PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Fanny Chevalier

Fanny Chevalier is an associate professor of computer science and statistics at the University of Toronto and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute whose research spans human-computer interaction, information visualization, and LLM-mediated writing. She earned a computer science PhD from the Université de Bordeaux in 2007 and worked as a research scientist at Inria in France until 2017, following postdoctoral fellowships at Toronto, Ontario College of Art and Design University, and the Inria-Microsoft joint center in Paris. Her 2014 sketch-based systems included Kitty at ACM UIST and the CHI 2014 animation work that Autodesk released as SketchBook Motion, named Apple's iPad App of the Year for 2016. After joining the University of Toronto in January 2018, she chaired technical programs for ACM UIST, ACM ISS, and GI in 2020, won the 2023 IEEE VIS Best Paper Award for TimeSplines, and was named a knight in France's Order of Academic Palms in August 2023. Between 2025 and 2026, she received Honorable Mention Awards for Textoshop at CHI 2025, Squidgets at UIST 2025, and the LLM-mediated writing system Texterial at CHI 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2007

    A Bordeaux computer science PhD

    She earns a PhD in computer science from the Université de Bordeaux in 2007.

  2. 2014–2016

    Kitty and SketchBook Motion

    In 2014, she coauthors Kitty, a tool for sketching dynamic and interactive illustrations, with Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Tovi Grossman, and George Fitzmaurice at ACM UIST. Her CHI 2014 work on a sketch-based animation system is released by Autodesk as SketchBook Motion and wins Apple's iPad App of the Year for 2016.

  3. By 2017

    Research scientist at Inria

    Prior to joining the University of Toronto, she works as a research scientist at Inria in France until 2017, after postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto, Ontario College of Art and Design University, and the Inria-Microsoft joint center in Paris. Her paper on visualization literacy at elementary school receives a Best Paper Honourable Mention at ACM CHI 2017.

  4. January 2018

    Assistant professor at Toronto

    In January 2018, she starts as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the department of computer science and the department of statistical sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

  5. 2019–2022

    Chairing VIS, UIST, and CHI

    She serves as Short Paper Chair for IEEE VIS in 2019 and 2020, and as Technical Program Chair for ACM UIST, ACM ISS, and GI in 2020. For ACM CHI 2022, she serves as Award Chair.

  6. 2023

    TimeSplines and the Academic Palms

    With Anna Offenwanger, Matthew Brehmer, and Theophanis Tsandilas, she coauthors TimeSplines for sketch-based authoring of flexible and idiosyncratic timelines, which wins the IEEE VIS Best Paper Award in 2023. In August 2023, she is named a knight in France's Order of Academic Palms.

  7. 2025

    Textoshop and Squidgets

    At CHI 2025, she coauthors Textoshop with Damien Masson and Young-Ho Kim on drawing-software-inspired text editing, receiving an Honorable Mention Award. With Joonho Kim and Karan Singh, she coauthors Squidgets on sketch-based widget design for scene manipulation in Maya, which receives a UIST 2025 Honorable Mention Award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Toronto

    In 2026, she coauthors Texterial with Jocelyn Shen, Nicolai Marquardt, Hugo Romat, Ken Hinckley, and Nathalie Riche on a text-as-material interaction paradigm for LLM-mediated writing, which receives a CHI 2026 Honorable Mention Award. As of October 2026, she is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Toronto and a Faculty Affiliate at the Vector Institute, where her research spans human-computer interaction and information visualization.

Career

  1. Since 2018University of TorontoPostdoctoral Fellow
  2. NowVector InstituteFaculty Affiliate
  3. Until 2017InriaResearch Scientist
  4. Ontario College of Art and Design UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2007Université de BordeauxPhD

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Fanny Chevalier. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes Vector Institute. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Toronto. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Fanny Chevalier yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Fanny Chevalier - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Kitty: Sketching Dynamic and Interactive Illustrations ruofeidu.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. TorCHI - World Usability Day 2018 - Design for Good or Evil | Ilona Posner (Consultant), Fanny Chevalier (U of Toronto) Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed (U of Toronto) [PDF, video] torchi.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Fanny Chevalier cs.toronto.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Fanny Chevalier named to France's Order of Academic Palms | University of Toronto utoronto.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Fanny Chevalier cs.utoronto.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. TimeSplines: Sketch-based Authoring of Flexible and Idiosyncratic Timelines content.ieeevis.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Squidgets: Sketch-based Widget Design for Scene Manipulation dgp.toronto.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.