Image credits: All images courtesy of the ACM SIGGRAPH Pioneers Committee
By Ed Kramer, Pioneers Committee Chair
Following up on last year’s wildly successful ACM SIGGRAPH Pioneers’ 2025 conference session, where Ed Catmull gave the Pioneers Featured Speaker talk in conjunction with a 30th anniversary screening of “Toy Story,” this year’s Pioneer members experienced an interactive featured speaker presentation from the legendary Don Greenberg.
Greenberg, 92, has had a truly multidisciplinary career spanning architecture, computer graphics research, and education. His former students have literally seeded the computer graphics industry with a steady stream of major pioneers for decades. Don planned on being in Los Angeles for the conference, held 19–23 July 2026, and to attend the traditional Pioneers Reception in person with his many friends from many years in computer graphics. Ultimately, he was advised against flying. So, Pioneers Chair Ed Kramer worked with conference management to switch to a hybrid virtual presentation. Greenberg wrote and then prepared his presentation using the video production facilities at his beloved Cornell University, with editing assistance from Kramer.
The morning of the presentation, Tuesday, 21 July, Pioneers attending the conference gathered in a large room at the LA Convention Center. In recent years, the Pioneers opened their featured speaker presentation to all conference attendees, so there were more than 100 attendees who sat live as Kramer introduced Greenberg, then played his video.
The pre-recorded talk was projected on a large screen for attendees. The talk covered Don’s personal journey and his reflections about the future of both computer graphics and SIGGRAPH. It wove together diverse topics such as using robots to verify architectural integrity, advances in nano-technology, dispersion of heat in a next generation of chipmaking, advances in material science that reduce noise in communication over vast distances, and the need for SIGGRAPH to expand its vision for the future in both biological and ecological directions. It even contained a peek at Don’s work scanning the bones of ancient creatures to reconstruct them through CG animation today.
Following his pre-recorded talk, Don joined the audience live from the audio-visual lab at Cornell University for some Q&A, where many of his former students and colleagues watching live from the conference in Los Angeles offered some truly heartfelt thanks. Because it was a Zoom event, Pioneer members not attending live in LA could also watch from their homes around the world and participate in the chat room. The Q&A revealed a genuine warmth and respect for Don from some of the most influential researchers in computer graphics history.
A video of Don’s presentation is on the ACM SIGGRAPH YouTube Channel:
Later that evening, the Pioneers held their annual reception at the LA Convention Center. View a photo montage of the event on YouTube:
Old friends and colleagues met face-to-face over the traditional buffet of light appetizers and a cash bar. Conversations ranged from recollections of the distant computer graphics past to predictions about technologies of the future — from some of the still-sharpest minds to be found anywhere on the planet.
A highlight of the two-hour traditional gathering was presenting many former Pioneers Featured Speakers with a newly designed 3D-printed trophy. The trophy was designed and executed by Lou Harrison, with assistance from Ari Blenkhorn and others. It acknowledged each speaker’s distinguished career and recognized the importance of their presentations to the attending Pioneer members of that conference year. The trophies were presented by Pioneers Chair Ed Kramer to:
- Turner Whitted (2011)
- David Em, accepted by Catharina E. Santasilia (2016)
- Jim Blinn (2018)
- Jeff Kleiser (2019)
- Ken Perlin (2022)
- Jim Foley (2023)
Additional trophies were mailed to non-attending former featured speakers Mary Whitton and Nick England (2024), Andy van Dam (2023), Donna Cox (2021), and Alvy Ray Smith (2015).
Recently, each year, the Pioneers have begun creating an in-memoriam video tribute to those in the computer graphics industry who have passed away. That video for 2026, played at the Pioneers Reception, has both poignant and funny moments, and pays tribute to Loren Carpenter, Simon Cheung, Elaine Cohen, Diana Dominguez, David J. Farber, Shine Fitzner, Richard E. Garrett, Vicki L. Hanson, Marcia Lucas, Phil Lucht, Jeff Olson, Con Pederson, William Schaeffer, Mike Schmitt, Larry Sinclair, and Drew Struzan. It can be viewed on YouTube:
Presentation of new 3D printed trophies at the Pioneers Reception, LA Convention Center, 21 July 2026. Left to right: Catharina E. Santasilia, accepting for David Em (2016); Jim Foley (2023); Ken Perlin (2022); Jim Blinn (2018); Pioneers Chair Ed Kramer; Jeff Kleiser (2019); and Turner Whitted (2011).
Pioneers Featured Speaker trophy design by Lou Harrison, model by Bill Hicks, 3D printing by ecovate3D.com, with thanks to Ari Blenkhorn.
Live Q&A with SIGGRAPH attendees, Don Greenberg appearing virtually from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
The next chapter begins in Anaheim. Join us 8-12 August 2027.
Don Greenberg’s astonishingly multi-disciplinary career started in architecture and has spanned the computer graphics revolution from its genesis in the 1960s. He has taught in the fields of architecture, engineering, and computer science, while also being an elite athlete and lifelong advisor to the tennis and soccer teams at Cornell. Greenberg’s teaching has covered computer-aided design in architecture as well as computer animation in the department of art, and he has simultaneously taught courses in computer science and technology strategy. Greenberg received the 1987 ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics, its highest honor, and the 1989 NCGA Academic Award, the highest educational award given by the National Computer Graphics Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; Founding Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering; Fellow, Association for Computer Machinery; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science; and the founding director of the 11-year National Science and Technology Center for Computer Graphics and Scientific Visualization.
