WiGRAPH: Women in Graphics Research

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

WiGRAPH’s mission is to increase the number of women pursuing cutting-edge research in computer graphics, which despite some progress in recent years, remains distressingly low. To this end, the group creates online resources for women in the field through the wigraph.org website and social media (e.g., online discussion forums). In addition, it hosts events during the main computer graphics conferences that provide environments where women researchers can interact with one another and seek role models, mentorship, and encouragement. In 2022 the plan is to host three such networking events at the premier graphics conferences: SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH ASIA, and the Symposium on Geometry Processing (SGP), and also to launch a new Rising Stars in Computer Graphics program whose goal is to provide mentorship at a time when students have sufficient research maturity, but are still making decisions about future career directions. WiGRAPH activities are always centered around issues relating to research, such as sharing advice about how to pick research topics, pursue research questions, and navigate the industry/academic markets. Statistics are gathered from event registrations and participant testimonials to help generate clear demographic data about the population being served by and to evaluate the impact of sponsored events. Although all the organization work is done with volunteered time, the events program comes at a substantial cost. Due to COVID-19, all 2020 and 2021 events were held online and therefore required only minimal funding, but moving forward it is estimated that the basic program will cost roughly $49,600 for 2022, as described in detail in the proposal, and the organizers hope to augment the program, for example by increasing the number of participants, if they are able to raise additional funds with industry sponsorship. HCC PDs discussed this proposal and agreed that the goals are both laudable and timely, and that the planned activities are likely to have broad impact. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.