About WiGRAPH

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

WiGRAPH’s mission is to increase the number of women pursuing cutting-edge research in computer graphics. Our programs are specifically designed to support this community, welcoming all women (cis and trans) who are either established researchers or interested in exploring the path to becoming researchers in computer graphics.

WiGRAPH is deeply committed to inclusivity. We recognize that researchers from other underrepresented genders can also benefit from our programs, and we warmly invite them to participate in all our initiatives and to become WiGRAPH members. Additionally, we welcome researchers of any gender to join certain programs, such as our annual Berthouzoz Lunch, to foster a broader community of support and collaboration.

History

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 at SIGGRAPH. The success of this event suggested a larger, unmet need in our community, and within a few years, WiGRAPH was born.

Approach

We seek to broaden the network of women researchers in Computer Graphics, 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.

  • Ana Dodik
    PhD student
    MIT
    Community Engagement Co-Coordinator

    Ana is a second-year PhD student at MIT EECS, CSAIL advised by Prof. Justin Solomon and Prof. Vincent Sitzmann. She is working on problems at the intersection of graphics, vision, and algorithmic fairness.

  • 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.

  • Maria Larsson
    Project Assistant Professor
    The University of Tokyo
    External Events Coordinator

    Maria is a Project Assistant Professor at the Department of Creative Informatics at the University of Tokyo. Her research aims at developing computational design systems for sustainable manufacturing, focusing on rule-based generative and inverse modeling of 3D geometries and material textures, subtractive manufacturing, and user interface design. She received a Ph.D. in Information Science and Technology from the University of Tokyo in 2023, advised by Takeo Igarashi, and has presented technical papers at international conferences including SIGGRAPH and UIST.

  • 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
    Research Scientist
    Google
    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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Emilie Yu
    Postdoctoral researcher
    UCSB
    Online Presence and Outreach Coordinator

    Emilie is a post doctoral researcher in the Expressive Computation Lab supervised by Professor Jennifer Jacobs. She is interested in how people use technology and machines for artistic expression and crafts, and in questioning how computational methods can be useful to them. She completed a PhD at Inria Université Côte d’Azur in 2023, supervised by Adrien Bousseau.

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).

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!