What's up Lately at ACM India - Monsoon Edition
Welcome to the Monsoon edition of “What’s up Lately at ACM India." Quite a few exciting developments have taken place over the last quarter. I am sure you have received the individual updates via email from “ACM India”, but here are some more insights into them. By the way, in case you come across any India members complaining that they do not get ACM India email bulletins, have them login to myacm.acm.org and check that they have not inadvertently unsubscribed from MEMBERNET-INDIA mailing list.
A New Council: Earlier this year, it was election season for India as a nation, and for ACM India as well. Every two years, about half of the ACM India council gets newly elected members. This time the voting participation by the professional members doubled from previous iteration, as we saw 18% of the qualified members cast their vote in the recent ACM India poll. While this number itself could improve, nevertheless it’s a definite positive trend. We are happy to see that the new-look ACM India Council (check out the ACM India homepage) shows good diversity in terms of gender, industry-academia representation, geography, age etc. We also welcomed Ranga Rajagopal as COO-designate to round off the additions to the council.
Another New Beginning: Starting a new ACM Publication is a very big deal! Minigraphs, which started off as an ACM India practitioner initiative, is being adopted as an ACM-wide publication series and will be available through the Digital Library free of charge. We had the third and last (in a good sense) ACM India Minigraph on “Blockchain” come out in June. Thanks to all the efforts which established the unique proposition of ACM India Minigraphs, paving way for making the series a new ACM publication and giving it a worldwide platform. This is also a great example of ACM’s commitment to inclusion, where a regional initiative is adopted at the global level. More details will come via an ACM announcement but this is a heads-up for the ACM India community.
A Well-Deserved Honour: Another acknowledgment of contribution from India to ACM and computing community came in the form of Anand Deshpande receiving ACM’s Presidential Award. Congratulations to Anand for this achievement and a big thank you for the immense contributions over decades to the computing community on technology, economy, education, and policy fronts to name a few! Anand was also instrumental in establishing ACM formally in India 14 years ago and was the founding President of ACM India Council.
Celebrating Contributions: The call for nomination of all individual ACM India awards is out. Please help us celebrate and give visibility to outstanding contributions from India by identifying potential awardees and putting in their nominations. Note that the hard deadline for Doctoral Dissertation Award is 31 August, and that for the ECR, OCCE, and OCCW awards is 15 September. You can find more details via the announcements:
https://www.acm.org/articles/acm-india-bulletins/2024/nominations-india-dda-2024
https://www.acm.org/articles/acm-india-bulletins/2024/nominations-acm-india-awards
While we celebrate the achievements from India through these India awards, we also request you to nominate deserving candidates for global ACM awards, so that the contributions are recognized at the world level, just like Anand’s recently.
ACM India in Grassroot Education: Our CSpathshala initiative, which focuses on inculcating computational thinking in schools, organized the 6th edition of school teachers conferences CTiS 2024 at IISER Pune earlier this month. A record 250 registrations is an acknowledgment of the value being added by CSpathshala in the lives of teachers and students.
ACM India for Women in Computing: The 6th edition of ACM India’s Grad Cohort was organized on 12-13 July, 2024 at IIT Hyderabad, and saw participation from 80+ women PhD scholars and postgraduates in tech research. The Grad Cohort annually provides a valuable platform for women in research to network, gain insights from leading figures in the field, and draw motivation from success stories. So if you missed it this year, make it a point to attend the next edition, or any of the ACM India-W events for women in computing.
ACM India for Professionals: Finally here is a reminder for all professional members to attend today’s online Professional Chapter Summit, starting at 2pm IST. Apart from the opportunity to get insights on cutting-edge topics and the future of computing, the summit will also feature interactive sessions to help us understand your unique needs as professionals, ensuring that ACM India continues to provide value and support to help your professional development. In case you missed it, here is the (free) registration link:
acm-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_W3z1hrfHSdeHZh7rKRsdDA.
Thanks again to all for making ACM India a happening place. We welcome your suggestions or any questions, which will allow us to add more value to your professional life. Please do not hesitate to write.
Regards,
Hemant Pande, PhD
Executive Director, ACM India Council
