About WiGRAPH

WiGRAPH is the ACM SIGGRAPH Community Group for Women in Computer Graphics Research.

We became a Community Group under the ACM SIGGRAPH umbrella in Spring 2022, after spending two years operating as an independent organization from 2020-2022. However, WiGRAPH's unofficial history dates all the way back to 2016, with the introduction of our cornerstone event: the annual Berthouzoz Women in Research Lunch @ SIGGRAPH. The success of this event suggested a larger, unmet need in our community, and within a few years, WiGRAPH was born.

Throughout this history, our primary goal has remained the same: to broaden the network of women researchers in Computer Graphics. We believe that we can help increase the number of women pursuing cutting edge research in the field by creating environments where women researchers can interact with each other and seek role models, mentorship, and encouragement.

With these goals in mind, our events are always centered on research topics, e.g. sharing advice about how to pick research topics, pursue research questions, and navigate the industry/academia markets.

Presently, WiGRAPH offers opportunities like research panels, networking spaces, a Rising Stars program, and an online article series that highlights the journeys and accomplishments of inspiring women researchers. We also maintain a suite of resources and opportunities that are available to people in our community, whether you are a seasoned researcher or a student just starting out!

Our list of initiatives and goals is constantly growing, and we hope that you'll stay tuned – or join us! – to see what else we have in store!

Who We Are

Executive Team

  • Deepali Aneja
    Research Engineer
    Adobe Research
    Rising Stars Co-Coordinator

    Deepali is a Research Engineer at Adobe Research. She joined Adobe in December 2019 after completing her PhD in Computer Science in the Graphics and Imaging Lab at the University of Washington. Deepali’s research is at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, and human-computer interaction. Her work focuses on developing learning-based techniques for performance-based animation and image-to-image translation.

  • Fan Feng
    PhD Student
    Dartmouth College
    Berthouzoz Lunch Co-Coordinator

    Fan is a PhD student in Computer Science at Dartmouth College, advised by Professor Bo Zhu. Previously, she completed her Bachelor's degree at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics, and a minor in Arts. She is interested in physically based simulation and optimization.

  • Mackenzie Leake
    Research Scientist
    Adobe Research
    Berthouzoz Lunch Co-Coordinator

    Mackenzie is a research scientist at Adobe. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT CSAIL and received her PhD in computer science from Stanford University. Her research focuses on designing computational tools for various creative domains, including textiles and video.

  • Xuan Luo
    PhD Student
    University of Washington
    Rising Stars Co-Coordinator

    Xuan is a PhD student in the UW Reality Lab of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at University of Washington, working with Prof. Steven Seitz, Prof. Jason Lawrence and Ricardo Martin Brualla. She is interested in combining virtual/augmented reality with computer vision and graphics to create interesting surreal experiences. Prior to UW, she did research on stereo matching in BCMI lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University with advisor Prof. Hongtao Lu and on deep learning in National Univerity of Singapore with advisor Prof. Shuicheng Yan.

  • Liane Makatura
    PhD Student
    MIT
    Community Engagement Co-Coordinator

    Liane is a PhD student at MIT, where she is advised by Prof. Wojciech Matusik in the Computer Science Department. She received her Bachelors degree from Dartmouth, with a double major in Math and Computer Science, and a minor in Digital Arts. She is interested in Computational Fabrication, and develops tools that make it easier to design and fabricate functional objects.

  • Zoë Marschner
    PhD Student
    CMU
    Community Engagement Co-Coordinator

    Zoë is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is advised by Keenan Crane. Previously, she completed her Bachelor's in Mathematics and Computer Science at MIT. Her research interests lie in geometry processing.

  • Yuxuan Mei
    PhD Student
    University of Washington
    Treasurer

    Yuxuan is a PhD student with the Graphics and Imaging Laboratory (GRAIL) at the University of Washington where she is advised by Professor Adriana Schulz. Previously, she completed her B.S. degree in Computer Science at Columbia University. Her research interests are physics based simulation and computational fabrication.

  • Maxine Perroni-Scharf
    PhD Student
    MIT
    Social Media Coordinator

    Maxine is a PhD student at MIT, where she is advised by Prof. Mina Konakovíc Lucovíc. Previously, she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at Dartmouth College, and her Master's degree in Computer Science from Princeton University (advised by Prof. Szymon Rusinkeiwicz). Her research lies at the intersection of digital fabrication, computer graphics, and machine learning.

  • Kate Salesin
    PhD Student
    Dartmouth
    Online Presence and Outreach Coordinator

    Kate is a PhD student at Dartmouth College, advised by Wojciech Jarosz. She received her B.A. in Computer Science with a minor in Marine Biology from Cornell University in 2016. Her research interests lie in using the photorealistic rendering capabilities of computer graphics to solve optical problems in other scientific fields such as oceanography, atmospheric science, and astronomy. Outside of the lab, she enjoys sailing, volleyball, and knitting.

  • Adriana Schulz
    Assistant Professor
    University of Washington
    Director

    Adriana is an assistant professor at the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where she is a member of the Computer Graphics Group (GRAIL). Her research focuses on computational design for manufacturing. As 3D printers and industrial robots begin to reshape manufacturing, her goal is to define design tools that will drive and democratize this new industrial revolution. She received her PhD degree in June 2018 from the Computer Science Department at MIT, where she was advised by Professor Wojciech Matusik.

Advisory Board

  • Kavita Bala
    Professor, Dean
    Cornell University
    Lead Advisor

    Kavita Bala is the Dean of Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University. Cornell Bowers CIS houses the departments of Computer Science, Information Science, and Statistics and Data Science. Bala received her S.M. and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and her B. Tech. from the Indian Instisute of Technology (IIT, Bombay). Before becoming dean, she served as the Chair of the Cornell Computer Science Department.

    Bala leads research in computer graphics and computer vision, leading research in material modeling and acquisition, physically-based rendering; recognition and visual search; and material perception. Bala co-founded GrokStyle, a visual recognition AI company, which drew IKEA as a client, and was acquired by Facebook.

    Bala is an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow (2019) and Fellow of the SIGGRAPH Academy (2020). She is the recipient of the SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award (2020), and the IIT Bombay Distinguished Alumnus Award (2021).Bala has received multiple Cornell teaching awards (2006, 2009, 2015).

    Bala serves on SIGGRAPH's Papers Advisory Group (PAG). Bala has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Graphics (TOG), on the Papers Advisory Board for SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia, and as Associate Editor for TOG, TVCG, and CGF. Bala has co-authored the graduate-level textbook "Advanced Global Illumination" (A K Peters publisher, second edition). She has chaired ICCP 2021, SIGGRAPH Asia 2011, and co-chaired ICCP (2021), Pacific Graphics (2010) and the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (2005).

  • Jessica Hodgins
    Professor
    Carnegie Mellon University
    Advisor

    Jessica Hodgins is a Professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989. From 2008-2016, she founded and ran research labs for Disney, rising to VP of Research and leading the labs in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. From 2005-2015, she was Associate Director for Faculty in the Robotics Institute, running the promotion and tenure process and creating a mentoring program for pre-tenure faculty. Prior to moving to Carnegie Mellon in 2000, she was an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. She was editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on Graphics from 2000-2002 and ACM SIGGRAPH Papers Chair in 2003. She was an elected director at large on the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee from 2012-2017 and in 2017 she was elected ACM SIGGRAPH President. Her research focuses on computer graphics, animation, and robotics with an emphasis on generating and analyzing human motion.

  • Hijung Valentina Shin
    Research Scientist
    Adobe Research
    Advisor

    Valentina is a research scientist at the Creative Intelligence Lab at Adobe Research. Her research investigates novel interaction techniques to facilitate effective interaction with audiovisual media (e.g., video, audio, visual presentations) for authoring, collaboration and consumption. She is passionate about supporting creative experiences through both interactive and automatic design tools. Previous to joining Adobe, she completed her PhD in computer science at MIT with Fredo Durand. She was an undergraduate at the Princeton University and completed her B.S.E. in Computer Science.

  • Anh Truong
    PhD Student
    Stanford University
    Advisor

    Anh is a second year PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford University where she is advised by Maneesh Agrawala. Previously, she worked as a research apprentice in the Creative Intelligence Lab at Adobe Research, where she was primarily advised by Wilmot Li and David Salesin. Her research interests are at the intersection of computer graphics and human-computer interaction (HCI). Her work specifically focuses on leveraging technology in conjunction with HCI principles to improve video capture and editing workflows.

Executive/Advisory Alumni

Designer

Skyler Tse

Skyler Tse is a Boston-based visual / product designer who loves to create with ux/ui components, interactive principles, and data visualization. She recently graduated with BFA in Graphic Design from Boston University College of Fine Arts, and she hopes to pursue a degree that focuses on human-computer interaction to aid her journey in connecting people with technology.

We are so grateful to Skyler for creating our beautiful logo, style guide, and web design!