non-human collaboration. Chung is a former research fellow at MIT's Media Lab and is considered a pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration—exploring the mark-made-by-hand and the mark-made-by-machine as an approach to understanding the dynamics of humans and systems.

Turing Award Lectures
Featured Speakers: Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan
Monday, 8 August 2022
2:15–3:15 pm PT

Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan will discuss the history and advancements of the computer graphics industry in a combined session. In "Shading Languages and the Emergence of Programmable Graphics Systems," Hanrahan charts the path of shading languages; first pioneered by Ken Perlin and Rob Cook, then becoming widely available in Pixar's RenderMan. This talk will review their history and discuss the broader implications for computing and the future of computer graphics.

With "The Wild, Unexpected, Exponential Ride Through Computer Graphics," Catmull will address the early belief in the promise of computer graphics, the depiction of the research in graphics as impractical, the incorporation of graphics in workstations, the role of the SIGGRAPH community leading to advances enabling movies, the incorporation of algorithms in GPUs, and the exponential rise of computing power in those GPUs driven by the game industry leading to completely unexpected results.

Bio:
Pat Hanrahan is the Canon Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on rendering algorithms, graphics processing units, and visualization. As a founding employee at Pixar Animation Studios in the 1980s, Hanrahan was part of the design of the RenderMan Interface Specification and the RenderMan Shading Language.

Bio:
Dr. Ed Catmull is a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and served as president of Pixar for 33 years, while also serving as president of Walt Disney Animation Studios for 13 of those 33 years. Catmull founded three of the leading centers of computer graphics research—including the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Pixar Animation Studios. Catmull earned B.S. degrees in physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah.

Featured Speaker: Sarah Bond
Tuesday, 9 August 2022
9–10 am PT

In her fireside chat, Sarah Bond will discuss "How Digital Worlds Today Can Make the Real World Better Tomorrow." Bond will address how gaming inspires empathy by fostering collaboration and enabling players to experience different perspectives. With 3D interactive experiences evolving from gaming to non-gaming environments, there will be an explosion of incredible content from a wave of new creators. As people experience the world through their screens, now more than ever, these worlds need to be built inclusively to cultivate their unique ability to break barriers, spark imagination, and create empathy.

Bio:
Sarah Bond is the corporate vice president of the Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem at Xbox. She leads the company's engineering, business, and strategy to grow creator success, helping them create and publish more games, and reach more players on any device. Prior to Microsoft, Bond was a senior leader at T-Mobile and an Associate Partner at McKinsey. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Bond sits on the Board of Councilors at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, as well as the Board of Directors at the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Zuora, and CHEGG.

Featured Speaker: Ime Archibong
Thursday, 11 August 2022
2:15–3:45 pm PT

Ime Archibong will speak to how contributors to the computer graphics and interactive techniques community can—and should—help design the future, including the metaverse. In this fireside chat, he will talk about experimentation as an approach to innovation, share some examples of innovative ways people with a design mindset from around the world are more empowered than ever to build, and why it's so important that designers of all expertise help make the next era a reality.

Bio:
Ime Archibong is Head of New Product Experimentation (NPE) at Meta, where he leads the unit testing new product experiences outside of Meta's main platforms. He was previously the company's Vice President of Product Partnerships, where he built the global team that worked with startups and developers to build new products with Meta's platform tools and technology. Archibong is a listed inventor on more than a dozen technical patents. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Yale University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Presented by NVIDIA: NVIDIA Special Address at SIGGRAPH 2022
Featured Speakers: Jensen Huang, NVIDIA; Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA; Sanja Fidler, NVIDIA/University of Toronto, Ontario; Simon Yuen, NVIDIA; and Steven Parker, NVIDIA
Tuesday, 9 August 2022
9–10 am PT

Computer graphics is one of the most challenging computer science problems of our time. With GPU accelerated computing, AI, and physically accurate virtual world simulation, NVIDIA continues to deliver generational leaps to advancing the field of graphics. 3D worlds are no longer just for fun and games but for solving the world's most challenging important problems. Join NVIDIA's CEO and senior leaders for a special address at SIGGRAPH 2022 to get a glimpse into the future of AI-infused virtual worlds that provide new frontiers for artistic expression and creativity, or perfectly replicate nature's systems — and the research and technology that power them.

Bio:
NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang has served as president, chief executive officer, and a member of the board of directors. Starting out in PC graphics, NVIDIA helped build the gaming market into the largest entertainment industry in the world today. The company's invention of the GPU made possible real-time programmable shading, which defines modern computer graphics, and later revolutionized parallel computing. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in California.

Bio:
Rev Lebaredian is vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA. For the last five years at NVIDIA, he and his teams have been combining the rendering, physics simulation, and artificial intelligence technologies pioneered by NVIDIA into a single platform for creating and simulating physically accurate virtual worlds — NVIDIA Omniverse. Lebaredian continues to lead the Omniverse product, engineering, and research teams.

Bio:
Sanja Fidler is an associate professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Ontario. She is also the vice president of AI research at NVIDIA. Previously, she was a research assistant professor at TTI-Chicago, a philanthropically endowed academic institute located on the campus of the University of Chicago, Illinois.

Bio:
Simon Yuen is senior director of avatar technology at NVIDIA where he leads the digital human efforts with the goal of developing new character technology and deep learning-based solutions that allow new and more efficient ways of creating high-quality digital characters. Prior to NVIDIA, Yuen spent over 21 years in the visual effects industry, straddling both the art and technology sides of the problem at many studios including Method Studios, Digital Domain, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Dreamworks, Blizzard Entertainment, and others, building teams and technologies that push the envelope of photorealistic digital character creation.

Bio:
Dr. Steven Parker is vice president of professional graphics at NVIDIA Corporation, where he holds responsibility for several ray tracing technologies, including NVIDIA RTX™ drivers and APIs such as NVIDIA OptiX™, the RTX™ rendering systems in NVIDIA Omniverse™, the Material Definition Language, and the NVIDIA IndeX® scientific visualization system. Combining a history of ray tracing, rendering, and high-performance computing, Parker has been focused on bringing physically based rendering systems to interactive applications.

Presented by Hexagon AB: Even Better Than the Real Thing: Worldbuilding With Digital Twins and AI
Featured Speaker: Burkhard Boeckem
Wednesday, 10 August 2022
9–10 am PT

Burkhard Boeckem, chief technology officer at Hexagon AB, will unveil a new category of digital reality technologies that fundamentally change how we think about worldbuilding, design, and production. Burkhard's passion is the democratization of digital realities, which led to Hexagon's development of the Leica BLK line of laser scanners, the launch of HxDR, a powerful visualization and collaboration platform, and recently led to the acquisition of Immersal, an AR technology for spatial mapping and anchoring. Discover the massive potential digital realities hold for worldbuilding, visualization, and immersive storytelling — from VFX to AEC, from metaverse to virtual production — in a world where ideas know no constraints.

Bio:
Burkhard Boeckem is the CTO of Hexagon AB and has worked in the geospatial industry for over 20 years. As CTO, he is responsible for driving innovation and development of Hexagon's autonomous technology vision. Throughout his career, he has focused on R&D, delivering innovation in digital reality, and working with the latest advances in disruptive technologies, such as AI and 5D visualization. Boeckem holds an M.S. in geodesy from the University of Bonn in Germany, and a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).

Presented by Unity: Lion: A Glimpse of the Future With Unity Art Tools
Featured Speakers: James Jacobs, Unity Technologies; Sara Hansen, Unity Technologies; Anton Blake, Moving Picture Company/Monster Emporium; Julio Cesar Garcia, Rocket Science VFX
Wednesday, 10 August 2022
2:15–3:15 pm PT

Watch the premiere of Unity's latest demo, Lion. This production features innovations in real-time technology that shows content created with Ziva, Wētā Digital, SyncSketch, SpeedTree, and the Unity Editor artist tools. Lion showcases plans to help artists create boundary-pushing visuals, as well as foundations for richer creator workflows.

Bio:
James Jacobs is a Sci-Tech Academy Award-winning VFX artist with over 25 years of expertise. He has held leadership positions at Weta Digital, Digital Domain, DreamWorks, Mr. X, and Method Studios. In 2015, James cofounded Ziva Dynamics, a company dedicated to solving challenging and high-value character obstacles in media and entertainment. At Unity, he leads the continued development of Ziva tools and finds new ways to bring the realism and quality of film characters into the game/real-time industry.

Bio:
Sara Hansen is a CG generalist with 11 years of VFX industry experience. With more than 25 film and television projects, her experience spans multiple areas in CG including texturing, look development, layout, lighting, hair, simulation, and rendering. Her work led her to Wētā Digital as a groom artist, and she joined Ziva in 2020, where she now collaborates with Unity. She is passionate about creating assets from start to finish, using a mix of her technical and artistic skill sets.

Bio:
Anton Blake has been a professional animator for 13 years, having worked in film, TV, and game industries. After contributing to "The Lion King," he chose to explore teaching and mentorship, starting with a tutorial based on the cubs from the film. The popularity of this tutorial motivated Anton to create entire animation workshops, eventually leading to Monster Emporium. He now works at MPC during the day and runs the Monster Emporium school at night.

Bio:
Julio Cesar Garcia is a VFX pipeline developer who enjoys mixing technology and art. He is currently working at Rocket Science VFX in Toronto. Julio's strong passion for animal behavior led him to apply his knowledge to creature animation and simulation. In 2020, he joined Monster Emporium as pipeline developer and creature TD, where he develops new technologies and improves creature assets.

Presented by AMD: The Collision of Technology and Art
Featured Speakers: James Knight, AMD; Dylan Sisson, Pixar; Leif Pedersen, Pixar; and Francois Chardavoine, Lucasfilm
Thursday, 11 August 2022
9–10am PT

This address with James Knight, Dylan Sisson, Leif Pedersen, and Francois Chardavoine will discuss how technology and art push each other to benefit great storytelling. Using examples of how some of the world's best creatives leverage advanced computing, giving artists more time with their pixels, they will explore how the creative sandbox is bigger and deeper than ever before.

Bio:
Dylan Sisson, marketing manager, Pixar Animation Studios, is an accomplished artist with more than 20 years of experience in feature film visual effects, combining a deep knowledge of computer graphics with a traditional background of painting, illustration, and toy design. Sisson brings a unique artistic style and a record of creative leadership to a diverse portfolio of work.

Bio:
James Knight is the global director of media and entertainment at AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), where he supports video streaming, VFX, virtual production, and post-production computing applications for the largest media brands, studios, and content streaming platforms in the world. Knight's work spans two decades in production, post-production, real-time visual effects, and virtual production.

Bio:
Leif Pedersen has more than 15 years of production experience. He is a RenderMan specialist and CG generalist on Pixar's RenderMan team, where he loves to showcase some of the most artistic and technical aspects of the renderer.

Bio:
As the chief technology officer, Francois Chardavoine is responsible for all aspects of global studio technology for Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and ILMxLAB. With more than 20 years of experience in the VFX and animation industry, he is also a member of the VES Technology Committee and co-chair of the Academy of Motion Picture's Science and Technology Awards subcommittee.

Access to the Featured Speakers program at SIGGRAPH 2022 is available in person and online. Learn more and register for the conference at s2022.SIGGRAPH.org/register.

About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and SIGGRAPH 2022

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques.  SIGGRAPH 2022, the 49th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place as a hybrid event, with live events 8–11 August at the Vancouver Contention Centre and virtual content available starting 25 July through 31 October. Click here for news from the conference and its partners.

SOURCE SIGGRAPH