Member Profile: Shoko Kimura
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I am a Research Associate, at the Department of Intelligent Information Technology at Aoyama Gakuin University since October 2023, and a doctoral course student at the Department of Architecture Design, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan from April 2021. My current interests are Mental/Autism/Developmental Disability Support, Calm Down, Inclusive, Digital Rehabilitation, Digital Fabrication, Media art, and Interaction. In the past, I worked at Yamagata University as a researcher between 2015-and 2016, and as an Academic Specialist and Technician at The University of Tokyo from 2021-to 2023. In ACM SIGGRAPH, I am a member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee (DEI), and the ACM SIGGRAPH International Resources Committee (IRC) from 2023. I was also previously interested in HCI, affective engineering, and facial emotion. These studies are connected to the realization of an inclusive society that I am aiming for.
2. What was your first job?
My first job was as a crew member and customer information agent for a Japanese railroad company in 2009. I traveled approximately 1,000 km one way between Tokyo and Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan by express train 1-2 times a week. My first part-time job as a student was working as a sales clerk in a supermarket. If my first job was to earn money, it would be the prize money I received when I won the grand prize in a drawing contest in the first grade of elementary school.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
I am currently a doctoral course student at the Department of Architecture Design, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan from April 2021. I received my B. Eng. from Nihon University in 2009 and M.S. degree from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) in 2021, respectively. I was also a non-degree, Auditor student at the University of Tsukuba and the University of Tokyo, and a research student at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. I will soon receive my Ph.D!
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
My first participation was at SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 as an audience as a company employee. After receiving five rejections for submissions to the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, I thought that I needed to get to know the community better. Since SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 was coming to Tokyo and I was a doctoral student at the time, I applied for the position of Team Leader (TL) of the Student Volunteers (SV). Although I was not selected initially, the COVID-19 pandemic made travel to Japan very difficult and many international staff were unable to attend the event in person. Due to my staff experience at other events, such as Comic Market, I was selected for the TL position, despite having no prior experience as a SIGGRAPH staff member.
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
As an SV, I was honored as a Top 10 SV during the SIGGRAPH 2022 Vancouver, Canada. I worked in the exhibition hall, supporting exhibitors in need and assisting many of them. Despite falling ill due to the cold air conditioning and feeling useless at that time, I was very happy to know that there were people who treated my work equal. As a contributor, I had been attempting to exhibit my work at the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery for five consecutive years but faced five rejections. I was about to give up on SIGGRAPH when my project, “Inclusive Quiet Room,” a comfortable digital space for people with autism and developmental disabilities, was accepted and exhibited at Laval Virtual 2023, the largest VR conference in Europe, held in Laval, France. This project won the SIGGRAPH Award and was selected for Emerging Technologies at SIGGRAPH 2023 in Los Angeles. Overcoming numerous challenges, including funding, human resources, transportation, and time, I quickly assembled a team and successfully exhibited at SIGGRAPH. Furthermore, after the exhibits at Laval Virtual and SIGGRAPH, I had the opportunity to get a university faculty position. SIGGRAPH is an amazing conference and community that has given me dreams, hopes, and most importantly, possibilities.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
My favorite sessions at SIGGRAPH are the Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, XR, and Immersive Pavilion in the exhibition hall. The first time I attended SIGGRAPH Asia, I was so engrossed in the demonstrations that it felt like visiting an amusement park. My favorite technical paper is “Teddy: A Sketching Interface for 3D Freeform Design” by Takeo Igarashi (2006). The brilliant concept of easily generating 3D models from 2D sketches remains influential even after more than 18 years. This is a great study that reminds us that only humans can come up with great software ideas, even though generative AI has become mainstream today. I hope you will pay attention to the growth of the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) sessions. Diversity is one of the utmost importance if SIGGRAPH is to remain 50 to 100 years in the future and if this community is to continue. In a discussion with June Kim, she expressed that SIGGRAPH should evolve into a more diverse community. I look forward to seeing more diversity in the technical papers at SIGGRAPH in the future, with an increase in varied research presentations.
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
I would love to have dinner with Leonardo da Vinci. I would like to discuss why he could think of art from an engineering point of view, and I would like to think together about what the ultimate aesthetics is from a mathematical formula.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
I am from a technical high school and rowed a single scull in the rowing club at the time. I once placed in the top four in Japan. People sometimes think I am from the city because I look like a party person, but I am from the Tsugaru region of Aomori prefecture in the north of Japan, a rural, snowy area. It is very rare to go to a doctoral program in graduate school from a technical high school in Japan!
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
I learned how to live, see, and perceive things from a woman at the boarding house where I lived as an undergraduate student. Despite being over 70 years old, she felt she hadn’t learned enough, so she pursued a graduate degree in India through remote learning and received her doctorate at the age of 75 over!
She used to say that it is important to have three strengths in life. She explained that if you have only one or two, you might fall, but with three, they can support each other, preventing you from falling. She also taught me about breathing exercises, yoga, and simple meals to maintain perspective and support my studies. The three and a half years I spent with her were a wonderful opportunity that helped form the foundation of my life.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
Ayumu Kimura: She was a Co-Chair of SIGGRAPH Asia 2021. When I was working as SV, she recommended me to the committee, and I started working as an IRC member. I have always enjoyed participating in various events, so it is very rewarding to meet with various people and work on selections in order to plan sessions with upcoming people in the field of computer graphics in Japan.
Miho Aoki: I respect and admire her as a senior member of SV and as a Japanese senior member of SIGGRAPH who is active overseas. I really respect her because we have collaborated to implement the work of IRC sessions together.
Tony Baylis: I met Tony at SIGGRAPH Asia 2022 in Daegu, Korea, where the DEI session was held. I attended the DEI session by Tony and was impressed that there is a place in SIGGRAPH for a session where I can apply my research field, assistive technology. I was also inspired to join the DEI community because of the lack of Asians in the community. Meeting Tony was the catalyst for my involvement in the community.
Prof. Kazunori Miyata: He was my supervisor when I was enrolled in the master’s course at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) . He told me about the stories of the seniors who had been accepted to SIGGRAPH in his laboratory. He also shared his experience presenting “A method of generating stone wall patterns” in 1990, which was selected for a cover image of the SIGGRAPH proceedings, which at that time was a paper pamphlet. Hearing these stories, I was inspired by his passion to continue creating interesting systems that could be called the originators of procedural technology.
I am grateful to these four individuals, the SIGGRAPH Student volunteer committee and everyone involved in SIGGRAPH for making it possible for me to attend SIGGRAPH and be a part of the community.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
It is very gratifying to be recognized for my accomplishments and to receive various awards. However, what is even more wonderful is knowing that I have helped others gain life opportunities through my involvement and assistance. For example, I have helped more than 30 people secure JSPS DC 1 and 2 scholarships in Japan. Additionally, I assisted a person in becoming a sound creator at a well-known game company, overcoming job competition 100 times higher, due to his work on an art project with me. I myself am proud to have obtained a research fund with a 25% adoption rate in Japan while I was a PhD student. I am proud when I see these individuals still working on projects or excelling in other areas. I believe that everyone’s successes will lead to the creation of the next future!