SIGGRAPH 2025 Distinguished Educator Award: Goldman
Awardee(s):
Award:
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Distinguished Educator Award
Description:
For pioneering work and providing opportunities to the academic and professional communities in computer graphics and interactive techniques in architecture and design.
ACM SIGGRAPH is pleased to present the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award to Glenn Goldman in recognition of the pioneering work and sustained innovation in introducing and integrating computer graphics and interactive techniques to architecture and design students and professionals for more than four decades.
Glenn Goldman, Director Emeritus and Professor of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has been active in computer graphics and interactive techniques for more than 40 years. A registered architect, he earned a BA degree from Columbia and the M. Arch. degree from Harvard. Following teaching positions at Iowa State University and the Boston Architectural Center, he joined the faculty at NJIT in 1982.
With a record of innovation, Glenn Goldman was one of the first architects to recognize the potential of computer graphics and three-dimensional modeling for architectural education, and with a colleague at NJIT created fully electronic design studios with color pre-visualization making use of customized personal computers and an eclectic collection of software applications. He took a central role in the transformation of architectural design studios from analog to digital workflows, and his work and that of his students were published in both mainstream design press magazines like Architectural Record and Interiors, as well as in academic and professional conferences like ACADIA (the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture). After more than a decade of implementation and experimentation, he authored Architectural Graphics: Traditional and Digital Communication published by Prentice Hall, the first textbook for architectural communication incorporating computer graphics that served as a practical and transitional guide for educators and their students.
He authored or co-authored more than fifty articles that have appeared in journals, magazines, and/or presented at various conferences. From early use of animation and scripted walkthroughs and the integration of objective and non-objective sound in architectural proposals, to the use of building information modeling, image sampling, game engines, VR, and AI for architectural and interior design, he has consistently pushed the limits of technology in his classes and design studios exposing his students to processes not yet widely adopted, and preparing them for leadership positions in industry. His students have been winning design awards and getting their work published in magazines and books for almost as long as he’s been teaching.
In 2007, he started the School of Art + Design at NJIT and included in their offerings a generalized (and NASAD-accredited) Digital Design degree program that was based, in part, on the diverse subject matter typically found at a SIGGRAPH conference and one that emphasizes collaborative interdisciplinary work.
Glenn Goldman has been involved with the education community at SIGGRAPH for a long time. He was an early contributor to the annual curated Faculty Submitted Student Work exhibit which led to his involvement with the SIGGRAPH Education Committee, a group he has chaired since 2021. He was the Education Liaison for SIGGRAPH 2013 and Courses Chair for the 2015 conference. He developed the industry/academy panel that has become a staple of the Educators Forum and chaired the first four iterations of the event. And he’s appeared on a variety of panels both in person and online – including the “Pioneers of CGI Education” that was part of the SIGGRAPH Pioneers of Computer Graphics series in 2023 and “Computer Graphics and Architectural Design” at SIGGRAPH in 1991.
Goldman has been a staunch advocate for underserved and first-generation college students, ensuring that new technology is a tool for opportunity. A recipient of both internal and external awards for his teaching, his former students have gone on to work in industry at places like NASA, Gensler, AECOM, Ware Malcomb, M Moser, ENV, NBC Universal, NFL Films, Chaos, Spring AI, PowerHouse VFX, Framestore, ETS, Verizon, Autodesk, Walt Disney Co., Sony Pictures Imageworks, Ford Motor Company, and more. Others have gone on to teach at universities including Harvard, Pratt, Temple, Clemson, RISD, and NJIT.
An individual who has embraced his roles as a mentor and leader, Glenn Goldman has influenced industry and academic practices in architecture and design, and has made a career in providing opportunities to students and educators alike.
