ACM MemberNet - January 3, 2013

Welcome to the January 2013 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 Member Programs Career & Job Center Student News Distinguished Speakers Program Chapters News ACM-W News Publications News ACM in the News
TOP STORIES

ACM Annual Report Highlights Education, Turing Tribute
ACM marked several milestones furing its 2011–2012 fiscal year, including its 10th straight year of membership growth; the ACM Digital Library's holdings topping 350,000 articles; and a centenary event honoring the life and legacy of Alan Turing, which drew more than 1,000 participants and 33 Turing Award recipients. ACM continues to lead the computer science education community through the work of the ACM Education Board, the ACM Education Council, ACM SIGCSE, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), and ACM Education Policy Committee. ACM remains at the forefront of the Computing in the Core (CinC) advocacy coalition working to promote computer science as a distinct discipline in K–12 US education. ACM's hubs in Europe, India, and China saw significant increases in the number of chapters established in FY12, and more initiatives are planned for growing these communities, with conferences and events targeted toward women, students, and educators, among others.
Read this and other board and committee annual reports.

ACM Fellows Named for Computing Innovations that Advance Technologies in Information Age
ACM has recognized 52 of its members for their contributions to computing that are fundamentally advancing technology in healthcare, cybersecurity, science, communications, entertainment, business, and education. The 2012 ACM Fellows personify the highest achievements in computing research and development from the world's leading universities, corporations, and research labs, with innovations that are driving economic growth in the digital environment. "These men and women are advancing the art and science of computing with enormous impacts for how we live and work," said ACM President Vinton G. Cerf. "The impact of their contributions highlights the role of computing in creating advances that range from commonplace applications to extraordinary breakthroughs, and from the theoretical to the practical. Some recipients have also helped to broaden participation in computing, particularly among underrepresented groups, and to expand its impact across multiple disciplines."
Read the press release.

ACM Names 41 Distinguished Members for Contributions to Computing
ACM has named 41 of its members as Distinguished Members for their individual contributions and their singular impacts on the dynamic computing field. Their achievements have advanced the science, engineering, and education of computing, enabling a range of technologies that drive innovation in the digital age. The 2012 ACM Distinguished Members hail from universities in Australia, Denmark, Italy, Korea, China, and the United Kingdom in addition to North America, and from leading corporations and research institutions around the world. "This year's Distinguished Members demonstrate the advantages of ACM membership, which empowers self-improvement and inspires a bold vision for the future," said ACM president Vinton G. Cerf. "Through their participation in building the foundations for groundbreaking technologies, they have achieved exemplary levels of professional standing. We celebrate their entrepreneurial spirit, their creative energy, and their leadership in strengthening the computing community." The ACM Distinguished Member program can recognize the top 10 percent of ACM worldwide membership based on professional experience as well as significant achievements in the computing field. ACM's current worldwide membership exceeds 100,000.
Read the press release.

Young Scientists Invited to Meet Leading Minds in Mathematics and Computer Science
Young researchers in the fields of mathematics and/or computer science are invited to participate in an extraordinary opportunity to meet some of the pre-eminent scientists in the field. ACM has joined forces with the newly created Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) to bring students together with the very pioneering researchers who may have sparked their passion for science and math. These role models include recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, and the Fields Medal. The first Heidelberg Laureate Forum will take place September 22 to 27, 2013 in Heidelberg, Germany. The week-long event will focus on scientific inspiration and exchange through a series of presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and social events involving both the laureates and the young scientists. The HLF invites new and recent Ph.Ds, Ph.D candidates, and other graduate students involved in research, and undergraduate students with solid experience in, and a commitment to, computing research to apply.

Young researchers can apply here. The materials required for a complete application are listed on the site.

To nominate a young researcher for this program, visit the nominators' site.

The deadline for applications is February 15. Successful applicants will be notified by April 15 and will receive full support to attend the Forum.

Awards

SC 12 Supercomputing Conference Honors Paper with Gordon Bell Prize
The Gordon Bell Prize is awarded by ACM each year at the SC conference to recognize outstanding achievement in high-performance computing. This year's award winners are Tomoaki Ishiyama (University of Tsukuba), Keigo Nitadori (University of Tsukuba), and Junichiro Makino (Tokyo Institute of Technology) for "4.45 Pflops Astrophysical N-Body Simulation on K computer—The Gravitational Trillion Body Problem." The purpose of the award is to track the progress over time of parallel computing, with particular emphasis on rewarding innovation in applying high-performance computing to applications in science, engineering, and large-scale data analytics. Prizes may be awarded for peak performance or special achievements in scalability and time-to-solution on important science and engineering problems. Financial support of the $10,000 award is provided by Gordon Bell, a pioneer in high-performance and parallel computing.

USACM Member Juan Gilbert receives FCC Chairman's Award for Advancement in Accessibility
USACM member Juan Gilbert and his team at Clemson University have won the FCC Chairman's Award for Advancement in Accessibility in the category of civic participation solutions for their efforts to deliver an accessible voting system. Their system, the Prime III: A Universally Designed Voting Machine, enables voters with disabilities to cast their votes in a private, secure environment without assistance. The awards are a project of the FCC's Accessibility and Innovation Initiative.

Nominations for 2013–2014 ACM-W Athena Lecturer Due February 1
The ACM-W Athena Lecturer Award celebrates outstanding women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. Candidates are nominated by Special Interest Group (SIG) officers; the Athena Lecturer gives a keynote at a SIG meeting of her and the SIG's choice, and receives a $10,000 honorarium, funded by Google. More information can be found on the Athena announcement page, which includes links to the nomination form and talks by previous winners. Nominations are due February 1.

Eckert-Mauchly Award Nominations Due March 30
The ACM/IEEE-CS Eckert-Mauchly Award honors recipients with a certificate and $5,000 given jointly by the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society for outstanding contributions to the field of computer and digital systems architecture, where the field of computer architecture is considered to encompass the combined hardware-software design and analysis of computing and digital systems. Nominations are due March 30.

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 March 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 35 distinct technological fields. Some awards presented (or to be presented) at recent conferences:
Conferences and Events

SIGHPC Co-Sponsors SC12 Supercomputing Conference; Start Submitting to SC13 Now!
Almost one year after its launch, ACM's Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing (SIGHPC) co-sponsored (along with SIGARCH and the IEEE Computer Society) SC12 in November. The SC conference series is the largest technical conference in the world devoted exclusively to high performance computing, and SC 12 was the first conference to be co-sponsored by SIGHPC. SC12 was one of the most successful in the conference's 24-year history, with nearly 10,000 supercomputing experts from 54 countries around the world converging in Salt Lake City to take part in tutorials, workshops, and technical and trade presentations that gave attendees a glimpse of the future of technical computing. The conference is highly competitive, with less than a quarter of submissions meeting the rigorous quality standards set by the technical program committee for papers in high performance computing, networking, storage, and data analysis. SIGHPC members, and all ACM Digital Library subscribers, can access the full library of technical papers in the Digital Library; instructions for access can be found on the SIGHPC Resources page.

SIGHPC and the SC committee are already hard at work planning SC13, to be held November 17-22, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. Quality of the technical program is always a top priority for SC. Every aspect of the technical program is being rigorously peer reviewed, and SC13 has changed the deadline for workshop and tutorial proposals to accommodate this improvement. Submissions for workshops are due on January 31, and the conference welcomes proposals for independently planned full-, half-, or multi-day workshops that complement the overall technical program events, expand the knowledge base of its subject area, and extend its impact by providing greater depth of focus. The deadline for tutorial submissions is March 25. As always, SC13 will offer attendees a variety of short courses on key topics and technologies relevant to high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis. Tutorials will provide the opportunity to interact with recognized leaders in the field and to learn about the latest technology trends, theory, and practical techniques.

Tapia 2013, February 7 to 10, Washington, D.C.
The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing brings together diverse leading researchers to present state-of-the art topics in the field of computing. The Tapia conference has a tradition of providing a supportive networking environment for under-represented groups across the broad range of computing and information technology, from science to business to the arts to infrastructure. A special session on the first night will include universities with information about graduate programs and other organizations (industry, research labs, federal agencies, etc.) seeking future interns and employees, with representatives from the organizations available to talk with conference attendees. Confirmed speakers include Vint Cerf (Google's vice president and ACM president), Armando Fox (UC Berkeley), Anita Jones (University of Virginia), Jeanine Cook (New Mexico State University), Annie Antón (Georgia Tech), Hakim Weatherspoon (Cornell University), and Theresa Maldonado (NSF). Plenary sessions will address Optimization and Social Networks; Testing to Ensure that Moore's Law Continues; Building a Collective Visual World; Robotic Scientific Explorers for Understanding Climate Change; Participatory Sensing: From Ecosystems to Human Systems; Reinventing Operating Systems for Manycore Computing; The Changing Nature of Research and Innovation in the 21st Century; Organizing the World's Information; and more.

CSCW 2013, February 23 to 27, San Antonio, Texas
The ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing is the premier venue for presenting research in the design and use of technologies that affect groups, organizations, communities, and networks. Bringing together top researchers and practitioners from academia and industry in social computing, CSCW encompasses both the technical and social challenges encountered when supporting collaboration. Co-located workshops will address Collaborative Editing; Trust in Virtual Teams; Informal Communication in Health Practices; Crowdsourcing; Collaboration in Safety-critical Environments; Social Capital and Entrepreneurship; Social Media Question Asking; Collaborative Information Seeking; Networked Social Privacy; and CSCW and Education. Ron Burt from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business will give the opening keynote address. The closing keynote speaker will be Jascha Franklin-Hodge, CTO and Founding Partner at Blue State Digital.

SIGCSE 2013, March 6 to 9, Denver, Colorado
The SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education gathers colleagues from around the world to address problems common among educators working to develop, implement and/or evaluate computing programs, curricula, and courses. The symposium provides a forum for sharing new ideas for syllabi, laboratories, and other elements of teaching and pedagogy, at all levels of instruction. The theme, "The Changing Face of Computing," focuses on how CS education must adjust to meet changing needs. A special group opening keynote session devoted to this theme will include Ed Lazowska (Univ. of Washington and USACM); Bobby Schnabel (Indiana Univ. and ACM Education Policy Committee); Mary Lou Soffa (Univ. of Virginia and ACM Member-at-Large); Lucy Sanders (NCWIT); Jan Cuny (NSF and CISE); Patty Lopez (Intel); and Juan Gilbert (Clemson Univ. and USACM). Other speakers include Henry Walker (Grinnell College), Michael Kölling (Univ. of Kent), John Etchemendy (Dtanford Univ.) and Jane Margolis (UCLA).
 
Member Programs

Become an Ambassador for ACM—You Could Be a Grand Prize Winner!
The Ambassadors for ACM program rewards ACM members like you for encouraging new members to join. Your first-hand experience with ACM's valuable career development and continuous learning programs makes you a perfect envoy to share your ACM experiences with prospective members. Please consider becoming an Ambassador for ACM. The 2012–2013 Ambassadors for ACM program is underway, with opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral.

Submit the ACM Referral Form, and your referrals can join ACM at a special discount rate. 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.

MentorNet Matches ACM Students, Professionals for One-on-One Mentoring
ACM partners with MentorNet to promote e-mentoring relationships between students (protégés) and professionals (mentors). MentorNet, founded in 1997, now boasts 30,000 mentor/protégé relationships that encourage and inspire students considering careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Professionals also benefit from the program, practicing skills and gaining insights into their own careers. Above all, they gain satisfaction from knowing that they're helping to diversify the global workforce in these fields. ACM members can participate in this program as protégés if they are undergraduates, graduates, post-doctoral students, or untenured faculty. ACM Professional Members with a college degree and at least two years of professional work experience in engineering, science, technology, mathematics, medicine or related disciplines can qualify as mentors. To learn more, visit MentorNet's newly redesigned site and the introductory ACM MentorNet page. Also check out the short videos for protégés and mentors that will walk you through the steps of creating a profile and connecting with others in the MentorNet community.

Valuable Offers and Discounts for ACM Members
Take advantage of ACM's Discounts and Special Offers Program, an exclusive benefit of membership in ACM. ACM Members receive valuable offers and discounts on select programs and services. To view a complete listing, please visit http://www.acm.org/membership/discounts/discounts-toc.

Live Chat Feature Available to Members
ACM's 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.

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!
 
Career & Job Center

Import Your LinkedIn Profile in ACM's 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.

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 résumé created and saved in our system, you can publish it to the Résumé Bank so that employers find you! Or keep it private and use it when applying online for jobs. Log in to ACM's Job Board and post your résumé today. You can also 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).

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.
 
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 SC12. The next conferences accepting submissions are: Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences [see update under ACM-W News]
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. Twenty 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 (SIG) conferences (SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCHI, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGEVO, SIGGRAPH, SIGIR, SIGITE, SIGMM, SIGMOBILE, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN, and SIGSOFT), 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.

Additional scholarship awards for women students to attend research conferences have been made possible by Microsoft Research. Microsoft has given ACM-W $20,000 to support scholarships for women of European citizenship. Under the agreement with Microsoft, these awards will cover conference registration fees and provide an additional $600 if the conference is intracontinental, or $1200 if it is involves intercontinental travel. The student does not have to be attending a European school in order to be eligible, and the amount of the award is based on where she attends school relative to where the conference is. We are delighted to have this additional support for the scholarships, in addition to the funds we already have from Wipro Ltd. In addition, 16 SIGs have thus far signed on to support the scholarships by providing complimentary conference registration to scholarship recipients.

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 ACM Distinguished Speaker: Ronald Vetter
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 Ronald Vetter. Ron is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His research interests include mobile and wireless networking, parallel and distributed computing, multimedia systems, and distance education. His research has been supported by the NSF, USDA, NASA, and others. Vetter received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from North Dakota State University and his PhD in computer science from the University of Minnesota. Vetter served on the editorial advisory board of Communications of the ACM from 1996 to 2008 and he has been a Distinguished Lecturer since 1998.
For more information on Ron, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Ronald Vetter's Digital Library author page.

ACM, IEEE Computer Society Join to Share Distinguished Speakers Programs
IEEE-CS and ACM have joined to share their invited speaker programs, to further the dissemination of technical knowledge of computing fields that greatly benefit both memberships. IEEE-CS chapter volunteers can host a speaker from ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP), with access to top technology leaders and innovators from nearly every sector of the computing industry, by following the instructions on the DSP site. Make sure you identify yourself as an IEEE Computer Society Chapter.

IEEE-CS provides a popular offering of first-quality speakers serving its professional and student chapters. The Distinguished Visitors Program (DVP) owes its success to the many volunteers and staff members of the Computer Society who generously contribute their time and talent. Organizers of an ACM chapter, conference, or event can host a speaker from IEEE-CS's DVP by following the instructions instructions on the DVP site. Make sure you identify yourself as an ACM chapter or event.
 
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 November 21 to December 26, 2012:

ACM Student Chapters:
  • Amity ACM Student Chapter, Noida, India
  • Bipin Tripathi Kumaon Institute Of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Dwarahat, India
  • Capella University ACM Student Chapter, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Colonial Forge HS ACM Student Chapter, Stafford, Virginia
  • Durham College ACM Student Chapter, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
  • Instituto Tecnológico de Minatitlan ACM Student Chapter, Minatitlan, Mexico
  • Lahore College for Women University ACM-W Student Chapter, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Northern Michigan Univ. ACM Student Chapter, Marquette
  • Univ. of Rhode Island ACM Student Chapter, Kingston
  • Washington & Lee Univ. ACM Student Chapter, Lexington, Virginia
ACM Professional Chapters:
  • Central Chile ACM SIGCHI Chapter, Valparaiso
  • Cheng-Du ACM Chapter, Chengdu, China
  • Goa ACM Chapter, Verna, Goa, India
  • Jinan ACM Chapter, Jinan, China
Notice of Chapters to Be De-chartered
ACM is de-chartering the following chapters due to inactivity. Members interested in revitalizing their chapters should contact Samantha Goldberg, Local Activities Coordinator, at [email protected].

ACM Student Chapters:
ACM NDU Student Chapter; ACM-ITST Student Chapter; ACM-W of Concordia University Texas; American University of Beirut ACM Student Chapter; American University of Sharjah ACM Student Chapter; Asociación de Sistemas Computacionales e Informática; BMCE ACM Student Chapter; BSAU-ACM Student Chapter; CA Poly State University/SLO; CA State University/Los Angeles; Cairo University ACM Student Chapter; COEP ACM Student Chapter; Columbia University ACM-W Student Chapter; FAST-NUCES, Islamabad ACM Student Chapter; Fayetteville State University; Hofstra University ACM Student Chapter; Institute of Technology-BHU ACM Student Chapter; Instituto Tecnologico de Celaya ACM Student Chapter; International Institute of Information Technology ACM Student Chapter; Lafayette College; Maine School of Science and Mathematics; PA State University/University Park; PSG Tech ACM Student Chapter; SCRIET ACM Student Chapter; SKIT-JAIPUR ACM Student Chapter; Southeastern Louisiana University; SR ACM Student Chapter; Texas A&M University/Corpus Christi; Truman State University; Tuskegee University; UIIT_AAUR ACM Student Chapter; Univ. of Bristol Student ACM SIGGRAPH; Universidad Panamericana campus Bonaterra ACM Student Chapter; Universiti Malaysia Pahang ACM Student Chapter; University of Alabama/Huntsville ACM Student Chapter; University of California/Irvine; University of Cape Town Student Computing Association; University of Central Florida ACM Student SIGGRAPH; University of Georgia ACM-W Chapter; University of Porto ACM Student Chapter; University of Puerto Rico/Aguadilla; University of South Florida; University of Technology/Jamaica ACM Student Chapter; University of Wisconsin/Eau Claire Upper Iowa University ACM Student Chapter; Villanova University ACM Chapter; WCU ACM Student Chapter; William Mason High School ACM Student Chapter; York University ACM Student Chapter

ACM Professional Chapters:
Abuja ACM Chapter; Dhahran ACM Chapter; Hindustan University ACM Chapter; New York City ACM Chapter; Orange County ACM SIGCHI Chapter; Seoul ACM SIGMOBILE Chapter; South India ACM SIGCHI; South Jersey ACM Chapter; St. Louis ACM SIGCHI Chapter; Vietnam ACM Chapter
 
ACM-W News

ACM-W Expands Scholarship Program with Support from Microsoft
By Adriana Compagnoni, Chair, Scholarship Committee
The generous support of Microsoft has enabled ACM-W to increase the number of scholarships we can give in each award cycle. This new funding has allowed us to sponsor seven European women students in 2012 to attend these events: ISIC: The Information Behaviour Conference, ACM SIGGRAPH, SPLASH, ASSETS, ACM MultiMedia, and the World Intelligence Congress.

We are proud to support the first steps into the world of international research for undergraduate students like Clara Bayarri from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain who said: "ASSETS was the first conference I attended, and it was a great experience. During the presentation of our demo, I received very useful feedback to introduce in my work."

The scholarships program helps women students become part of the technical community. "It was a great opportunity for me to extend my contact network and meet new, enthusiastic multimedia people," said PhD student Miriam Redi, after attending ACM Multimedia 2012. A similar experience was that of undergraduate student Jiali Sheng attending SIGGRAPH: "It was a trip where I never stopped getting to know people. I was in line for coffee on the second day, and somehow started talking about OpenGL and WebGL with the person behind me. And all of a sudden, everyone around us started having a discussion about the topic together. It was wonderful!"

Some ACM Special Interest Groups, such as SIGMM, supplement the ACM-W scholarships by assigning a mentor to enhance the student conference experience. Miriam Redi also said: "The most interesting aspect for me was that the scholarship allowed me to have Professor Klara Nahrstedt as my mentor, whose advice and guidelines were really precious for my future steps in the field."

Attending a conference is an energizing experience. In PhD student Ankica Barisic's words, "Attending PloP and SPLASH in Tuscon, Arizona, brought lots of benefits to me in terms of encouraging feedback and new research directions. I got back filled with joy and a strong will to proceed further with my work."

We look forward to being part of the computing research journey of many more women students in the future. For more information on applying for a scholarship, visit the ACM-W Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences home page.

New Mexico Celebration of Women in Computing Supports Women, Girls in STEM Fields
The second New Mexico Celebration of Women in Computing (NMCWiC) took place in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on November 8 to 9, 2012. The event was organized and hosted by the Young Women in Computing (YWiC) program in the Department of Computer Science, and New Mexico State University and co-chaired by Rebecca Galves from YWiC, Enrico Pontelli from NMSU, Elizabeth Kallman from UNM/Harvard University, and Bobbi Eichhorst with the Las Cruces Public Schools. The event brought together organizations and individuals that are committed to informing and motivating girls and women to pursue careers in computing and STEM, to encourage collaboration and enhance inter-program communication.

NMCWiC provided an exciting and rich program of speakers, interactive sessions, collaborative forums, panel discussions, career workshops, poster sessions and hands-on activities. Speakers included Carol Rudisill from the Anita Borg Institute (ABI); Celeste Alleyne and Holly Mussmann from Microsoft; Patty Lopez from Intel; Joanne Cohoon from the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWiT); and many local speakers from academia, industry, and tech organizations.

The event took place jointly with the kickoff conference for the NM Girls Collaborative in C-STEM (Computing, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), which brought in a broad focus on K-12 outreach for computer science and STEM initiatives across the state. More than 170 participants attended: approximately 18% industry representatives and non-profit affiliates; 37% faculty members, researchers, school administrators, counselors, and teachers; and approximately 45% students from middle/high school to the graduate/doctoral level.

View photos and read undergraduate student blogs.

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

Editors-in-Chief Sought for ACM Computing Surveys, Transactions on Computer Systems, and Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems
The following ACM publications are seeking new Editors-in-Chief:
  • ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR). Nominations are due January 15.
  • ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS). Nominations are due January 31.
  • ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems (TRETS). Nominations are due February 1.
Information Systems and Hot Topics Editors Needed for Computing Reviews
Computing Reviews, the post-publication review and comment journal of ACM, is seeking volunteers interested in serving as a category editor in the information systems area and an editor for Hot Topics. Please see these pages for more information.

CACM Reports: Tracking Cell Phone Data to Study Human Mobility
Cellular telephone networks produce data that reveals important patterns of mobility cheaply, frequently, and on a global scale, according to an AT&T Research team. In the January cover story of Communications of the ACM, the group analyzed billions of call records to determine location information, which offers applications for urban planning. Relying on measures to preserve the privacy of individual cell phone users, the team discovered techniques for accurately characterizing daily travel, carbon emissions, number of workers and event goers, and traffic volumes. Also in this issue, Communications Editor-in-Chief Moshe Y. Vardi posits that the focus on Alan Turing during the Turing Centenary celebrations is deserving, but does not do full justice to the rich story of how computing emerged between 1930 and 1950.

In his column, ACM President Vint Cerf asks "What's a Robot?" and suggests that the notion could be expanded to include programs that can have real-world, if not physical, effect. In this context, he cites as a robot the creation of software-based "universes," and invites these creators to consider increased safety and reliability of software products and services.

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: Thinking Methodically about Performance
In his article for ACM Queue, Brendan Gregg of Joyent explains, "In the absence of a starting point—or a methodology to provide one—performance issues are often analyzed randomly: guessing where the problem may be and then changing things until it goes away." His solution is what he calls the USE method: "For every resource, check utilization, saturation, and errors. The USE Method was developed to address shortcomings in other commonly used methodologies and is a simple strategy for performing a complete check of system health. It considers all resources so as to avoid overlooking issues, and it uses limited metrics so that it can be followed quickly."

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM
Subscribe to Communications of the ACM, the computing industry's most trusted source for news, analysis and insights! Non-members can use our online form and receive a new ACM membership with your 12-month subscription, or request a sample issue using our online free trial issue form.

ACM in the News

"Black Girls CODE adds cities, and maybe boys"
Upstart Business Journal, December 17, 2012
Computing and mathematics are among the fastest growing occupations. ACM projects 150,000 new computing jobs annually during the next eight years.

"Content Is King: Can Researchers Design an Information-Centric Internet?"
Scientific American, December 13, 2012
"The interesting thing about allowing routers to use bits in the packets that are not addresses [is] that you can configure a network or network of networks around something other than formal address structures," says Google vice president and ACM president Vint Cerf.

"Vint Cerf: The Internet Doesn't Need the ITU's Help"
InfoWorld, December 13, 2012
Efforts to devise new regulations for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) could harm the Internet, warns Google executive and ACM president Vint Cerf.

"Tech Workers Back Need for More Women in IT but Oppose Quotas"
TechRepublic, December 10, 2012
The BCSWomen group is among several organizations that are actively involved in the effort to address the shortfall, and founder and ACM-W Executive Committee member Sue Black (University College London) supports the use of quotas to increase the number of female IT workers. "To make a difference quickly though, I would argue for a quota or for getting organizations to work together to leverage capability, reach, and impact," Black says.

"Crowdsourcing Site Compiles New Sign Language for Math and Science"
ScienceBlog.com, December 10, 2012
A University of Washington project uses crowdsourcing to enable members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community to build their own sign language guide for STEM terms. "The goal of the forum is to be constantly changing, a reflection of the current use," says Washington professor and ACM Fellow Richard Ladner.

"NSF Joins in Commemorating Computer Science Education Week 2012"
National Science Foundation , December 9, 2012
"Computer Science—or more broadly information technology or computing—drives our economy, ensures global competitiveness, accelerates the pace of discovery, and is crucial to achieve many of America's national and societal priorities," says NSF's Jan Cuny.

"Vint Cerf Urges Computer Science to Be Included in EBacc"
Computer Weekly , December 6, 2012
Google vice president and ACM president Vint Cerf is backing the British Computer Society's recent call for computer science to be included in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
 

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