ACM MemberNet - September 29, 2011

Welcome to the September 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 current and past issues of MemberNet online at http://membernet.acm.org. Is there a person, event, or issue you'd like to see covered? Please email mn-editor at acm.org.

TOP STORIES

Awards Member Recognition SIG Awards Conferences and Events Public Policy Member Programs Learning Center Career & Job Center Education Student News Distinguished Speakers Program Chapters News ACM-W News Publications News ACM in the News
TOP STORIES

ACM Member Referral Program Winners Announced
The top recruiter in this year's member referral campaign is ACM member Ken Chenis of Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He qualified for a Grand Prize, the iPad 2. The second Grand Prize winner is ACM member Venkata Ramana Nallagattla of Vijayawada, India, who received a Flip Camera. ACM members like you are our greatest source of new members. Your first-hand experience with ACM's valuable career development and continuous learning programs makes you a perfect envoy to share your ACM experiences. That's why we're now calling this program Ambassadors for ACM. Along with a new name, we've refreshed the referral process as well as recruitment tips and opportunities for prizes, rewards and bonus gifts.

You may have noticed that ACM has introduced several initiatives that empower members to succeed in the competitive computing field: Share this news with friends and colleagues and become an Ambassador for ACM. Submit the ACM Referral Form and your referrals receive a special discount rate when they join ACM. And you will be eligible for free bonus gifts, rewards and Grand Prizes. Learn more about new rules, recruitment tips and tools as well as rewards and prizes by visiting the Ambassadors for ACM site. Our members are our greatest asset. Your support of ACM is critical to our continuing efforts to advance computing as a science and a profession.

Call from Computing Community Consortium for High-Impact Research IT Proposals
ACM would like to inform the computing community about an opportunity to submit proposals for workshop programs that define visions and agendas for exciting frontiers of computing research. The intent is to generate interest from funding agencies, with awards that can range from $10,000 to $200,000. This initiative comes from the Computing Community Consortium, a committee of the Computing Research Association. Proposals are due by email to [email protected] October 14, at 5 p.m. Successful submissions will demonstrate the creation and application of information technologies to important challenges from the theoretical to the practical.

CSEdWeek Coming Soon—Your Participation is Encouraged!
Get ready for 2011 Computer Science Education Week, December 4 to 10. CSEdWeek recognizes that computing is ubiquitous, touches everyone's daily life, plays a critical role in society, drives innovation and economic growth, and provides rewarding job opportunities. How can you participate? Please visit the CSEdWeek website, where you can obtain customized resources for Students, Teachers, Parents and Community, Administrators and Counselors, Colleges and Universities, and Corporations. CSEdWeek is an activity in cooperation with the Computing in the Core Coalition and partners. Computing in the Core is a non-partisan advocacy coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other nonprofit organizations seeking to elevate the national profile of computer science education in K-12 within the US, and work toward ensuring that computer science is one of the core academic subjects in K-12 education. CSEdWeek's long-range goals include:
  • Sharing information and activities to help elevate computer science in K-12 education
  • Eliminating misconceptions about computer science education
  • Communicating the endless opportunities computer science education prepares students for within K-12, in higher education and in careers
While visiting the CSEdWeek website, please consider making a pledge to take on an activity on behalf of computer science education. Stay tuned for more information on the CSEdWeek website and in MemberNet.

Awards

Call for ACM Award Nominations
Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. And annually, ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. You and your colleagues are invited to nominate candidates for ACM awards, including:
Awards with November 30, 2011 nomination deadlines:
  • A.M. Turing Award
  • ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences
  • ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award
  • Software System Award
  • Grace Murray Hopper Award
  • Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award
  • Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics
  • Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award
  • Distinguished Service Award
  • Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award
Other Award nomination deadlines: Please take a moment to consider those individuals in your community who may be suitable for nomination. Refer to http://www.acm.org/nominations for nomination guidelines and the complete listing of Award Subcommittee Chairs and Members.
 
Member Recognition

Call for ACM Senior Member Nominations
The Senior Member advanced grade of membership 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 deadline for nominations is December 1.

SIG Awards

ACM SIG Awards Recognize Achievements in Diverse Fields
ACM's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) regularly cite outstanding individuals for their contributions in more than 30 distinct technological fields. Some awards presented (or to be presented) at recent conferences:
Conferences and Events

SPLASH 2011 Studies "The Internet as World-Wide Virtual Machine"
SPLASH, the software development conference formerly known as OOPSLA, focuses on improving software design through new ideas about programming languages, tools, conceptual models, and methodologies. The overall theme of the conference is "The Internet as the World-Wide Virtual Machine," referring to the change in the order of magnitude of computing over the past few years, with software systems rarely being designed in isolation, but rather connected to other devices, systems, and data. The implications of this global computing network on software development will be examined in research papers, symposia, and workshops. Scheduled keynote speakers are Ivan Sutherland, former Sun VP and a Visiting Scientist at Portland State University; Markus Püschel, professor of computer science at ETH Zürich, Switzerland; and Brendan Eich, CTO of Mozilla. A special Tech Talk by Dave Thomas, CEO of Bedarra Corp., will explore "Why Modern Application Development Sucks! Death by Objects, Agile, Middleware..." Two co-located conferences, Pattern Languages of Programs (PLOP) and Generative Programming and Component Engineering (GPCE), will explore different aspects of software development. The conference takes place October 22 to 27 in Portland, Oregon.

GHC 2011 Grace Hopper Celebration Registration Now Open
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC 2011) is the world's largest gathering of women in computing. On November 8 to 12 in Portland, Oregon, leading researchers will present their current work, while special sessions in academic, technical, industry, and student areas will focus on the role of women in today's technology fields. Scheduled keynote speakers include Facebook COO Sheryl Sandburg and Shirley Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Invited technical speakers include University of British Columbia computer science professor Anne Condon; green technology entrepreneur and activist Alexis Ringwald; Maria Ebling, Senior Manager at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center; Beth Pruitt, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University; and Margaret Martonosi, professor of computer science at Princeton University. A plenary panel will explore "Partnering with Executive Leaders for Shared Vision and Career Growth." On November 12, the conference will host its first Open Source Day, including a Codeathon for Humanity, workshop, and exhibits of open source projects.
Follow GHC 2011 on Twitter at #GHC11!

SC11 Aims to Unite HPC Communities
The SC11 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis is set for November 12 to 18 in Seattle, Washington. SC11 will place an emphasis on bringing together communities to facilitate information exchange, discussions and new collaborations for research and education related to innovating high performance computing applications and advancing scientific discovery and scholarship. This year's conference will focus on data intensive science, its challenges and opportunities for addressing the exponential growth and demands in the generation and analysis of data. New events this year are the Scientific Visualization Showcase, which will present state-of-the-art scientific visualizations that relate to HPC problems, and State of the Practice, a forum for peer-reviewed reports and presentations on best practices involving provisioning, using and improving the critical systems and services in HPC. The Communities Program, aimed at broadening the community of students, educators and researchers engaged in high performance computing, networking, data and analysis, will include educational outreach for educators, and diversity outreach for underrepresented groups. View the new interactive program schedule.
Early registration is available until October 17.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 Early Registration Now Open
The fourth SIGGRAPH Asia conference will once again provide an opportunity for the international computer graphics community to meet in Asia and learn from leaders in research, animation, art, software, visualization, hardware, games, visual effects, and education. The Art Gallery and the Emerging Technologies programs will return, as will the Computer Animation Festival, courses, technical papers, sketches and posters programs, and a Trade Exhibition. Scheduled keynote speakers are New York University computer science professor Ken Perlin, known for his Academy Award-winning noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, and Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and recipient of the 2008 ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award. Perlin will share his insights and expertise in the field of computer graphics and its future. Buxton will speak about the history and future of interaction and computer graphics, and the importance of balancing the two. The conference takes place December 12 to 15 in Hong Kong. Register by October 31 to enjoy Early Bird discounts of up to 10%.

Public Policy

ACM CEO John White Applauds Computer Science Education Act
On September 22, Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the computer science Education Act, a key legislative initiative that is part of a continuing effort to address the growing crisis in K-12 computer science education. The legislation will bolster computer science education programs across the country, and help ensure that the education pipeline will produce the workforce the nation will need to thrive and compete in the 21st century. The Act targets a variety of factors that currently work against quality computer science in K-12 education.

"In K-12 education, computer science courses are fading from the national landscape at the very moment they are needed most," said John White, CEO, ACM. "Introductory secondary school computer science courses have decreased in number by 17 percent from 2005. The number of AP computer science courses has also decreased by 33 percent. As lawmakers consider how to improve the country's education system, the goals of the computer science Education Act must be taken into account. Computer science must be a fundamental discipline in our nation's classrooms if we want to be successful in the 21st Century."
Read the press release.

ACM Expert Cites Crisis in K-12 Computer Science Education as Threat to Robust IT Workforce
At a Congressional hearing today on oversight of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, Robert Schnabel, who chairs ACM's Education Policy Committee, testified that the current education pipeline is not producing enough graduates in IT fields. Schnabel, dean of the School of Informatics at Indiana University, said that the current rate of qualified IT graduates entering the workforce cannot meet the nation’s growing need for computing professionals throughout all sectors of the economy. He added that the crisis in K-12 computer science education is a direct threat to the pipeline for a healthy IT workforce, and warned that if these issues are not addressed, the computing pipeline will continue to suffer.

"If we fail to address the issues facing K-12 computer science education, students will have little exposure or familiarity with this critical discipline or its concepts before beginning higher education. As a result, the IT workforce will continue to lack the capacity needed to meet the nation's growing IT needs," he said. "NITRD and the National Coordinating Office (NCO) can play a key role in addressing the obstacles impeding K-12 computer science education. As the committee works to reauthorize NITRD, we encourage it to help our nation address this problem."
Read the complete testimony on the USACM website.
Read the press release.
 
Member Programs

Live Chat Feature Now Available to Members
ACM's new interactive Live Chat feature provides members with an opportunity for real-time customer service from our Member Service Representatives. To start your chat, simply log in to myACM with your ACM web account username and password and click on the Live Chat icon. Live chat is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. Any chats attempted after hours will automatically generate an email to ACM to be answered during regular business hours.

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. Show your exceptional support for ACM and its efforts to advance computing as a science and profession, and join over 900 of your peers by becoming a Lifetime Member!

Auto and Home Insurance Benefit Available from Liberty Mutual
As an ACM member you could receive exclusive savings on your auto and home insurance. Plus, with Liberty Mutual, you get service and support when and where you need it. To learn more about Liberty Mutual insurance or to get a free, no-obligation quote, please visit http://www.libertymutual.com/acm or call 1-800-524-9400 and refer to group #8559.

ACM Member Benefit: The Association for Computing Machinery Platinum Plus MasterCard Credit Card
With the Association for Computing Machinery Platinum Plus MasterCard credit card with WorldPoints rewards, you'll earn points on purchases to redeem for cash, travel, merchandise, even unique adventures. Using this card benefits Association for Computing Machinery—at no additional expense to you. You can make an even bigger difference by redeeming your points to make a charitable donation. In addition, you'll get our Clarity Commitment summary—a simple explanation of key account terms written in plain language, so you understand what you're getting. And with Bank of America's $0 Liability Guarantee, you'll have fewer disruptions if you experience fraudulent charges.

Learn more about this and other ACM member programs by visiting the discounts and special offers page.

Attention Faculty: Order Complimentary Materials for Your Students
ACM offers the opportunity for faculty members to order complimentary materials for distribution to their students who are interested in the field of computing. Available items include ACM student membership brochures and posters, as well flyers featuring ACM's Digital Library, Code of Ethics, and student chapters, among others. Place your order using our easy online form and your request will be fulfilled promptly!
 
Learning Center

ACM Releases Enterprise Architecture Tech Pack
The ACM Tech Pack on Enterprise Architecture is now available to all ACM members! Edited and annotated by Brian H. Cameron of Penn State's Center for Enterprise Architecture (EA), this expert reading list includes ACM Digital Library materials and key non-ACM readings. This addition to ACM's Tech Pack series provides perspectives and insights into the fast-growing EA discipline and profession, which is critically important to both for-profit and non-profit enterprises. The new Tech Pack is well suited for experienced Enterprise and IT Architects and researchers as well as those less familiar with EA. EA helps businesses translate their vision and strategy into effective enterprise change and enables its evolution. Although organizations are striving to be more effective in today's globally connected world, many have yet to achieve the benefits that EA can produce.

Did You Know? ACM members get complimentary access to all DL materials found inside a Tech Pack. Just another benefit of your ACM membership.

ACM Updates Online Books24x7, Safari Selections with Book Swap
On September 28, ACM refreshed its Books24x7 and Safari Books Online custom collections of books and videos. You'll find updated editions of some authoritative texts as well as expanded coverage of topics like cloud computing, enterprise architecture, game programming, and user design, as well as Android and iOS programming and preparatory guides for Microsoft and Oracle certifications. All ACM members will find several titles featured in the just-released ACM Tech Pack on Enterprise Architecture, including the classic Enterprise Architecture Planning: Developing a Blueprint for Data, Applications, and Technology. For ACM Professional members, notable Safari additions include The Well Grounded Rubyist, by ACM Ruby Learning Path author David A. Black; and Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture, also found in the EA Tech Pack.

New Element K Courses Feature Security, Programming, Communications Training
This month, ACM Members will find significant additions to Element K's catalog of online courses. The Security Innovation series contains 14 new courses in Software Security Fundamentals, including "Fundamentals of Application Security," "Fundamentals of Secure Architecture," and "Introduction to Threat Modeling." In programming, "Java Fundamentals (Java SE 6)" provides training toward the OCA certification, while Microsoft additions include "Upgrading Web Development Skills from ASP to Microsoft ASP.NET." Communications technology professionals may find "Fundamentals of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)" of interest. View the course catalog in ACM's Learning Center for the complete list of courses.

ACM Members Save $1,000 on Enterprise Architecture Executive Program
On November 14 to 18, Penn State Executive Programs and the Smeal College of Business will present "Enterprise Integration & Transformation: Beyond IT/Business Alignment." This program was designed to help CIOs, Executive VPs, and IT managers, strategists, and architects create the foundation for an enterprise framework that captures the current state, envisions the future state, and determines actions needed for guiding integration and transformation efforts. Conducted at the Penn State University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania, the course is presented by Program Faculty Director Brian Cameron, author of the ACM Tech Pack on Enterprise Architecture, as well as top faculty from Penn State and other leading institutions. To see program content and learn more about the faculty, please visit the Enterprise Integration & Transformation home page.

All ACM members can participate for a reduced fee of $4,750 (regular cost is $5,750). Class size is limited. Reserve space via phone or email:
phone: 814 865-3435; Toll Free: 800 311-6364; Fax: 814 865-3372
email: [email protected]
Then apply online at http://php.smeal.psu.edu/psep/apply/.
 
Career & Job Center

Import your LinkedIn Profile in ACM's Career & Job Center!
Now available when posting a résumé in the Résumé Bank: import your LinkedIn profile. You will be required to sign in to your LinkedIn account. Please note that LinkedIn does not have exactly the same fields as ACM so you will have to review the imported information and update where necessary. Once you have a résumés created and saved in our system, you can publish it to the Résumé Bank so employers find you! Or keep it private and use it when applying online for jobs. So log in to ACM's Job Board and post your résumé today!

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 members can subscribe to the CareerNews email alert service.

For more information about the Career & Job Center please contact Jennifer Ruzicka.
 
Education

ACM CEO John White Applauds Computer Science Education Act (see story under Public Policy)

ACM Expert Cites Crisis in K-12 Computer Science Education as Threat to Robust IT Workforce (see story under Public Policy)

Request for Proposals: Academic Grants to Support Teaching Parallelism
Are you teaching your students about parallelism? Working closely with ACM and others, Intel is providing resources to help faculty integrate parallelism into their undergraduate curricula. New Intel Microgrants of up to $5,000 are currently available to support the creation and sharing of innovative teaching methods and materials. Descriptions for current or planned course material which demonstrates how students can learn about parallel code in Data Structures, Algorithms, and Patterns will be accepted during published periods. Please see the Parallelism Content Awards site for details.

CS2013 Steering Committee Conducting "Characteristics of Graduates" Survey
The CS2013 Steering Committee, a joint ACM/IEEE Computer Society task force charged with producing revised computer science curricular guidelines, is conducting an important survey of the characteristics of CS graduates. The survey is based on the expected characteristics of computer science graduates from the CS2008 guidelines. Please take a moment to fill out the survey. Your feedback is crucial to the success of CS2013.
 
Student News

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions
ACM Student Research Competitions (SRCs), sponsored by Microsoft Research, offer a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research at well-known ACM sponsored and co-sponsored conferences before a panel of judges and attendees. The most recent SRC winners presented at SIGCOMM 2011. The next conferences accepting submissions are:
  • AOSD 2012, March 25–30, 2012, deadline October 16
Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

CRA's URO Zone Connects Students with Opportunities for Undergraduate Research
The Computing Research Association (CRA) has launched a new website to help undergraduate students identify computing research opportunities. The site—URO Zone, for Undergraduate Research Opportunities—provides links to a range of summer undergraduate research resources. It also posts profiles of undergraduates and details their recent computing research projects. URO Zone offers guidelines to help discover research opportunities in a variety of areas, from applied to theoretical computer science. It also defines specific research fields, describes CRA and ACM undergraduate awards programs, and lists links for finding computing research opportunities.

ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences
The ACM Women's Council (ACM-W), with funding from Wipro Technologies, provides support for women undergraduate or graduate students in computer science and related programs who wish to attend research conferences. The student does not have to present a paper at the conference she attends. High school students will also be considered for conference support. As of 2011, 20 ACM-W/Wipro scholarships will be funded annually: 10 scholarships of up to $600 will be awarded for intra-continental conference travel, and 10 scholarships of up to $1,200 will be awarded for intercontinental conference travel. ACM-W encourages the student's home department to match the scholarship award and recognize the student's achievement locally within her department. In addition, if the award is for attendance at one of several ACM special interest group conferences (SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGSOFT, SIGGRAPH, SIGITE, SIGOPS, and SIGPLAN), the SIG will provide complementary conference registration and a mentor during the conference. Applications are evaluated in six groups each year, in order to distribute awards across a range of conferences. For application form, notification dates and more information, please visit the scholarships page.

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. For more information, visit the Reasons to Transition to Professional Membership page.
 
Distinguished Speakers Program

Featured Distinguished Speaker: Judson Rosebush
The Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP) is one of ACM's most valued outreach programs, providing universities, corporations, event and conference planners, and local ACM chapters with direct access to top technology leaders and innovators from nearly every sector of the computing industry.

This month's featured speaker is Judson Rosebush. Judson is a producer and director of computer animation, an author, and a media theorist. He is a graduate of the College of Wooster in art and has a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in Public Communications. He has worked in radio and television broadcasting, sound and video production, print, and hypermedia. His specialty is computer animation and the Internet.

For more information on Judson, please visit his DSP speaker information page.

ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program Expands to Colleges, Universities, Corporations
ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP) is expanding its venues for delivering compelling content on computing and IT to colleges, universities, and corporations. Previously available only to ACM Local Chapters, the DSP technology leaders and innovators offer more than 250 presentations on topics covering software engineering, high performance computing, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, gaming, mobile computing, and dozens more. Nearly 100 speakers can be booked through the ACM DSP to educate technical staff, ramp up the knowledge of teams, provide opportunities for direct speaker interaction, and boost attendance at meetings and events. ACM's Distinguished Speakers represent prominent companies, colleges and universities from around the world. These renowned thought leaders have proven abilities to address current issues, including Electronic Voting in the 21st Century; Software Engineering Best Practices; Software Under Siege: Viruses and Worms; Spatial Databases and Geographic Information Systems; and Careers in Computing—How to Prepare and What to Expect.

Read more about the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program and how to search for and select speakers on the DSP home page.

Chapters News

Welcome New ACM Chapters
Chapters are the "local neighborhoods" of ACM. The regional ACM Professional, Student, ACM-W, and Special Interest Group (SIG) chapters around the globe involve members locally in competitions, seminars, lectures, workshops, and networking opportunities. ACM welcomes these new chapters that were chartered August 18 to September 20:

ACM Student Chapters:
  • KIIT University ACM Student Chapter, Bhubaneswar, India
  • San Luis Potosi ACM Student Chapter, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
  • SVCE ACM Student Chapter, Sriperumbudur, India
  • TCET ACM SIGITE Student Chapter, Mumbai, India
  • University of North Carolina Greensboro ACM Student Chapter
  • University of Michigan ACM Student Chapter, Ann Arbor
ACM Professional Chapters:
  • San Francisco ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter, San Francisco, California

ACM-W News

Regional Celebrations of Women in Computing: Get Involved!
Three new Regional Celebrations of Women in Computing take place this fall in Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. The ACM-W project (the Grace Hopper Regional Consortium) provides programming that showcases female role models, encourages mentoring and networking, supplies accurate information about computing careers and creates opportunities for women to participate in the program—often for the first time in their careers.
  • MINKWIC (Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas Celebration of Women in Computing) takes place October 7 to 8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The program includes two keynotes by Yolanda Rankin (IBM) and Lillian Boots Cassel (Villanova University) and two panels, "The Imposter Syndrome" and "Breaking the Glass Ceiling."
  • TNWIC (Tennessee Celebration of Women in Computing) takes place October 14 to 15 at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Several distinguished speakers, such as Vidya Stelur (Nokia Research), will participate in the program, which also includes a "Thriving in a Man's World" panel.
  • TRIWIC (Tri-Cities Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati) will be at General Butler State Park in Kentucky, November 18 to 19
  • . TRIWIC's program features keynotes by Tracy Camp (Colorado School of Mines) and Pooja Nath Sankar (Piazza), a "Technical Moms on the Tenure Track" session and Graduate School/First Job events.
As the three sets of fall dates approach, ACM-W urges professors in the Midwest to plan for their female students to attend one of the conferences, before registration closes. Two of the sites are nearly at capacity. Visit the Grace Hopper Regional Consortium site to find out more about these and conferences planned for Southern California, New England and Chicago in spring 2012.

Join ACM-W's Membership Email List
Did you know that ACM-W offers a general email distribution list for its members? This ACMW-public list is a communication channel for disseminating general information about ACM-W, bulletins and upcoming events. To join the list: http://signup.acm.org/listserv_index.cfm?ln=ACM-W-PUBLIC.
And to keep more informed about the activities of ACM-W and its members, you can sign up for our quarterly CIS Newsletter notification. Be sure to read the current issue for the latest news on ACM-W activities and events on the ACM-W CIS Newsletter issues page.
 
Publications News

Call for Nominations: ACM Selected Readings Series
ACM is seeking an Editor-in-Chief for its ACM Selected Readings Series, a new publication series of readings on specific topics. The deadline for nominations is October 31. Visit the EIC search page for more information.

Call for Nominations: ACM Transactions on Graphics
The term of the current Editor-in-Chief of the Transactions on Graphics (TOG) is coming to an end, and the ACM Publications Board has set up a nominating committee to assist the Board in selecting the next EiC. Nominations, including self nominations, are invited for a three-year term as TOG EiC, beginning on January 1, 2012. The deadline for nominations is November 30. Please visit the EIC search page for more information.

acmqueue Presents: The World According to LINQ
In The World According to LINQ, Erik Meijer (known for his work on the Haskell language and his contributions to LINQ and Rx) lays out how data needs to be evaluated by its diversity, not just its volume. Programmers building Web- and cloud-based applications wire together data from many different sources such as sensors, social networks, user interfaces, spreadsheets, and stock tickers. But most of this data does not fit in the closed and clean world of traditional relational databases and presenting a unified programming model across all these disparate data models and query languages seems impossible at first. However, by focusing on the commonalities instead of the differences, however, most data sources will accept some form of computation to filter and transform collections of data. Meijer explains how LINQ shows promise for dealing with big data and details how LINQ is both a generalization of relational algebra and has deep roots in category theory.

Free Sample Issue of Communications of the ACM for Non-members!
New offer for ACM non-members! Fill out the online form and receive a free trial issue of Communications of the ACM. Read about the latest developments in the computing field, covered by today's leading experts.

ACM in the News

"Taking Touch Beyond the Touch Screen"
Technology Review, September 23, 2011
Researchers at Intel, Microsoft, and the University of Washington are collaborating on a tablet computer that can be controlled by touching any surface on which the device is placed. The system will be presented at next month's ACM User Interface, Software, and Technology Symposium (UIST) in Santa Barbara, California.

"A Campus Champion for Women in Computer Science"
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, September 22, 2011
Harvey Mudd College president (and former ACM president) Maria Klawe has helped increase the percentage of female computer science majors at the college to 42 percent, compared to the national average of 14 percent.

"Indiana University Announces $1.1 Million Fund Establishing World's Largest Student Prize for Software, Technology Business Plan"
Indiana University, September 19, 2011
Conversations between School of Informatics and Computing Dean Bobby Schnabel, who chairs ACM's Education Policy Committee, and three IU alumni led to the creation of the BEST competition, which is funded by 10 IU graduates who are now chief executives of their own firms.

"Smartphone Battery Life Could be Dramatically Improved in 'Subconscious Mode'"
PC World, September 16, 2011
University of Michigan computer science and Engineering professor Kang Shin and his team developed a way for smartphones to listen more efficiently, called Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening, or E-MiLi. They presented their concept at the ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom) in Las Vegas.

"Worth a read ACM article: 'Photoshop Scalability: Keeping it Simple'"
Dr. Dobb's, September 15, 2011
The author found this article in acmqueue very interesting in that it covers the earliest uses of parallelism for what he calls "convenience" instead of "performance" and how that evolved when parallel programming could yield performance boosts.

"NSF Issues New Grant for computer science Curriculum"
Education Week, September 13, 2011
Two San Diego universities are getting nearly $1 million from NSF to expand a computer science curriculum for students in the city's high schools, as well as community colleges and universities. Under the new grant, the ComPASS project will continue development of the San Diego Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapter, specifically integrating support for new teachers.
 

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