Brown CS News

The Computing Research Association (CRA) is a coalition of more than 200 organizations with the mission of enhancing innovation by joining with industry, government, and academia to strengthen research and advance education in computing. Every year, in collaboration with its Widening Participation Committee (CRA-WP), it presents the CRA Anita Borg Early Career Award. This year’s recipient is Adriana Schulz of the University of Washington, who joins Brown CS as Associate Professor this fall. Professor Schulz has been recognized for her outstanding research in computer graphics and her commitment to broadening participation in computing. 

Named in honor of Dr. Anita Borg, a groundbreaking computer scientist and a relentless advocate for women in technology, the CRA Anita Borg Early Career Award celebrates a researcher in computing who exemplifies both research excellence and commitment to expanding opportunities for women in the field. Dr. Borg, who was an early CRA-WP member, pioneered projects that opened doors for women in technology worldwide, including founding the Institute for Women in Technology (now AnitaB.org) and co-founding the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. She envisioned a future where women would play active roles in the technical and design aspects of technology.

Adriana’s research group creates design tools and systems that aim to revolutionize how we build physical artifacts. A central challenge for design tools in manufacturing is the need to simultaneously nurture the creative ability to conceive novel designs and the analytical capacity to critically evaluate and optimize functionality and production. Her group tackles this challenge through innovative solutions that are grounded in the fundamentals of geometry processing and combine insights from machine learning and programming languages.

In addition to her research contributions, Professor Schulz founded and chairs WiGRAPH, the ACM SIGGRAPH Community Group for Women in Computer Graphics Research. What began as a series of organized lunches at SIGGRAPH – often considered the premier conference in computer graphics – grew into a year-round initiative, officially recognized by ACM in 2021. WiGRAPH now runs events like the annual SIGGRAPH luncheon, which draws about 150 people, and the Rising Stars program, launched in 2022 to support women entering the academic job market. Its website offers resources and spotlights and reaches a broad international audience.

Brown CS is very happy to welcome Adriana to our faculty in the fall. In addition to this award, her research has already received widespread recognition even at this early stage of her career, including a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 award, an NSF CAREER Award, and the 2024 ACM SIGGRAPH Significant New Researcher Award.

For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.