News

Massive Collaborative Animation Projects (MCAP)

The Massive Collaborative Animation Projects are animation productions consisting of students and faculty members from various schools, worldwide, working together to deliver a short animation. MCAP consist of multiple production phases allowing students from different areas of study to contribute their talents.

MCAP01 is currently entering the production phase, while MCAP02 is beginning the preproduction phase. MCAP01 is targeted to complete the modeling phase during the first week of March (character modeling and environment modeling), and then enter the animation phase and production phases. MCAP is actively attempting to recruit additional schools and students to be a part of this opportunity and might be interested in assisting with the production of MCAP01.

At the heart of MCAP is the mission to provide educational opportunities to students on multiple levels. We hope that by organizing each production via a pipeline structure, students will gain experience in managing a project beyond what they might be presented in school, and more along the lines of what they could expect in the professional world. Additionally, we strive to create an environment where students from animation programs, big and small, can gain experience in areas of animation they may not have access to within their home programs, giving them contact with students across the world, as well as faculty mentors from our participating institutions.

For more information about the projects please see: https://mcaprojectsnet.wordpress.com/ or contact Claudia Davis, MCAP project manager.

Call for Nominations
Editor-In-Chief
ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems

The term of the current Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems (TSAS) is coming to an end, and the ACM Publications Board has set up a nominating committee to assist the Board in selecting the next EiC. TSAS was established in 2015 and has been experiencing steady growth.

Nominations, including self nominations, are invited for a three-year term as TSAS EiC, beginning on April 1, 2018. The EiC appointment may be renewed at most one time. This is an entirely voluntary position, but ACM will provide appropriate administrative support.

Appointed by the ACM Publications Board, Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) of ACM journals are delegated full responsibility for the editorial management of the journal consistent with the journal's charter and general ACM policies. The Board relies on EiCs to ensure that the content of the journal is of high quality and that the editorial review process is both timely and fair. The EiC has the final say on acceptance of papers, size of the Editorial Board, and appointment of Associate Editors. A complete list of responsibilities is found in the ACM Volunteer Editors Position Descriptions. Additional information can be found in the following documents:

• Rights and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing
• ACM's Evaluation Criteria for Editors-in-Chief

Nominations should include the nominee's vita along with a brief statement of why the nominee should be considered. Self-nominations are encouraged, and should include a statement of the candidate's vision for the future development of TSAS, along with describing any initiatives that the candidate would undertake to improve the journal's operation or adjust its technical direction. The deadline for submitting nominations is March 15, 2018, although nominations will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

Please send all nominations to the nominating committee chair, Mohamed Mokbel.

The search committee members are:

• Mohamed Mokbel (QCRI, Qatar), Chair
• Rao Kotagiri (University of Melbourne, Australia)
• John Krumm (Microsoft Research, USA)
• Maria Luisa Damiani (University of Milan, Italy)
• Shawn Newsam (UC Merced, USA)
• Chris Hankin (Imperial College London, UK), ACM Publications Board Liaison

Statement for Recruiting a Chair for the Diversity Committee:

ACM SIGGRAPH is recruiting for a Chair for the newly formed Diversity Committee.  This chair will join the ranks of the standing committee chairs who assist the Executive Committee in nurturing and supporting the community of computer graphics researchers and practitioners.   A listing of the current standing chairs and their roles can be found here: https://www.siggraph.org/about/acm-siggraph-committees

The Chair of the Diversity Committee will first form a Diversity Committee of five or more volunteers who are enthusiastic about creating and supporting a diverse community within SIGGRAPH.   The Committee should be comprised of racially, ethnically, and gender diverse researchers and practitioners from a broad range of careers and backgrounds. The committee will focus on activities in support of mentoring, inclusion, recruitment, retention, and professional development and training.

Activities of the committee may include:

• Lunches and other networking activities at both the main conferences and the specialized conferences
• Establishment of a year-round Mentoring Network with training for both mentors and mentees and a matchmaking process
• Assisting the volunteer organizers of SIGGRAPH by suggesting names of people qualified to serve as speakers for panels, members of program committees, and other roles that should represent the diverse community of SIGGRAPH.
• With EC financial support, administering travel grants and other mechanisms designed to support traditionally under-represented minorities in the field.
• Ensuring that conference events and the year-round activities of the organization are accessible 

This list of activities is not intended to be complete and we expect that the Diversity Chair and their committee will develop a much longer and more impactful set of activities over time.   We also recognize that no one individual can be expert in best practices in all of these forms of diversity and expect that the chair will rely heavily on their committee to supplement their own expertise.

Each fall, the Diversity Committee should establish measurable goals relating to SIGGRAPH’s diversity initiatives and evaluate the progress over the previous year in achieving the stated objectives.   A report of the activities and outcomes should be presented to the SIGGRAPH Executive Committee in the fall.

Note that there are a number of grass roots activities in this space already and we hope that the chair will be able to work with the current and past organizers of those activities to leverage and support their efforts.

For information and nominations please contact Nominations-chair@siggraph.org

ACM Transactions on Graphics is the foremost peer-reviewed journal in the field of computer graphics. The term of the journal's current editor-in-chief – Prof. Kavita Bala of Cornell University — is ending, and the ACM Publications Board has assembled a nomination committee to aid the board in its selection of Ms. Bala’s successor, whose term will begin approximately June 1, 2018.

Nominations, including self-nominations, are invited for qualified candidates able to commit to a three-year term as TOG EiC. The position is voluntary, with administrative support provided by ACM.

From the ACM TOG Call for Nominations:

The EiC is responsible for maintaining the highest editorial quality, for setting technical direction of the papers published in TOG, and for maintaining a reasonable pipeline of articles for publication. He or she has final say on acceptance of papers and appointment of associate editors. The EiC is expected to adhere to the commitments expressed in the policy on Rights and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing.

Each nomination should include a vita along with a brief statement of why the nominee should be considered. Self-nomination is encouraged, and should include a statement of the candidate's vision for the future development of TOG. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 9, 2018, although nominations will continue to be accepted until the position is filled. Please send nominations to the nominating committee chair: George Drettakis, (George dot Drettakis at inria.fr)

For more information on the position requirements and responsibilities, visit the ACM TOG website and ACM's evaluation criteria for editors-in-chief.

About ACM Transactions on Graphics (from the TOG website):

The purpose of the ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) is to further the development of computer graphics by encouraging high-quality research in the field and disseminating that research rapidly and widely. The term "computer graphics" is interpreted broadly. It includes, but is not limited to, work on animation, computer-aided design, color, computational geometry, computational photography, geometric modeling, graphics hardware, human factors, image synthesis, interaction techniques (both 2D and 3D), lighting models, physical simulation, real-time techniques, and rendering. Computer graphics is more than an academic discipline; it is an eclectic and heterogeneous field with wide-ranging applications. Consequently, TOG accepts papers on novel applications as well as traditional research contributions.

The search committee members are:

• Dr. George Drettakis (Inria), Chair
• Prof. Tom Funkhouser (Princeton)
• Prof. Marie-Paule Cani (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)
• Prof. John Hughes (Brown)