ACM SIGGRAPH’S New External Relations Chair to Build Bridges, Fuel Collaborations

ACM SIGGRAPH’S NEW EXTERNAL RELATIONS CHAIR TO BUILD BRIDGES, FUEL COLLABORATIONS

by Melanie Farmer

ACM SIGGRAPH has named Diana Arellano Chair of External Relations, to strengthen ties and form new collaborations with organizations within the computer graphics community and with those communities that intersect with computer graphics. Arellano, whose connection to the SIGGRAPH conference began as a student volunteer in 2007, most recently served as International Resources Chair. She will assume her new role as External Relations Chair, effective immediately.

“I am thrilled to have Diana take on this new leadership role as we get ready to really ramp up our efforts in external affairs,” says ACM SIGGRAPH President Jessica Hodgins. “Diana’s extensive experience as a SIGGRAPH volunteer and her collaborative mindset will greatly benefit our aim to create and build new partnerships outside of SIGGRAPH that will help grow our organization. As International Resources Chair for the past two years, she has worked successfully to build bridges between ACM SIGGRAPH and the computer graphics community around the world.”

Forging new ties between ACM SIGGRAPH and the global CG community has been vital to the organization’s mission to continue to move forward and evolve. The focus on growth and new outcomes is what excites Arellano most about this new role.

“As External Relations Chair, I will be able to help create real links and agreements between ACM SIGGRAPH and other organizations, conferences and companies that will benefit and help the growth of both parties,” she says. “Creating new contacts for the organization, brainstorming about effective ways to collaborate with other fields tangential to computer graphics and further represent ACM SIGGRAPH are what drew me to take on this new role. I am excited to get started!”

Arellano will work to identify new communities interested in forging a collaboration in computer graphics; ideal sectors are areas that need the skills of researchers and practitioners in computer graphics such as artificial intelligence, data science, data visualization, simulation, robotics, and healthcare. In fact, the foundation for creating these links were set at SIGGRAPH 2018 in Vancouver, where workshops were organized centered on some of these topics.

Arellano will begin forming a committee soon to help drive this mission and also intends to work closely with the New Communities Strategy team to help crystallize their ideas for new initiatives into a full-fledged collaborations.

“I cannot wait to see what combinations of fields, geographical locations and needs for synergies we will come up with,” she adds, “and moreover, to start collaborating with other ACM SIGGRAPH members who are already working in this direction.”

Arellano, whose research expertise is in affective computing combined with machine learning, works as software developer and team leader in the Pipeline Department at Mackevision Medien Design in Stuttgart, Germany, a leading company in 3D car visualization and VFX. Prior to chairing ACM SIGGRAPH’s International Resources Committee, she also volunteered as a member of the committee for six years. Additionally, Arellano co-organizes discussion panels on Women in CG and Visual Arts at FMX and SIGGRAPH.