ACM SIGGRAPH DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION SUMMIT

Individual experiences and historical events that serve as a catalyst for the recent Black Lives Matter movement and the disproportionate effect of the Pandemic on the Black community are rarely understood or discussed by the broader community. The focus of this panel is to provide insight into these topics and also solicit ideas of how the SIGGRAPH community can help in educating people in creative ways like leveraging immersive technologies or designing games and characters that address some of these issues.

Moderator: Dr. Kevin Griffin
Panelists: Bilali Mack, Everett Downing Jr., Dr. Jonathan Allen, Makaiya Brown

BIOS

Jonathan E. Allen has worked in bioinformatics research under the Science and Technology and Global Security programs for thirteen years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).  He leads an informatics team focused on modeling and managing data for complex biomolecular systems.  He has extensive experience developing new software tools for pathogen characterization from complex biological samples, transcript analysis in host response and machine learning for small molecule drug discovery. Currently, he serves as a technical director for computing in the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) consortium. Dr. Allen received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University in 2006, after conducting his thesis work at The Institute for Genomic Research (now The J. Craig Venter Institute).

Bilali Mack was born in Accra, Ghana and raised in Windsor, Connecticut. He graduated with a B.F.A. in animation and motion media from Emerson College and has rapidly established himself as a talent to watch in the visual effects and animation space. He has honed his approach as an artist with stints at Brickyard VFX, Smoke & Mirrors and MPC, working with top directors including Mario Van Peebles, Thomas Bezucha, The Russo Brothers and Lance Accord. He is currently A VFX Supervisor at Alkemy X and The Show VFX Supervisor for the Starz Hit TV Series Power. He furthers his education at the forefront of animation technology through his continued involvement with SIGGRAPH. Outside of the studio, he spends his free time perfecting his street photography, taking in the latest indie film launch and strategizing his next meal.

Makaiya K. Brown is a former Series 7 licensed financial advisor who currently leads diversity, equity and inclusion at Activision, the leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products for various consoles, handheld platforms and the PC. Under her team’s leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion is integrated into all aspects of the business including game characters and themes. She has contributed to creating a work culture at Activision that empowers underrepresented employees to sharpen leadership skills and amplify their voices through Employee Networks.Prior to Activision, Makaiya was a key driver in the implementation of diversity and inclusion strategy at The Walt Disney Company and ABC Television. Some of her major projects included managing The Walt Disney Company’s Heroes Work Here veterans initiative and the global LGBT initiative, as well as designing and advising several corporate employee networks. As founder and principal of BICEP, an inclusion, culture, equity, and diversity consulting firm, she also currently advises organizations of all sizes on how to effectively develop and implement diversity & inclusion strategies. As someone who has reinvented her career several times across several industries, her firm also provides career coaching to military veterans and women who want to translate their skill into the careers they desire.  Makaiya earned her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.A. in Organizational Studies & Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She also studied at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany. Outside of work, Makaiya enjoys bicycle riding and traveling for good food.

Everett Downing is an Oscar winning director, story artist and animator living in the Greater Los Angeles area. Born in Boulder, Colorado and raised in Denver, he studied Film, focusing on computer animation at Columbia College in Chicago. Everett began his career as a story artist at Big Idea Productions before making his break into feature film, animating at Blue Sky Studios on the original “Ice Age.” He later took a position as an animator at Pixar, animating on several award winning feature films (everything from “Ratatouille” to “Monster’s University”). He then transitioned back into the story department where he boarded on “The Toy Story That Time Forgot”, and “Cars 3.” Since then he’s worked on films at Dreamworks, Paramount, & Sony Pictures Animation. Everett co-directed the animated short “Hair Love” which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2019. He’s recently joined Netflix Animation and is currently co-producing an unannounced animated series.

Be empowered and inspired into the heartfelt stories told by South African native, best-selling author, TV personality, and illustrator Trevor Romain, who takes us through firsthand experiences filled with practical strategies and techniques that have already resonated with over 1 million children worldwide. Explore how connection and creativity impacted Trevor’s life and career by using inclusive storytelling. Plus, go behind the scenes into Trevor’s award-winning animated television series Comical Sense. As seen on PBS affiliate stations across the United States, the series follows the adventures of animated best-friends Jack and Skye who explore and overcome tough topics including: grief, facing fears, bullying, cliques, moving and more with some guidance from Trevor along the way. Discover through Trevor’s insights and intention of belonging was instrumental to the series success and why inclusive storytelling is essential today!

BIO:

For over 30 years, South African native, best-selling children’s author, illustrator, TV personality and motivational speaker Trevor Romain has dedicated his life and career to empower kids to become happier, healthier, and more confident. Find his award-winning animated series, books, educational materials, podcast and more at TrevorRomain.com.

Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace has become a focus of many tech companies in recent years, although the question of how best to do so remains open. While most people in the industry are aware of problems in the pipeline, attempting to address them at the end can only have limited success since much of the talent has already leaked out. A more effective place to direct this focus is toward the entry point of students into the world of computer science. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators all play a role in how accessible and equal computer science education is. The initial teaching style, and level of community support shapes the rest of a student’s interest and career. Education in this field should be like showing a child how to put together a toolkit; instead of providing a standardized set, they can be pushed to use their creativity and understanding to flesh it out themselves. Diversity comes naturally when people are given the freedom to customize their own kits, where the tools selected are specialized for what they want to build, be that games, apps, or servers. These kits then have individuality, and are the same ones subsequently carried into the workplace. The culture of an industry is shaped by the expectations of those that belong to it. Cultivating the beliefs of the next generation to leave out current unconscious biases naturally leads to a more equitable workplace and community for all. This talk will share observations and practices by seasoned educators with an emphasis on how to support those who are not yet sure of their foothold in this field. We will explore what seems to be going right, going wrong, and what everyone – from novices to veterans – can do to help day to day.

Speaker: Joyce Lee

BIO:

Joyce Lee is a software engineer whose love for computer graphics has drawn her to projects everywhere from virtual reality content creation to simulation for autonomous vehicles. A former instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, she continues to pursue her interest in education while working at Google.

Join Women in Animation for a discussion on what it means to foster, experience and advocate for Belonging in our virtual community, featuring panelists from WIA global chapters.

Moderator: Lauren McCallum, WIA Montreal Head of Production for Europe & Eastern Canada, Scanline VFX
Panelists: Mariana Galindo, WIA SF Bay Area Technical Director; Jenny Freeman, WIA Vancouver, Art Director, EA; Megan Moreau, WIA Vancouver, Biomechanist & Human Movement Scientist, EA; Andrea Goh,  WIA SF Bay Area, Layout artist & Character TD, Pixar; Aditi Kapoor, WIA NYC, Materials/Texture Arts & TD Pipeline, Blue Sky Studios (
Committee Moderator: Diana Arellano

Lauren Knowlton-Parry is a Diversity and Inclusion specialist in Visual Effects was formerly WIA Montreal’s Chapter head and Global Managing Director for Mill Film. She has recently joined the team at Scanline VFX as Head of Production for Europe and Eastern Canada. As an out and proud member of the LGBTQIA+ professional community Lauren was recognized for her contributions by Deloitte where she was awarded their 2019 Technology Leader to be Proud of in collaboration with Start Proud Canada and she was listed in Involve’s Outstanding 2019 LGBTQ Executives list. Lauren specializes in creating inclusive and diverse teams where crew bring their whole selves to work. Lauren know lives and works in Brighton in the UK.

Mariana Galindo is a SF/Bay Area native and has been working in animation for 15 years. Between PDI/DreamWorks and Pixar Animation, she has worked as a Character Effects Animator, Cloth Developer and Simulation TD. Mariana is currently the Tailoring Lead for Pixar’s unannounced feature film set to release in 2022. She has previously worked as a Tailoring Lead for Toy Story 4, Simulation Lead for the Pixar’s Spark Short, Float and Lead Character Effect Animator on How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Working at Electronic Arts, Jenny Freeman has more than 20 years’ experience in the games industry. Originally from a fine art and theatre background, Jenny spent most of the 1990s painting murals, building props for movies and create real-world 3D theatre and movie sets. After 10 years of physical work she realised that CGI was the future, sat down and taught herself how to create art on a PC. She got an entry level job in a small games company in London UK as a 3D modeller, a job at EA creating football stadiums for FIFA, and then on to Art Directing EA Sports games. She has now been Art Directing games for 15 years and has worked on many console titles including FIFA, FIFA Street, Fight Night and UFC. She is currently working in the mobile division on New IP and Incubation titles.The most fun she has in her job is working with diverse teams of engineers, designers, and artists to achieve something special for gamers.

Aditi Kapoor is a Senior Materials Artist and Technical Director at Blue Sky Studios in Greenwich,CT. She has a dual role as a shading/look-dev artist, while also developing tools and efficient workflows for the materials pipeline at Blue Sky. Aditi started her career as an electrical engineer, working for the National Center for Atmospheric Research and helping debug/run and design weather instrumentation while going home to create 3D environments in 3DStudio Max at night. She then took on some freelance work as a Lighting Artist in NYC before landing at Blue SKy. She enjoys solving challenging aesthetic and technical problems and especially appreciates procedural shading. Her film credits include many of Blue Sky’s movies over the past ten years including Ice Age, Rio, Epic, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise along with others.

Andrea Goh is a jack of all trades in the CG world, specializing in the technical and camera aspects of animated productions. Andrea is a Swiss Army knife for various roles like modeling, sculpting, rigging, cloth, tools, and assembly. Her love for cinematography helped pursue her passion in camera and staging. Her interest in solving technical problems and wide skill sets have made her useful in many departments as a strong team leader on multiple projects. Andrea hopes to inspire more young female artists to join the CG world. Andrea currently works at Pixar Animation Studios with her most recent credit in camera and staging for Disney and Pixar’s “Onward,” with an upcoming credit in character model and rigging on Pixar’s upcoming feature “Soul.” Her past credits include “Toy Story 4,” “Incredibles 2,” “Coco,” “Cars 3,” and Netflix’s “Love Death and Robots” and “Sonder.”

Megan Moreau is the Biomechanist & Human Movement Scientist in Create Capture at Electronic Arts. With a clinical and research Biomechanics career spanning 15 years, she has specialized in pathological gait, working and managing, clinical and research labs in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. As the only Biomechanist at EA she works to integrate technologies typically seen in clinical research into one of the largest motion capture facilities in the video game industry. She takes pride in creating unique research protocols for a variety of data collection testing requirements and has relished in the challenges of improving motion capture animation quality in a high-paced, production-focused environment. Megan is active with the Pride ERG at EA, where she partners with people from all levels of the organization to advocate for a more inclusive workplace that everyone can bring their whole self to, each day. She has presented her work at the 6th Annual Lesbians Who Tech Summit in San Francisco, Women In Animation Vancouver and been a part of numerous mentoring events around Vancouver. When she isn’t focused on mocap technologies Megan can be found walking her dog, watching terrible (great) zombie movies, and trying to keep up with everyone in her outdoor cross fit class.

In “WFH Leadership: How to Lead Effectively While Working From Home,“ Maggie Oh will cover how her workstyle and work philosophy changed during the shelter-in-place order; her process changes and techniques; and how to care for others in a time of social distancing. Much of your day as a manager or team lead can be spent in meetings, chatting with folx, brainstorming, strategizing, and managing careers – all these activities have a social/face-to-face aspect where interactions and non-verbal feedback is foundational. At the time of writing this proposal, we are in the midst of a global health crisis. All over the world, non-essential employees are told to shelter-in-place (SIP) and work from home (WFH). How does a manager or team lead do their job effectively in this new work setting? In light of these circumstances, Maggie Oh postures that the soft skills and empathy are what teammates are looking for and need in their worklife. It is not simply enough to rely on hard-skills and recurring meetings alone. However it’s also not simply enough to “just chat” – a delicate balance should be socialized in order to establish service level agreements (SLAs) for oneself, team, and community. This talk is a follow up to her talk at Siggraph Asia 2019, “An Atypical Career Path: Film to Games to AR to R&D- How Engineering & Art Enhance Each Other.” Keywords: leadership, WFH, working from home, shelter in place, SIP, process, social distancing, COVID19, remote work, grief, management, soft skills.

Speaker: Maggie Oh

BIO:

Maggie Oh is currently at Google Stadia R&D as the Lead Technical Artist. Her experience ranges from art, engineering, and production in film, games, and AR in Mandalorian, London Fashion Week, HoloLens, Halo4, Pirates2, and Star Wars. Maggie holds an S.B. from MIT in EECS, and is currently at Harvard.

In a world of animation studios that often look more like frat houses than not, what’s it like to work for an animation department who primarily identifies as women? After a short introduction through the lens of their individual career paths, the women of BuzzFeed Animation will lead a discussion and Q&A session about what it means to not just be a woman in a male-dominated industry, but to be on a team where they dominate.

Moderator: Candice Vernon
Panelists: Loryn Brantz, Kyra Kupetsky, Zee Myers

Cross-countries, cross-modal, multi-disciplinary to inter-national to multi-sensory, we are diverse. It is not easy to put us nor Priscilla Koukoui in a box. As today French-Australian, who worked in over 10 countries, for over 20 different companies across industries and verticals, she will present what it is to be a bridge between worlds, a citizen of the world, and how curiosity leads to develop Passion, in this case for multi-sensory experiences. What doesn’t change is the change movement itself. Impermanence.

Speaker: Priscilla Koukoui

BIOS:

Emerging Tech adventurer and XR Creator, Priscilla Koukoui is the Founder of OviSquare.com, a company shaping the Future of XR (VR/AR) Business mainly for AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction), and re-imagining Entertainment by crafting meaningful multisensory XR stories. She leads multi-functional teams through complex digital transformation and the creation of innovative solutions delighting customers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/priscillakoukoui/ https://www.ovisquare.com/

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee wraps the day’s events.

Software Development has evolved to include greater contribution from a variety of stakeholders. Stakeholders are often not only from a different job role but different gender, nationality, race, belief leading to very different perspectives in product development. In graphics more so than any other field the value of different perspectives is highly sought. The experiences of stakeholders enrich the design and development of systems to produce creative and stimulating visuals. However, inter-disciplinary efforts and diversity of perspectives have their own challenges. Working with teams which span not only countries but continents forces an awareness of cultural diversity which extends beyond traditional borders and into borders of mind-sets. A number of companies are working to engage teams with gender, nationality and neuro diversity but it is not without difficulties. In this presentation some of the key successes and failures of diversity in development teams are discussed. The contributors to the presentation will share information, experiences, and lessons learnt, on practical issues that are relevant to professional teams. The topics of the presentation will touch on the importance of inter-disciplinary professional networks and embracing diversity in all aspects of professional development.

Speaker: Ruth Lennon

BIO:

Ruth Lennon, Chair of the ACM-W Europe is a lecturer with Letterkenny Institute of Technology for 20 years. Ruth is member of a number of standardisation working groups. Ruth is the Chair of the ACM-W Europe and Academic Advisor to the ACM-LYIT and ACM-W-LYIT Student Chapters.

Humans do not think rationally. We believe that we have an accurate perception, an accurate memory, or that we can multitask efficiently. We believe that we are in full control of our decisions according to our values, that we have free will, that we can understand others, and that we are logical beings. Sadly, this is a fallacy. This talk proposes to explore some of the most common cognitive and social unconscious biases that trick us into making bad decisions in everyday life and prevent us from building a more inclusive environment, even if we understand the importance of diversity. Since we can hardly avoid falling prey to our biases, what can we do? We need to identify these biases and focus on redesigning the workplace in order to avoid them in the first place. This talk will cover a few starting points to improve inclusion in the hiring and promotion processes.

Speaker: Celia Hodent

BIO:

Celia Hodent holds a PhD in psychology and has over 15 years experience in the entertainment industry. She currently leads an independent consultancy, conducts workshops, and provides guidance on the topics of game UX, ethics, unconscious bias, and tech inclusion. Celia is the author of The Gamer’s Brain.

Join an interactive conversation between global emcee Dan Ram and South African best-selling author, illustrator and speaker Trevor Romain for a journey on how empathy and creativity can join forces to create meaningful and inclusive storytelling. Dan and Trevor will highlight Trevor’s path from his humble upbringing in South Africa to becoming a well-renowned speaker, children’s author, illustrator, company co-founder and TV personality. The pair will also spotlight the importance of inclusivity in Trevor’s award-winning animated series, Comical Sense. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A session.

Presenters: Daniel Ramamoorthy, Trevor Romain

BIOS:

DanRam ignites the stage as an Event MC & Speaker at over 100 events a year. Hosting change-makers like President Barack Obama, Sir Richard Branson, F1 champion Nico Rosberg, Grammy-winning artists and celebrities, his passion is to inspire people to ‘Start Now Start Simple’ to build a future worth living.

For over 30 years, South African native, best-selling children’s author, illustrator, TV personality and motivational speaker Trevor Romain has dedicated his life and career to empower kids to become happier, healthier, and more confident. Find his award-winning animated series, books, educational materials, podcast and more at TrevorRomain.com.

Sri Lanka is a small island in the Indian Ocean where graphics, film and animation skills are limited to the capital, Colombo. Only a few privileged people run the industry and learning opportunities are limited due to language barriers. This changed with Adobe Youth Voices (AYV), a program implemented by Shilpa Sayura Foundation with Taking it Global. AYV was the beginning of mine and many other rural young people’s creative careers who have become leaders in the Sri Lankan creative industry today. Youth from cities and villages, divided by ethnicity, language and religion got the opportunity to learn graphics, photography, film and animation. They collaborated to create media with a purpose making their voices heard on social issues around them. Finally winning many Adobe Aspire Awards and UNICEF challenge. Rising from the grassroots to the global level.Past eight years, the creative ecosystem created by Shilpa Sayura has produced award-winning youth, film directors, tv-series directors, graphic designers, animators and photographers from rural parts of Sri Lanka. Some of them have set up their own creative businesses in their villages and have become creative entrepreneurs. If AYV did not reach Sri Lanka these youth wouldn’t have entered the creative industry. We created diverse local language creative education programs, with resources from the united nations, engaging rural youth in creating stories for effective social change transforming lives of many and bringing diversity, equity and inclusion to Sri Lankan creative education.This year we have moved online responding to COVID 19, providing local language training to young people age 12- 24 in photography, graphics and animation with adobe creative leaders program reaching across communities to bring diversity, equity and inclusion to Sri Lankan creative industry.

Speaker: Poornima M. M. G. Meegammana

BIO:

Poornima is a filmmaker, animator and social-entrepreneur working towards DIE in creative, technology education and industry. Poornima’s work has recognised with internationally with Adobe aspire award, ISOC 25 under 25 awards, Queen’s young leaders award, Microsoft-World Bank Youth Solutions Award and Poornima is a recipient of Adobe Creativity Scholarship (2013).

Dr. Evie Powell, Lead Virtual Reality Engineer at Proprio and President/Creative Director of Verge of Brilliance, LLC, goals include on creating tools for technology that are people focused. In developing socially pervasive games, where people participate in a game experience without actually knowing it, she considers them as tools for breaking social boundaries as well as having the capacity to pivot its use such as becoming a tool for the current pandemic. Snag’em, a game she developed in graduate school, active and non-active players can input information allowing the system to design specific missions that creates connections among them. Dr Powell recognizes that this feature can be applied as a form of contact tracing among participants using their virtual networks. This is one prime example of how immersive technology such as virtual and augmented reality can impact society.

Speaker: Dr. Evie Powell

BIO:

Dr. Evie Powell is a games researcher and developer specializing in immersive interactions and prototype design. She is the lead virtual reality engineer at Proprio Vision, a surgical imaging company fusing human and computer vision into a powerful new system for surgical performance and training. She founded Verge of Brilliance LLC, an independent experimental games studio in Seattle, and previously worked at Microsoft on natural user interfaces and the Kinect technology at Xbox.With a unique career bridging gaming and healthcare, Dr. Powell integrates game design and UX design to create meaningful experiences that help people learn, play, and work differently. At Proprio, her focus is on anticipating how surgeons think and designing a suite of tools to empower them to think and perform optimally. Dr. Powell graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte with her Ph.D. in Computer Science. Her research centered on socially pervasive game experiences and context-aware gaming using mobile technologies.

Disabilities such as hearing loss are often accounted for in terms of including accessibility in a product, instead I wanted the user’s experience to center around understanding the hearing loss experience though a visual medium. This presentation details a project I created to provide users with a visual representation of moderate and severe hearing loss. Using Max8, I created a digitally interactive piece that offers users 3 choices: to experience a video as though they have regular hearing, moderate hearing loss, or severe hearing loss. After making this choice, a full screen video will play on a monitor and depending on the user’s choice, the video being played with have been put through a different filter (that filter having a higher or lower amount of visual distortion depending on the user’s choice). User’s participation in this piece is meant to illicit a deeper understanding and empathy of what daily experience with hearing loss is like for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Each video’s play and stop features are triggered by different levels of sound – this feature (and the user’s ignorance of this feature) is meant to mimic the daily level of confusion and frustration experienced with hearing loss.

Presenter: Jesslyn A. Parrish

BIO:

Jesslyn Parrish is a PhD student specializing in Digital Media at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses are interactive media, cultural anthropology, and applied linguistics with past research projects focusing on the Deaf community and Sign Language acquisition.

Asian women faculty on US campuses may experience the highest levels of isolation, marginalization, exclusion from decision-making and networks, and disrespect. It is a multidisciplinary design project to raise awareness of the marginalization of Asian women faculty on US campuses. It consists of a series of generative selfie by Being Ignored 1.0, site specific art installation, public speaking, Asian Female Scholars, social group to support Asian female faculty on US campuses in predominantly white academic institutions, and mobile application, Social Homelessness 2.0, with public participation. Being Ignored 1.0, as site specific installation, expresses the moment being brushed off. The computer screen displays real-time images captured through the web camera installed invisibly. As viewers move toward the screen, the web camera captures the viewer’s self-portrait and display it on the computer screen. The computer code eliminates the viewer’s facial expression to convey the concept of being avoided and rejected. The author co- founded the group, Asian Female Scholars, with Mary Szto, a law professor at Syracuse University. It is a social group consisting of around 40 Asian female faculties from northwest Indiana, USA, where white populations are relatively dominated in the academic world. The group provided regular workshops and social gathering for mentoring, connection, networks, and, resources such as pedagogical strategies for Asian female faculty to survive and succeed on US campuses. It was held at Valparaiso University and Purdue University Northwest since 2015. The Being Ignored 2.0 is a visual documentation to portray Asian female on US campuses by using generative selfies. The updated version, Social Homelessness 2.0, presents more elaborate visual expressions and styles by using diverse visual elements such. as lines, circles, curves, and text. It can be downloadable at http://www.socialhomelessness.com.

Presenters: Yeohyun Ahn, Ge Jin

BIOS:

Yeohyun Ahn is an award-winning typographer, interaction designer, and educator. Currently, she explores computational graphic art for social homelessness being isolated and marginal in professional areas of American society. She is an assistant professor of Graphic Design at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Dr. Ge Jin is a professor in the Department of Computer Information Technology and Graphics at the Purdue University Northwest. He earned his Doctor of Science degree in Computer Science from George Washington University. He is specialized in computer graphics, virtual reality, computer animation, medical visualization, and educational game development.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging are a priority for ILM and critical to the success of our company and the VFX industry. We will discuss how our D&I strategy impacts every aspect of our company, from outreach to hiring to creating an inclusive culture for all employees. We will also share how we put our strategy into action.

Moderator: Danielle O’Hare – Director of Talent Development
Panelists: Jessica Teach – Executive in Charge of ILM San Francisco; Rob Bredow- Executive Director and Head of ILM; Bridgette Powell – Production Engineer; David Nakabayashi – Creative Director, ILM Art Department
Committee Moderator: June Kim

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee wraps the day’s events.