ACM MemberNet - March 27, 2008
Welcome to the March edition of ACM MemberNet, bringing
you the world of ACM and beyond. Explore the many facets of
ACM with our newsletter of member activities and events. Read
MemberNet online at http://membernet.acm.org/
Read TechNews, ACM's digest of news and information for IT professionals published three times a week. Published biweekly, ACM CareerNews provides summaries of articles on career-related topics in the computing field.
Awards
Member Benefits
Conferences and Events
Public Policy
Education
Student News
ACM-W News
Publications News
ACM in the News
Awards
Distinguished Service Award Recognizes Former ACM President David Patterson
David A. Patterson, who led initiatives that have brought more respect and understanding to the computing profession, has been
given the 2007 Distinguished Service Award by ACM. His leadership in the computing
field extends from his tenure on several federal policy boards to his multiple awards for teaching excellence. Patterson, who
was president of ACM from 2004-2006, is professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the
founding director of the Parallel Computing Laboratory (PAR Lab), which addresses the multicore challenge to software and hardware.
He also founded the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems Laboratory (RAD Lab), which focuses on the design of more
dependable computing systems. Read the press release.
Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award Honors Design Automation Expert
Robert A. Walker, who oversaw the growth of ACM's Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) and its portfolio of
programs for computing professionals who design and produce electronic systems, will receive the
2007 Outstanding Contribution
to ACM Award. Walker, an associate professor of computer science at Kent State University, chaired the ACM Special Interest
Group (SIG) Governing Board, where he streamlined activities to create opportunities for collaboration among ACM's 34
SIGs representing the many technical communities that comprise the computing field.
Read the press release.
ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award Recognizes Leonidas Guibas for Algorithms Advancing CS Fields
ACM has named Leonidas John Guibas as the recipient of the 2007 ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award
for his pioneering contributions in applying algorithms to a wide range of computer science disciplines. For 25 years, Guibas,
professor of computer science and courtesy professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, has been engaged in
research on interactions with the physical world that have advanced the field of computational geometry and related areas.
He established strong links that led to seminal contributions in computer graphics, computer vision, robotics, physical modeling,
large-scale integrated circuit design, sensor and communications networks, and computational molecular biology.
The award is endowed by individual contributions and is jointly sponsored by ACM and the Association for the Advancement of
Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
Read the press release.
Call for ACM Fellows and Advanced Member Level Nominations
ACM recognizes annually a class of ACM Fellows, our eminent
colleagues that ACM and its members look to for guidance and leadership. ACM also has advanced grade memberships of
Distinguished Engineer/Scientist/Member and Senior Member.
Senior Member recognizes ACM
members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who
have demonstrated performance and accomplishment that set them
apart from their peers. Nominations are accepted on a
quarterly basis. The next deadline for nominations
is May 31, 2008.
The Distinguished
Engineer/Scientist/Member designation recognizes ACM
members with at least 15 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who
have demonstrated significant accomplishments or made a
significant impact on the computing field. The deadline for
nominations is July 31, 2008.
Fellows are outstanding ACM
members with at least 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who are recognized for their technical, professional
and leadership contributions that advance the objectives of
ACM and the field as a whole. The deadline for nominations
is September 9, 2008.
Member Benefits
Get More Safari Books Online at Special Member Rates!
In addition to the 600 free Safari Books Online available to ACM Professional members, ACM is now offering members
the option to subscribe to two of the larger popular collections from Safari at
discounted rates.
Both the Full Library, including unlimited access (without downloads) to Safari Books Online technology
content from leading publishers, and the Premium Collection, including unlimited access (with downloads)
to all Safari Books Online technical and business content from top publishers,
are available to ACM Professional and Student members at a 20% discount off the list price.
New Online Courses Added to ACM's SkillSoft Collection
The ACM collection of online courses continues to grow. Both ACM Professional and Student memberships now include
full and unlimited access to 2,500 online courses from SkillSoft on today's hottest topics in a wide range of
subjects in IT and business. For complete course listings, visit the
Online Courses Home Page.
ACM's Career & Job Center: More than Just Jobs
Many job seekers and employers are taking advantage of ACM's
Career & Job Center:
the site receives
approximately 1,500 to 2,000 "job views" each day, and on average lists more than 300 jobs (refreshed daily).
More than 3,000 employers have registered with Job Target, the service with which ACM has partnered, while more than
500 resumes have been posted. ACM members can also access additional Job Center features. In addition, ACM offers
CareerNews, which provides summaries of articles on career-related topics of interest to students and professionals
in the computing field, in a bi-weekly email alert to ACM members.
ACM Member-Get-A-Member Drive
ACM's 2007/2008 Member-Get-A-Member Recruitment Drive is now in full swing, with new prizes,
and an Apple iPhone grand prize! Current members are the ideal ambassadors to communicate the
advantages of joining ACM to prospective members, and those who participate by telling friends and
colleagues about ACM may be eligible for valuable gifts and special recognition. ACM's Online Member-Get-A-Member
program is interactive, easy to use, and rewards members for helping to recruit new members. The drive ends
June 30, 2008. For referral forms, recruitment tips and tools, prizes and rewards, and bonus gifts, visit the
Member-Get-a-Member drive page.
ACM Adds Four New Offerings to Insurance Program
ACM is pleased to announce the addition of four new plans to the ACM Insurance Program. The
new offerings are Group 10 or 20 Year Level Term Life Insurance, Long Term Care, and Group
Dental Insurance. ACM members living in the US are eligible. Visit the
insurance page to learn
more about these programs, and all of ACM's Insurance Program plans.
Take Advantage of ACM's Lifetime Membership Plan
ACM Professional Members can enjoy the
convenience of making a single payment for their entire tenure
as an ACM Member, and also be protected from future price
increases by taking advantage of
ACM's Lifetime Membership option. Pricing for ACM Lifetime Membership is
based on age and current dues rates, and the option to include
the ACM Digital Library is also available. ACM Lifetime
Membership dues may be tax deductible under certain circumstances (please consult with your tax advisor).
Lifetime Members will receive a certificate of recognition
suitable for framing, and enjoy all of the benefits of ACM Professional Membership.
Conferences and Events
Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy to Address Technology Policy Issues
The stakes are high for privacy, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and freedom of speech. At ACM's
CFP 2008 conference, computer security experts will debate technology's political, social and
economic impacts in the policy sphere. The conference will be held May 20 to 23 in New Haven, Connecticut. CFP 2008 features
keynote speakers, panels, tutorials and birds-of-a-feather sessions. Voting, social networking, anonymity, cybercrime, and cyberterrorism are
just some of the topics to be discussed. Early bird registration with discounted conference fees is available until May 2, 2008.
EuroSys 2008 to Explore Future Computer System Designs
EuroSys 2008, the European conference on
Computer Systems, features an extensive array of panels, research papers, and demonstrations from renowned presenters and speakers
who will offer new ideas that promise to revolutionize system design. The conference, from March 31 to April 4 at the
University of Glasgow in Scotland, will address computer system research that drives the design and development of
new technologies for the next 10 years and beyond. These technologies range from new operating systems to faster and
more reliable network and storage systems for desktop, enterprise and mobile users. EuroSys 2008 includes several co-located workshops and
tutorials, and is sponsored by ACM and the European chapter of ACM SIGOPS,
its Special Interest Group on Operating Systems. Read the press release.
CHI 2008 to Introduce Design Theatre
The leading international conference for Human-Computer Interaction, CHI 2008,
will bring together the foremost authorities on how people interact with their computers.
Internationally renowned experts in design, education, engineering, management, research, and usability will present
original ideas and applications on how to drive innovation in the ways people experience technology.
A first-time Design Theatre at the conference will enable presenters to make their results come alive for the audience.
Scheduled keynote speakers are Irene McAra-McWilliam, Head of the School of Design at the Glasgow School of Art, and
Bill Buxton of Microsoft Research. The conference, sponsored by ACM SIGCHI,
takes place April 5 to 10 in Florence, Italy.
Read the press release.
International Programming Contest Pits College Teams in "Battle of the Brains"
The 32nd annual International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) will take
place April 6 to 10 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. From 6,700 teams representing 1,821 universities in 83 countries competing
at 213 sites from September to December 2007 worldwide, 100 teams have advanced to the World Finals. These teams will
work on 10 problems in a grueling five-hour marathon. The students compete for awards, prizes, scholarships, and
bragging rights. Results will be posted on ICPC's web site. Winners are feted at ACM's Annual Awards Banquet,
to be held on June 21 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
Tribute to Jim Gray, Computing Pioneer and Turing Award Winner
ACM, the IEEE Computer Society, and University of California, Berkeley are joining to pay tribute to Jim Gray,
missing at sea since January 28, 2007. Gray, who won the
TuringAward in 1998,
is best known for his seminal contributions to database and transaction processing research, which made possible such applications as
the cash machine and databases like Google's. The tribute will be held May 31 at UC Berkeley.
Speakers at the tribute will include UC Berkeley's Joe Hellerstein, University of Washington's Ed Lazowska,
and Microsoft's Rich Rashid and David Vaskevitch. The general session
will be followed by technical sessions that require registration by April 15. For more information,
visit the Jim Gray Tribute home page.
Public Policy
Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy to Address Technology Policy Issues (see story under "Conferences and Events")
USACM's Chair Eugene Spafford Interviewed on Voter Registration Database Issues
The Fox News TV station in Chicago aired an interview with USACM
Chair and security expert Eugene Spafford. The issue to be discussed was the recent State of Illinois Compliance Examination which cited the
Illinois State Board of Elections for "non-compliance" with HAVA, the Help America Vote Act.
A recent Illinois Auditor General report of the state Board of Elections (BOE) noted that the Board's computerized
centralized statewide voter registration list failed to meet all of the requirements of HAVA, which was passed following
the 2000 election controversy in Florida. USACM, ACM's US Public Policy Committee, had
issued a report in 2006 which concluded that implementation of state voter registration databases is important because
they serve as the gateway for a citizen's right to vote, and can hold sensitive personal information that must be protected.
To view a video of the interview, click here.
'08 Tech Policy Outlook: Electronic Employment Verification Systems
Part of the immigration battles last summer was a proposal to expand a basic pilot program into a nationwide
system for confirming a person's employment eligibility online. The proposed system for scaling up to a national
EEVS, called E-Verify, is currently being used by 17,000 employers (only 9,000 of them use it actively), but the
system would need to expand to handle 5.9 million employers (an increase of over 340-fold). Last June,
USACM member Peter Neumann testified
on the challenges in scaling up databases before a House Ways and Means
subcommittee. The biggest lesson from Neumann's testimony is that problems will appear in the larger
version of a database that could not be predicted when it was running in the smaller version. Unfortunately,
these concerns are unlikely to stop efforts to make such a system happen. USACM has continued to emphasize the
technical challenges of a national EEVS. A subesquent bill introduced in March tries to address the concerns
raised, but it reflects a common problem with legislation involving technological fixes—an expectation
that the desired solutions are cheap, easy and feasible.
Read more by USACM Public Policy Analyst David Bruggeman in the
USACM technology policy blog.
Education
MentorNet Traces Journey from Protégé to Mentor
ACM has been in partnership with MentorNet to promote e-mentoring relationships between
professionals (mentors) and students (protégés) in science and technology fields for close to a year. Often, protégés end up
becoming mentors as a direct result of their positive experience with the program. Read
about one woman's transition from protégé to successful mentor in the MentorNet newsletter.
Student News
New Online Career Resources for Graduating Students and ACM Members
An extensive list of online career resources, including selected career websites; resumes, cover letters, and interview tips;
online professional networking sites; and more is now available to graduating students and all ACM members.
Please visit the Online Resources for Graduating Students
site to take advantage of this valuable resource.
Crossroads Digital Edition Debuts (see story under "Publications News")
MentorNet MentorNet Traces Journey from Protégé to Mentor (see story under "Education")
ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences
A program launched by ACM's Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) provides support
for undergraduate or graduate women students in Computer Science programs who are interested in attending
research conferences. It is not required that the student present a paper at the conference she attends.
High school students will also be considered for conference support. Initially, up to 12 scholarships of
up to $500 each will be awarded annually. ACM-W also encourages the student's home department to match
the scholarship award and recognize the student's achievement locally within her department. Applications
will be evaluated in four groups each year, in order to distribute awards across a range of conferences,
with two to three awards given each quarter. For application form, notification dates and more information,
please visit the scholarships page.
Student Volunteers Needed to Help Teach High School CS Teachers
The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) is seeking Computer Science college students proficient
in Java and other new programming languages and environments to train high school CS teachers in these technologies.
Java Engagement for Teacher Training (JETT) and Teacher Enrichment in Computer Science
(TECS) are one- and two-day workshops for high school teachers, hosted by college and university CS
students and faculty. Hosting a JETT or TECS workshop is a great volunteer experience for individual student ACM members,
as well as student chapters. For more information please contact
Gail Chapman, the JETT and TECS workshop coordinator.
Graduating Students Eligible for Special Transition Rate
ACM offers a special ACM Professional Membership for $49 USD (regularly $99) to help graduating students make the transition
to professional careers, and take advantage of continuous learning opportunities, including
free online books and courses and access to
ACM's Career & Job Center.
This one-year-only transition rate includes all the benefits of Professional Membership plus the option of purchasing a
Digital Library subscription for $50. Recent graduates can access this special
transition offer through ACM's convenient
online renewal form, or by following the instructions on the
paper renewal form.
ACM-W News
ACM-W Ambassador's Report: International Women's Day
March brings International Women's Day, which is a great opportunity to reflect on the fight for equal rights for
women and international peace. This month, Annemieke Craig writes in
ACM-W's News Blog about the continuing struggle to achieve equal participation by women in IT.
ACM-W Reaches out to Students, Women and Underserved at SIGCSE Conference
Several ACM-W members attended the SIGCSE Technical Symposium in Portland, Oregon earlier this month. (SIGCSE is
ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.)
Paula Gabbert (Furman University) organized an ACM-W booth which distributed information on her ACM-W project,
student ACM-W chapters. (Email Paula for questions and a CD that includes directions,
a template and resources for chartering a student ACM-W chapter). Barbara Boucher Owens (Southwestern University) led a BOF session,
"Using Oral Histories in Curricular Planning." Mary Anne Eagan (Siena College) participated in a panel, sharing information
about her "Women in Computer Science" class. Lecia Barker (University of Colorado at Boulder), Joanne McGrath Cohoon (University of Virginia, NCWIT) and Gloria Childress
Townsend (DePauw University) presented their paper with Suzanne Menzel (Indiana University) about small regional celebrations.
(Email Gloria for a complete how-to manual for planning, organizing
and conducting a small regional celebration.) Paula and Gloria led a BOF concerning their
SIGCSE committee:
"Expanding the 'Women-in-Computing' Community"; they also
collaborated with CRA-W and other organizations in a BOF about diversity.
ACM-W has maintained a SIGCSE booth for several years. This year, CRA-W,
the Coalition to Diversify
Computing, and other organizations concerned with underrepresentation organized a neighboring booth.
All organizations benefited from SIGCSE's theme of improving access to computing
for the underrepresented and the disabled.
Publications News
Exciting Developments for Communications of the ACM and ACM Queue
As of July 2008, ACM will be re-launching its flagship publication,
Communications of the ACM, with a completely new design
and layout, editorial board, and editorial model. The newly re-launched magazine will feature an improved In Depth News
section written by professional science and technology writers, additional columns and opinion articles, practitioner-oriented
and review articles, contributed articles, and a completely new Research Highlights and Technical Perspectives section.
Later in the year will see the launch of an entirely new and robust magazine website to complement the print publication.
At the same time, ACM Queue will become an all-electronic publication and
return to 10 issues per year. Following in the path of CACM, it inaugurated its digital editions with the
January/February issue, which is freely accessible by anyone.
Offering a number of advanced features, the digital edition has the same look and feel as the printed issue, and will
be complemented by a new web presence. As of July 2008 a selection of Queue articles will also start to appear (in print)
in the new Practice section of the Communications of the ACM.
Crossroads Digital Edition Debuts
With the Spring, 2008 issue, Crossroads, the leading magazine for the ACM Student Member community,
now has a digital edition.
The digital format is an added benefit to subscribers, complementing the current print
edition of the magazine and articles posted in the ACM Digital Library. It enables members to view a true
digital representation of the entire print magazine from cover to cover in an easy-to-use digital format.
Articles featured in the Spring 2008 issue include:
All Crossroads content is geared toward students preparing to embark on Computer Science careers.
ACM Queuecast: Sun's Bryan Cantrill Talks with Joyent CTO Jason Hoffman
ACM Queue's latest Queuecast brings
together two of the great younger minds in Silicon Valley: Jason Hoffman, CTO of
Joyent and Bryan Cantrill, senior staff engineer at Sun Microsystems and author of the DTrace visibility tool. Listen to
part one of their conversation, in which they discuss the promise of biological computing and how virtualization helps
Joyent provide scalable infrastructure for Facebook apps.
ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage Call for Papers
ACM's new Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH) is seeking papers on the use of information and
communications technology in support of Cultural Heritage,
such as on-site and remotely sensed data collection; metadata,
classification schema, ontologies and semantic processing; and
intelligent tools for digital reconstruction. Visit the
JOCCH Web site for more information.
ACM in the News
"SIGGRAPH's International Animation Competition Opens to Public"
Yahoo! Finance, March 17, 2008
ACM SIGGRAPH officially announced the opening of submissions for FJORG!—the International Animation Contest taking place at
the upcoming SIGGRAPH conference, August 11 to 15 in Los Angeles.
"Industry Giants Try to Break Computing's Dead End"
New York Times, March 19, 2008
ACM Past President David Patterson to head new Universal Parallel Computing Research Center at
University of California, Berkeley, funded by Intel and Microsoft.
Read
more ACM in the News.
Copyright © 2008, ACM, Inc.