Dr. James Stewart has, for many years, supported the Graphics Interface conference submissions and reviewing process through the development of a web-based system that has proven to be an outstanding contribution to the conference and the community at large. Initially set up only for the annual Graphics Interface conference using a computer funded by CHCCS/SCDHM, the system evolved over the years to become a successful commercial product that is now used by many conferences, including Graphics Interface, to administer the submission and review process for papers and other contributions to conference technical programs.
The Graphics Interface conference has always strived to maintain a high standard for its reviewing process. Over the years, more than one author has commented on the exceptional quality of the reviews that were received. The quality of the reviewing is reflected in the quality of the final program. There is little doubt that the availability of the submission and reviewing software developed by James Stewart has contributed significantly to the quality of the reviewing by providing an easy-to-use mechanism for coordinating the efforts of the many volunteers who participate in the reviewing process.
The system streamlines each step of the submission and review process so that the program chairs are able to better manage the process and coordinate the volunteer reviewers. The existence of a well designed and easy-to-use web-based system allows participation in the reviewing process by a broad cross section of the research community, experts who donate their time to read and evaluate submissions. This has been a key factor in maintaining a strong technical program for the annual Graphics Interface conference, which has gained an international reputation as a high-quality publication venue for leading-edge research in computer graphics, visualization, and human-computer interaction.
The commercial system developed by James’s company, Precision Conference Solutions, is now used by many of the major international conferences in computer graphics, visualization, human-computer interaction, and related areas including augmented and virtual reality, wearable computing, and cognitive science. The widespread recognition of the usefulness and the usability of the system is a testament to the user-centered approach embodied in the design of the system, which allows individivual conferences to customize the system to support specific workflows.
James served as program co-chair for the Graphics Interface ’99 conference, and he has been a reviewer or member of the local organizing committee for various conferences. He has served as the web master for www.graphicsinterface.org since its inception.
Dr. Stewart earned his B.Sc. at Queen’s University. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1992 and was subsequently on the Computer Science faculty of the University of Toronto from 1992 until 2001. Since then he has been on the faculty of Queen’s University, where he is an Associate Professor in the School of Computing. His research interests are centered primarily on questions involving issues of visibility, processing, rendering, and modelling with collections of polygons and general polygonal meshes. An area of application for these techniques, on which he has concentrated some of his recent efforts, is medical and surgical planning and support.