The Award
The Alain Fournier Dissertation Award is given annually for an outstanding doctoral dissertation completed at a Canadian university in the field of Computer Graphics.
The selection committee bases its decision on nominations received from the research community. The award is presented at the annual Graphics Interface conference. Each awardee receives a plaque, a one-page announcement in the Graphics Interface proceedings, and a bursary of $3000 (CDN) awarded through the awardee’s university. Awardees are invited to present their dissertation work at the Graphics Interface conference; the bursary is intended to defray some costs of attending the conference.
The award is named in honor of Alain Fournier, a Canadian researcher who did much to promote excellence, both within Canada and internationally, in the field of Computer Graphics.
The award is funded by donations. It recognizes outstanding work by Canadian doctoral students working in the field of Computer Graphics. Donations may be made using the Vancouver Foundation donation page and selecting “Alain Fournier Memorial Fund” as the recipient. Tax receipts can be issued for donations of $25 or more.
Information on the nomination and selection process for the Fournier Award is described on the Dissertation Award Nomination & Selection Process page on this website.
Recipients
About Alain Fournier
On August 14th, 2000, Dr. Alain Fournier passed away. He was a leading international figure in computer graphics, and a strong and frequent contributor to the Graphics Interface conference. His insights, enthusiasm, wisdom, vast knowledge, humour, and genuine friendship touched everyone he met. The “Alain Fournier Memorial Fund” was created to celebrate his life, to commemorate his accomplishments, and to honour his memory. It rewards an exceptional computer graphics Ph.D. thesis defended in a Canadian University over the past year. The winning thesis is selected through a juried process by a selection committee consisting of accomplished researchers in computer graphics. Fournier made contributions to computer graphics dealing with modelling of natural phenomena. He advocated a methodology that required validation against real visual phenomena. He once called his approach impressionistic graphics and it both revolutionized the field and drove it forward. An example is his beautiful paper (with Bill Reeves) on the depiction of ocean waves. His subsequent work dealt with illumination models, light transport, rendering, and sampling and filtering.