Meghdad AsadiLari

Assistant Professor | School of Film and Animation | College of Art and Design | RIT

Case Study 3A: SIGGRAPH 2025 Faculty Submitted Student Work Exhibition (FSSW)

Project Overview:

In July 2025, I compiled and submitted two project reels to the 14th Annual Faculty Submitted Student Work Exhibition, presented by the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee at SIGGRAPH 2025 in Vancouver. Both were accepted. The reels drew from two distinct courses: "Character Setup and Animation," from After Effects for Animators (graduate level), and "Final Project," from Particles and Dynamics (cross-listed undergraduate and graduate). Each submission consisted of one focused project reel paired with the course project handout, which outlines the assignment requirements, learning objectives, rubric, and expected outcomes.

The exhibition sits at the intersection of teaching and scholarly dissemination. It documents not only what students produced, but what I designed for them to produce: the assignment architecture, the learning outcomes, and the pedagogical framing that made the outcomes possible. The acceptance of works from two different courses, at two different levels and with distinct technical domains, reflects the range and coherence of my curriculum as a body of scholarly practice.

Peer Review and Selection:

The Faculty Submitted Student Work Exhibition uses a double-curated selection process. Submissions are reviewed by the SIGGRAPH Education Committee, which evaluates both the quality of the student work and the pedagogical merit of the project design.

SIGGRAPH is the premier international venue in computer graphics and interactive techniques, and the Education Committee's exhibition is a recognized platform for advancing the field's teaching practices. Having work from two courses accepted in the same year, across two distinct course levels, represents a meaningful external validation of both courses as sites of substantive, professionally oriented learning.

Two submitted projects on SIGGRAPH’S Education platform.

“Character Setup and Animation” in After Effects for Animators class (left), and “Final Project” in Particles and Dynamics class (right)

Dissemination:

The project reels and accompanying project handouts are permanently archived on the SIGGRAPH Education website (where they remain publicly accessible) at:

https://education.siggraph.org/wp/fssw/siggraph-2025-fssw/

(navigate to RIT to find both submissions).

This archival format gives the pedagogical materials an ongoing public presence beyond the conference itself. The Creative Commons licensing on the project handouts means that educators globally can access, adapt, and build on the course design, extending the reach of the curriculum into the broader animation and computer graphics education community.

The screening at SIGGRAPH 2025 placed the student work in front of an international audience of researchers, educators, and industry practitioners, in the context of the field's highest-profile annual gathering.

Significance:

The permanent archival of the project handouts under Creative Commons reflects a commitment to open scholarly dissemination. The course design itself becomes a contribution to the field, available to educators beyond RIT who are building their own animation curricula.