Lead the way to the next age of computer graphics.
Welcome to SIGGRAPH 2024
Keynote Presentations
SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentations are where industry experts discuss the most dynamic computer graphics topics leading us toward our desirable technological future. Get to know the speakers below.
Beyond the Illusion of Life
SIGGRAPH 2024 KeynoteMark Sagar
Double-Academy Award winner Dr. Mark Sagar is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Soul Machines and Director of the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. Mark and his team are bringing technology to life, pioneering the creation of autonomously animated virtual humans with virtual brains and nervous systems — capable of highly expressive face-to-face interaction and real-time learning and emotional response — to create the next generation of human interaction with biologically inspired artificial intelligence. Mark has a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Auckland and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. He previously worked as the special projects supervisor at Weta Digital and Sony Pictures Imageworks and developed technology for the digital characters in blockbusters such “Avatar,” “King Kong,” and “Spiderman 2.” His pioneering work in computer-generated faces was recognized with two consecutive Scientific and Engineering Oscars in 2010 and 2011. Mark was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2019 and was named New Zealand Innovator of the Year in 2022.
Mark’s SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentation takes place Monday, 29 July.
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The essence of animation is creating the illusion of life, convincing the audience that a character is alive and has its own feelings and thoughts. Is it possible to bring an interactive digital character to “life” who can “think,” “feel,” have experiences, and act with volition? What is it, exactly, to think, to feel, to experience? In this keynote, Dr. Mark Sagar will discuss his team’s biologically based approach, where they are developing a virtual nervous system analogous to our own, combining computational models of sensory, cognitive and emotional processes, language, behavior, and motor systems. These systems activate virtual muscles to animate a virtual face and body, sensing, learning, acting, and reacting in real time. The interoperation of these systems in face-to-face and shared interactions is exemplified in projects like BabyX, a simulated toddler which aims to enhance our comprehension of social learning and behavior — but it can also serve as groundwork for achieving human-like cooperation with future artificial intelligence. Dr. Sagar will elaborate how creating the inner life of a character is strongly linked with the “body,” one of the central thematic focuses of the conference.
Humanity Becoming Interplanetary: Exploring Space for Earth
SIGGRAPH 2024 KeynoteDava Newman
Dava Newman is the director of the MIT Media Lab. She holds the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics chair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is a Harvard–MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology faculty member in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has been a faculty leader in aeronautics and astronautics and MIT’s School of Engineering for 30 years. She holds a top-secret clearance.
The Honorable Dr. Dava Newman served as NASA Deputy Administrator (2015–2017). Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate unanimously in April 2015, Dr. Newman was the third woman and first female engineer and scientist to serve in this role. During her tenure, Dr. Newman made significant impact on NASA’s human exploration, specifically developing and articulating the Human Journey to Mars plan, highlighting scientific missions, advocating for transformative aeronautics capabilities, developing and implementing a strategic innovation framework, and advocating for diversity and inclusion for NASA and the nation’s STEM initiatives.
Her research expertise is in aerospace biomedical engineering investigating human performance across the spectrum of gravity and AI/ML for the dual challenge of energy and climate. She is a leader in advanced space suit design, astronaut performance, climate modeling and visualization, leadership development, innovation, and space policy. Dr. Newman was the principal investigator on five spaceflight missions. She has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to STEM and leadership.
Newman earned her Ph.D. in aerospace biomedical engineering, Master of Science degrees in aerospace engineering and technology and policy all from MIT, and her Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Her SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentation will cover the theme of “Humanity Becoming Interplanetary: Exploring Space for Earth” in the range of computer graphics advancement.
Dr. Newman’s SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentation takes place Tuesday, 30 July.
Session details coming soon.
Image copyright Christopher Michel
The Microscopic
SIGGRAPH 2024 KeynoteManu Prakash
Manu Prakash is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, a Pew Scholar, and the co-inventor of the Foldscope and co-founder of Foldscope Instruments. At Stanford, Manu runs a curiosity-driven science lab focused on using highly interdisciplinary approaches to understand how computation is embodied in biological matter. His lab is dedicated to inventing, building, and scaling up “frugal science” tools to democratize access to science, including the discovery of the Foldscope, a foldable microscope made mostly of paper. Manu has a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Master of Science and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentation, Manu will take you on a “microscopic” journey of the often unseen world — a delight of creatures most beautiful and marvelous with dazzling graphical feats. Come for the science, and stay for the community-enabled discoveries made around the world.
Manu’s SIGGRAPH 2024 Keynote Presentation takes place Wednesday, 31 July.
Session details coming soon.
Image credit: Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News Service (main photo); courtesy Foldscope Instruments, Inc. (insets)
