ACM MemberNet - March 27, 2012

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 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

Judea Pearl Wins ACM A.M. Turing Award for Contributions that Transformed Artificial Intelligence
ACM has named Judea Pearl of the University of California, Los Angeles the winner of the 2011 ACM A.M. Turing Award for innovations that enabled remarkable advances in the partnership between humans and machines that is the foundation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Pearl pioneered developments in probabilistic and causal reasoning and their application to a broad range of problems and challenges. He will receive his award at the ACM A.M. Turing Centenary Celebration and Awards Banquet in June.
Visit the ACM A.M. Turing Award site.
Read the ACM press release.

Celebrate Alan Turing's 100th Birthday Anniversary with ACM!
On June 15 and 16, 2012, 33 ACM A.M. Turing Award Winners come together for the first time, to honor the 100th Anniversary of Alan Turing and reflect on his contributions, as well as on the past and future of computing. Celebrate with us! Registration, compliments of ACM, which includes the Friday reception, is limited.

ACM Announces Slate of Candidates for Its 2012 General Election
ACM has assembled its slate of candidates for President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer (for the 2012 to 2014 term), and Members at Large (2012 to 2016). Statements and biographical sketches of all candidates will appear in the May 2012 issue of Communications of the ACM. Visit the ACM Elections page for more information and to view the slate.

Remembering Solomon Rosenthal, Computing Pioneer
Solomon "Sol" Rosenthal, who was very active in ACM's early days, passed away on March 21, 2012, in Rockville, Maryland. He was in charge of the team that did the actual wiring of the ENIAC computer. As recounted in The Women of ENIAC, an article by W. Barkley Fritz in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, "The first women directly involved with ENIAC were those hired by the Moore School to participate in its actual construction. A few of these women had previous experience on the production line in the emerging vacuum tube-based electronics industry of World War II. They worked at the University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Solomon Rosenthal." He was one of 30 recipients of a medal from the Moore School in 1986, honoring his involvement with ENIAC.

Rosenthal was Chair of the Finance Committee for the 1961 ACM Eastern Joint Computer Conference, and edited the proceedings of the ACM 1967 22nd National Conference. He helped to form the ACM Washington, DC chapter in 1958 and served as its Chair from 1960 to 1963. "He helped develop a solid foundation for our community organization," said current Chapter Chair Isaac Christoffersen. "It is a great loss for the community, but he has left behind a legacy that I'm sure will endure."

Computer Graphics Leader Carl Machover Dies at 84
Carl Machover, a computer graphics pioneer and graphics "evangelist," died March 5 at his home in White Plains, New York, after a prolonged illness. He was 84. Machover authored the C4 Handbook, CAD/CAM Handbook and Computer Graphics Handbook. He co-executive produced a 90-minute film documentary, "The Story of Computer Graphics," for SIGGRAPH, ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, in 1998, while he was also serving as its History Chair. A long-time volunteer for SIGGRAPH, he advocated for women in computer graphics and for computer graphic arts. He was also active in the Society for Information Display (SID), for which he was both president and fellow; the National Computer Graphics Association (NCGA); and Art and Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI), acting as president for both of these latter associations. He also helped to form the Computer Graphics Pioneers group, was an adjunct professor of interactive computer graphics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and was an advisory board member of the Pratt Center for Computer Graphics in Design.

"Carl was very active as a speaker for courses and panels at the SIGGRAPH annual conferences," said ACM President Alain Chesnais. "He was a mentor for many key people at SIGGRAPH. I often went to him for advice with the various startups I've been involved in. He would always make time to chat and suggest options."

Read obituaries from SIGGRAPH and PR Web
Carl Machover's Digital Library author page
Eurographics Fellow citation

Awards

Eric Roberts, Mark Guzdial of ACM Education Board Win IEEE Computer Society Awards
Eric Roberts, Past Chair of ACM's Education Board, has been named the recipient of the IEEE Computer Society's 2012 Taylor L. Booth Award "for contributions to computing education as demonstrated by teaching excellence, education publications, curricula development, and student mentoring." From 1998 to 2001, Roberts also served as Co-Chair and principal editor for the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula 2001, which published a detailed set of curriculum guidelines in December 2001. He is a computer science professor at Stanford University. ACM Education Board member Mark Guzdial has received the IEEE-CS Computer Science & Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award "for outstanding and sustained excellence in computing education through innovative teaching, mentoring, inventive course development, and knowledge dissemination." Guzdial also serves on the board of ACM SIGCSE and is on the editorial boards of Communications of the ACM and ACM Transactions on Computing Education. He is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology.

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 June 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

CHI 2012 to Focus on Importance of User Experience in Design
The ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems will emphasize the user experience in all aspects of design—from models and theory to hands-on interactivity. Set for May 5 to 12 in Austin, Texas, CHI 2012 will unite the design, engineering, management and user experience communities in cross-disciplinary sessions from machine learning to accessibility, and navigation to thermal interfaces. Scheduled keynote speakers are Margaret Gould Stewart of YouTube, on "Connecting the World through Video"; and Hugh Herr of MIT Media Lab, on "Designing Intelligent Orthotics and Prosthetics."

ICSE 2012 Studies "Sustainable Software for a Sustainable World"
ICSE 2012, the International Conference on Software Engineering co-sponsored by ACM SIGSOFT, provides a forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences and issues in the field of software engineering. The conference, taking place June 2 to 9 in Zurich, Switzerland will host an ACM Student Research Competition, where students can present their research results to conference attendees and compete for prizes. A "New Ideas and Emerging Results" track will give presenters an opportunity to receive early feedback on novel research ideas and promising work that has not yet been fully evaluated. Scheduled keynote speakers are Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Co-Chair of the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University, New York; Frank-Dieter Clesle, Vice President of On-Demand Content as a Service Infrastructure at SAP Sustainability Lab, Markdorf, Germany; and Jeff Kramer, Senior Dean at Imperial College London.

GHC 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration Registration Opens June 1
The 12th Annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women of Computing (GHC 2012), presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, is the world's largest gathering of women in computing. The Grace Hopper Celebration will take place from October 3 to 6 in Baltimore, Maryland. This year's theme, "Are We There Yet?", recognizes that technology and the culture of technology are continuously evolving. Scheduled keynote speakers are Nora Denzel of Intuit, and Anita K Jones of the University of Virginia. Confirmed technical speakers hail from a variety of corporate and academic institutions, including Microsoft Research, WellPoint, University of Massachusetts, UCLA, and PepsiCo. Registration opens June 1.

ACM-BCB 2012 Opens Call for Participation
The ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Biomedicine (ACM-BCB) is the main flagship conference of the ACM Special Interest Group on Bioinformatics. Set in Orlando, Florida from October 7 to 10, this event will provide a premier forum for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research encompassing disciplines of computer science, mathematics, statistics, biology, bioinformatics, and biomedicine. The conference is seeking submissions of papers, posters, workshops, and tutorials, in subject areas including Genomics and Evolution; Protein and RNA Structure; Computational Systems Biology; Medical Informatics; Immunoinformatics; Computational Epidemiology; Databases; Text Mining and Natural Language Processing; and more.

SIGITE/RIIT 2012 Opens Call for Participation
The 13th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education and the 1st Annual Research in IT Conference (SIGITE/RIIT) will be held concurrently in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, October 11 to 13. The dual-conference format provides a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to information technology research, education, applications, IT-industry-academia relationships, and the roles professionals, educators, and advocates play in the effective use of IT. The aim of the new IT Research Conference is to provide a venue for showcasing research in information technology that may or may not have a connection with teaching IT. These two conferences, carrying the joint theme of "Working Together: Research & Education for IT," will be co-located and tightly integrated; attendees will be able to attend sessions of both (which are sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education (SIGITE) at no additional charge. Submissions of papers, posters and panels are due June 1.

SPLASH 2012 Opens Call for Participation
SPLASH, the conference on Systems, Programming, Languages and Applications: Software for Humanity, takes place October 19 to 26 in Tucson, Arizona. Formerly known as OOPSLA, the conference has opened its submisions process for content relating to all aspects of programming languages and software engineering. Submissions of papers, workshops and panels are due April 13. The deadline for submissions for posters, doctoral symposia, films, Student Research Competition, and student volunteer applications is July 9. Dynamic Languages Symposium submissions are due July 11. Demonstrations are due July 15.

Public Policy

USACM, ACM SIGCHI Issue Statement on Accessibility
Harry Hochheiser, USACM Accessibility Committee Chair and University of Pittsburgh professor, and Jonathan Lazar, Chair of Public Policy for ACM SIGCHI and Towson University professor, issued a statement earlier this month on USACM and ACM SIGCHI's joint comments on the proposed updated standards and guidelines for accessibility under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as applicable to federal agencies, and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, as applicable to telecommunications manufacturers:
"USACM supports the Access Board's decision to adopt an international standard for web accessibility because it will enable federal agencies, developers, and manufacturers to leverage a broader range of supporting materials, tools, training, and collaboration opportunities. We anticipate this harmonization will result in industry efficiencies, cost reductions, and increased built-in accessibility features in ICT services, products, and equipment by the employment of a single standard across multiple markets and throughout their supply chains.…"
Read the entire statement.
 
Member Programs

Become an Ambassador for ACM!
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. Grand prizes for the 2011–2012 year now include an Android tablet and a Nook eBook reader. The top ACM Ambassador for February was Hakim Salimi Atani, with five referrals. Learn more about new rules, recruitment tips and tools, as well as rewards and prizes by visiting the Ambassadors for ACM site.

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.

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.

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 as 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

Register for ACM's Second Free Webinar, "Security: Computing in an Adversarial Environment," April 12!
This free webinar will educate you on the security mindset and why it's needed; the social side of security; and the insider threat as a case study—what it is, how to detect it, how to prevent it. Carrie Gates, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, CA Labs, will be the presenter, and Christopher W. Clifton, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Purdue University, will moderate. Whether you're a software developer, engineer, or architect; a manager; or an IT professional, student, or educator interested in cybersecurity, register now, as space is limited! (ACM membership not required.)

NYU-Poly Webinars on Discounted Online Graduate Programs for ACM Members
Tune in Tuesday, March 27, 6 to 7 p.m. EDT, when NYU-Poly hosts a live webinar designed to introduce students to online graduate programs available for a 10% ACM member discount. All members of the ACM community are invited to attend and learn more about graduate degree programs in Bioinformatics, Cybersecurity, Wireless Innovation, and Organizational Behavior as well as Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Systems, and Computer Engineering, among others. To register, visit the NYU-ePoly Graduate Online Learning Webinar page. Those members interested in Cybersecurity can also register for the special webinar covering NYU-Poly's popular Cybersecurity program, taking place Tuesday, April 17, 6 to 7 p.m. EDT. On Wednesday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT, the Graduate Advisor for Electrical Engineering, Professor Chen, will be available all day to discuss the Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Networks, and Systems Engineering programs. Click here to register for this session. The deadline to apply for the fall 2012 semester is June 30. Click here to apply today. For more information, call 877-50-EPOLY or email [email protected].

New ACM Podcasts: Python Learning Path Author Bill Punch; Industry Leader Terry Coatta
This month, the ACM Learning Center Podcast series features new interviews. Bill Punch, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Michigan State University and author of the ACM Python Learning Path, discusses his affinity for Python, volunteer work for ACM, and research interests in evolutionary computation, data mining, computational biology, and security. Terry Coatta, member of the ACM Practitioners Board and the ACM Queue Editorial Board, talks to Stephen Ibaraki about good software architecture and development processes, the potential of social media, and what he's learned from leadership roles at several Vancouver-based technology companies.
 
Career & Job Center

Create, Update or Upgrade Your Résumé in the ACM Career & Job Center
Be sure to visit ACM's Career & Job Center to update your résumé or create a new one in the Résumé Bank. ACM members' résumés include an ACM logo on their entry, highlighting their ACM membership to employers. Or upgrade to a Preferred Résumé to keep it at the top of the Résumé Bank, highlighted with a star next to it for increased visibility ($25 for 90 days). ACM members can also access additional information by browsing through the content library of articles, tips, and more. Take advantage of this free resource!

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

Mark Guzdial, Eric Roberts of ACM Education Board Win IEEE Computer Society Awards (see story under "Awards")


CS2013 Computing Curricula Strawman Draft Available for Review
The Joint ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force on Computing Curricula has completed the Strawman draft of the CS2013 computing curricula guidelines and it is now available for review. To comment on the draft, please read the guidelines and instructions. Following a roughly 10-year cycle, the ACM and IEEE Computer Society jointly sponsor the development of a Computing Curricula volume on Computer Science. These volumes have helped to set international curricular guidelines for undergraduate programs in computing.
 
Student News

Deadline for ACM Student Chapter Excellence Awards Nominations April 27 (see story under Chapters News)


Computing Community Consortium's New Site Lists Undergraduate Summer Research Positions
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is offering a new website listing undergraduate summer research positions. The listings are linked from the CCC's relatively new Computer Science Research Opportunities & Graduate School (CSGS) site, a resource clearinghouse for CS undergraduates. Researchers will be able to post their summer research opportunities on the listing site for free. The site will enable students to find summer research programs, and will enable the CCC to promote a pipeline of young talent for careers in computing research. The CSGS site provides information on summer research opportunities, a Q&A on "why do research," and links to summer programs from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research, and Canadian Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates, among others. Students also will be able to find information and advice on applying to graduate school in computing fields.

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 SIGCSE 2012. The next conferences accepting submissions are: 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) recently launched a 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 are 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: Anne Condon
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 Anne Condon. She is a professor and head of the Department of Computer Science at University of British Columbia. She received her Bachelor's degree in 1982 from University College Cork, Ireland, and her Ph.D. in 1987 from the University of Washington's Computer Science Department. Anne was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin at Madison from 1987 until 1999, and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science at UBC from 2007 to 2010. Much of Anne's current research focuses on development of computational tools that help biologists understand the structure and function of RNA molecules. Anne is an ACM Fellow and has won an ACM Distinguished Dissertation Award, an NSF National Young Investigator Award and the University College Cork Distinguished Alumna Award. She held the NSERC/General Motors Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for British Columbia and the Yukon from 2004 to 2009, and received the Computing Research Association's 2010 Habermann Award for outstanding contributions aimed at increasing the numbers and successes of underrepresented groups in the computing research community.

For more information on Anne, please visit her DSP speaker information page.
Anne Condon's Digital Library author 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

Deadline for ACM Student Chapter Excellence Awards Nominations April 27
The ACM Student Chapter Excellence Awards Program recognizes chapters that display considerable initiative during the academic year. All student chapters in good standing are encouraged to apply for this award in five key areas:
  • Chapter Activities
  • Website
  • Community Service
  • Recruitment
  • School Service
Winning chapters in each of these five areas receive $500 and a "best of" icon to proudly display on their chapter's Web page. These chapters are featured on the ACM website and in ACM MemberNet. To be considered for one or more of these awards, ACM student chapters must submit an application in Word or Plain Text format (please, no PDFs), to [email protected]. In the subject line please state your chapter name and the categories for which you would like your chapter to be considered. Applications should be received by ACM no later than April 27, 2012 to be considered for the award.

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 February 23 to March 19, 2012:

ACM Student Chapters:
  • AVCOE IT ACM Student Chapter, Sanagmner, India
  • Firat University ACM Student Chapter, Elazig, Turkey
  • Illinois Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Chicago
  • NC State University ACM SIGDOC Student Chapter, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • PASC ACM Student Chapter, Pune, India
  • Rajalakshmi Engineering College ACM Student Chapter, Chennai, India
  • Salem State University ACM Student Chapter, Salem, Massachusetts
  • SR Engineering College ACM Student Chapter, Warangal, India
  • VRS ACM Student Chapter, Vijayawada, India
  • WFU ACM Student Chapter, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  • WSU Vancouver ACM-W Student Chapter, Vancouver, Washington
ACM Professional Chapters:
  • Austin ACM SIGKDD Chapter, Austin, Texas
  • Azerbaijan ACM Chapter, Baku, Azerbaijan
  • NYCHES ACM SIGUCCS Chapter, Rochester, New York
  • Romanian ACM Chapter, Bucharest, Romania
ACM-W News

East, West Coast States to Host April Regional Celebrations of Women in Computing
Virginia and California will play host to two exciting regional events in April. The Capitol Region Celebration of Women in Computing (CAPWIC 2012) will bring together women in computing from all stages of their careers and feature keynote speakers who are leaders in their fields, representing industry, academia and government, in northern Virginia April 11–12. The Southern California Celebration of Women in Computing (CWIC-SoCal 2012) in Santa Ana April 14–15 will bring together women interested in computer science and information technology to network, share their experiences, learn from each other, and have fun. Nora Denzel of Intuit, Crista Lopez of the University of California-Irvine, and Ashley Stroupe of the Jet Propulsion Lab are scheduled keynote speakers.

The Grace Hopper Regional Consortium, a project of ACM-W, 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. Visit the Grace Hopper Regional Consortium site to learn more about these events.

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

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology Seeks New Editor-in-Chief
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), covering all areas of software engineering research, is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due June 14.

CACM Reports: How Artificial Intelligence Can Put the "Smarts" in the Smart Grid
In a time of rising oil prices, the urgency of reducing the world's reliance on fossil fuels is growing. According to researchers at the University of Southampton, it is essential to build cleaner and more efficient electrical grids to safeguard future generations. In the April Communications of the ACM (CACM) cover story, they envision a fundamental reengineering of the current electricity grid into a smart grid, which provides challenges to computer science and artificial intelligence. This grid, they argue, will include technologies that require algorithms and mechanisms that can solve complex problems. They also provide a research agenda for the computing community to make the smart grid a reality. Also in this issue, the ACM China Council reports on the burgeoning joint activities between ACM and the China Computer Federation, which are aimed at raising ACM's visibility and advancing computing as a science and profession in China. The council expects to expand the number of ACM chapters in the country and begin translating selected articles from Communications into Chinese for distribution to members in China.

Communications, the flagship publication of ACM, offers readers access to this generation's most significant leaders and innovators in computing and information technology, and is available in print, Web and digital format.
Read the press release.

ACM Queue Presents: Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis
Jeffrey Heer at Stanford and Ben Shneiderman at the University of Maryland have put together a "taxonomy" of data visualization techniques. Drawing from academia, advertising, and publishing, the authors have 12 steps that developers can use "as a checklist of elements to consider when creating new analysis tools."

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM
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ACM in the News

"Cryptography Pioneer: We Need Good Code"
Infoworld, March 14, 2012
Whitfield Diffie, in the opening keynote of the recent Black Hat Europe conference, says a good plan to secure software is needed in the age of the Internet. Diffie, one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography and a winner of the first ACM Paris Kannelakis Theory and Practice Award, notes that developers should know exactly what the purpose of an application will be.

"Workshop on Experimental Support for Computer Science Yields Valuable Report"
Indiana University, March 13, 2012
Indiana University's FutureGrid project helped host the Workshop on Experimental Support for Computer Science during ACM's SC11 Supercomputing conference in November. The workshop brought together many scientists involved in building and operating infrastructures dedicated to supporting computer science experiments.

"Teach Your Robot Well"
Science Daily, March 8, 2012
A new study by researchers in Georgia Tech's Center for Robotics & Intelligent Machines (RIM) has identified the types of questions a robot can ask during a learning interaction that are most likely to characterize a smooth and productive human-robot relationship. The findings were detailed in a paper presented at the 7th ACM/IEEE Conference on Human-Robot Interaction.

"Social Media: Finding Your Friends and Following Them to Where You Are"
Science Daily, March 6, 2012
Computer scientists at the University of Rochester have shown that much can be learned about individuals from their interactions in online social media, even when those individuals hide their "tweets" and other posts. The research won Best Paper Award at the 5th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining.
 

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