ACM MemberNet - April 24, 2014

Welcome to the April 2014 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.

April 24, 2014

TOP STORIES

ACM, Infosys Foundation Honor Leader in Machine Learning

David Blei has been selected as the recipient of the 2013 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences. He initiated an approach to analyzing large collections of data using innovative statistical methods, known as "topic modeling," that make it possible to organize and summarize digital archives at a scale that would be impossible by human annotation. His work is scalable to collections of billions of documents. It has inspired new research programs across multiple disciplines, with applications for email archives, natural language processing, information retrieval, computational biology, social networks, and robotics as well as computational social sciences and digital humanities.

David Blei, an associate professor at Princeton University, has written extensively on topic modeling and his pursuit of new statistical tools for discovering and exploiting the hidden patterns that pervade modern, real-world data sets.

The ACM-Infosys Foundation Award recognizes the finest recent innovations by young scientists and system developers in the computing field. An endowment from the Infosys Foundation provides financial support for the $175,000 annual award. ACM will present the ACM-Infosys Foundation Award at its annual awards banquet on June 21 in San Francisco.

Read more in the ACM news release and on the ACM home page.

ACM Honors Computing Innovators Who Are Changing the World

ACM has announced the winners of four prestigious awards for their innovations in computing technology. These innovators have made significant contributions that enable computer science to solve real-world challenges. The awards reflect achievements in computer vision, multiprocessor programming, computer science educational software, and certified software. The 2013 ACM award winners include computer scientists, educators, and entrepreneurs.

  • Grace Murray Hopper Award: Pedro Felipe Felzenszwalb (Brown University)
  • Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award: Robert D. Blumofe (Akamai) and Charles E. Leiserson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award: Susan H. Rodger (Duke University)
  • Software System Award: Coq, a software tool for the interactive development of formal proofs, which is a key enabling technology for certified software. It provides a formal language to write mathematical definitions, executable algorithms and theorems together with an environment for semi-interactive development of machine-checked proofs. An open source product, Coq has played an influential role in formal methods, programming languages, program verification and formal mathematics. This system was developed by the Coq Development Team whose primary members were Thierry Coquand, University of Gothenburg; Gérard Huet, INRIA Paris - Rocquencourt; Christine Paulin-Mohring, University Paris Sud/INRIA Saclay; Bruno Barras, INRIA Saclay/École Polytechnique; Jean-Christophe Filliâtre, CNRS/INRIA Saclay; Hugo Herbelin, INRIA Paris - Rocquencourt; Chet Murthy, Google Inc.; Yves Bertot, INRIA Sophia; and Pierre Castéran, University of Bordeaux.

ACM will present these and other awards at the ACM Awards Banquet on June 21 in San Francisco.

Read the ACM news release.

ACM Honors International Leaders Who Helped Advance Computer Science in the Digital Age

ACM has honored the achievements of leaders from international academic and community organizations who helped build the infrastructure of computer science as a critical discipline in the digital era. As innovators, overseers and educators in their respective positions and institutions, they made possible the dramatic progress that has enabled computer science to contribute to science and society and change the course of history.

The ACM Distinguished Service Award to Gerhard Goos of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Juris Hartmanis of Cornell University, and Jan van Leeuwen of Utrecht University for their definitive role in establishing computer science as a vibrant subject. Their stewardship as series editors of the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), published since 1973, launched this series into a highly visible platform for disseminating research results from all areas of the nascent computing field. Goos and Hartmanis started editing the series in 1973 and were joined by van Leeuwen some years later.

The Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award to Donna Cappo, ACM Director of Special Interest Group Services, for her leadership in guiding ACM's Special Interest Groups, their activities, and volunteers; and Russell Harris, ACM Director of Financial Operations and Budgeting, for his long tenure as ACM's financial leading light.

The ACM Presidential Award to Mehran Sahami of Stanford University, for leading the revision of an innovative computer science curriculum that reflects the application of computing tools in a wide variety of disciplines.

The honorees will be recognized with ACM Awards for leadership and service, to be presented at the ACM Awards Banquet on June 21 in San Francisco.

Read the ACM news release.

ACM Council on Women Names Athena Lecturer for Innovations in Information Retrieval

ACM's Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) has named Susan T. Dumais of Microsoft Research as the 2014-2015 Athena Lecturer. Dumais introduced novel algorithms and interfaces for interactive retrieval that have made it easier for people to find, use and make sense of information. Her research, at the intersection of human-computer interaction and information retrieval, has broad applications for understanding and improving searching and browsing from the Internet to the desktop. The Athena Lecturer award celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. It includes a $10,000 honorarium provided by Google Inc.

Dumais is Distinguished Scientist and Deputy Managing Director of the Microsoft Research Lab in Redmond, Washington. The Athena Lecturer is invited to present a lecture at an ACM event. Her lecture will be delivered at an event to be determined. Each year, the Athena Lecturer honors a preeminent woman computer scientist. Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom; with her knowledge and sense of purpose, she epitomizes the strength, determination, and intelligence of the "Athena Lecturers." The 2014-2015 Athena Lecturer award will be presented at the ACM Annual Awards Banquet, June 21, in San Francisco.

Read more in the ACM news release and on the ACM home page.

Please vote in ACM Council Election

On April 16, all Professional ACM members (as of March 15, 2014) were sent voting information via an email message or post mail from Helios Labs, a third party that is conducting the election. If you have not received an email from Helios Labs, and your email address is on file with ACM, please contact [email protected]. Those Professional ACM members whose email addresses are not on file will receive voting information via post mail. You can view the slate of candidates for President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer (for the 2014 to 2016 term), and Members at Large (2014 to 2018), here. Statements and biographical sketches of all candidates will appear in the May 2014 issue of Communications of the ACM. The deadline for ballots is May 21, 16:00 UTC (GMT).

AWARDS

Gordon Bell Prize Nominations Due May 1

The Gordon Bell Prize is awarded each year to recognize outstanding achievement in high-performance computing. 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. Nominations are due May 1.

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 3. Please read Advice to Those Seeking ACM Senior Members by Senior Member Committee Chair Susan Rodger on how to submit a strong nomination package.

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

STOC 2014, May 31 to June 3, New York, New York

STOC 2014, the ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT) and Microsoft, will explore many aspects of computing theory through papers, tutorials, workshops, and posters. Topics of interest include: algorithms and data structures, computational complexity, cryptography, privacy, computational geometry, algorithmic graph theory and combinatorics, optimization, randomness in computing, approximation algorithms, parallel and distributed computation, machine learning, applications of logic, algorithmic algebra and coding theory, computational biology, computational game theory, quantum computing, and theoretical aspects of areas such as robotics, databases, information retrieval, and networks. The program will include Turing Award lectures from 2012 Turing Award recipients Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali. Early registration is available through April 30; the deadline for hotel reservations is also April 30.

ICSE 2014, May 31 to June 7, Hyderabad, India

ICSE 2014, the International Conference on Software Engineering, provides a forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences and concerns in the field of software engineering. Scheduled keynote speakers will include James D. Herbsleb, a professor at the Institute for Software Research in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University; Charles Lee Isbell, Jr., Senior Associate Dean, College of Computing and professor, School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology; and Armando Fox, a professor at University of California, Berkeley's Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department as well as Faculty Advisor to the UC Berkeley MOOCLab. A CTO Roundtable will pair Jeannette M. Wing, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research and ACM Fellow, and K. Ananth Krishnan, CTO, Tata Consultancy Services. Co-located events will cover a variety of topics in software engineering, including Mobile Software Engineering, Software Repositories, and workshops will cover many technical aspects of SE, including Crowdsourcing, Testing, and Data Analysis.

DAC 2014, June 1 to 5, San Francisco, California

DAC 2014, the Design Automation Conference, will include tracks addressing automotive, EDA, embedded systems, security, design, and, new this year, intellectual property issues. Scheduled keynote speakers include Hossein Yassaie, CEO, Imagination Technologies; Cliff Hou, Vice President Research and Development, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing; Jim Tung, MathWorks Fellow; James Buczkowski, Henry Ford Technical Fellow, Ford Motor Company; Karim Arabi, Vice President, Engineering, Qualcomm; and Ernie Brickell, Chief Security Architect, Intel.

CFP 2014, June 8 to 10, Warrenton, Virginia

The CFP 2014 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference will feature the theme, "The Internet Wants to be Free." The conference organizers include leading minds in technology, human rights, and civil society, and they encourage multi-stakeholder participation as speakers, proposal submitters, and attendees that represent the diverse global community of organizations and professionals who work on policy, technology and law.

SIGMOD/PODS 2014, June 22 to 27, Snowbird, Utah

SIGMOD/PODS is a leading international forum for database researchers, practitioners, developers, and users to explore cutting-edge ideas and results, and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences. Scheduled SIGMOD keynotes are Maurice Herlihy, computer science professor at Brown University, on "Fun with Hardware Transactional Memory," and Eric Sedlar, Technical Director of Oracle Labs, on "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Compilers." Scheduled PODS keynote will be Leonid Libkin, professor of Foundations of Data Management, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, on "Incomplete Data: What Went Wrong, and How to Fix It," and a tutorial on "Model-Data Ecosystems: Problems, Tools, and Trends" will be led by Peter Haas, a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center. Workshops will address a range of issues from Semantic Web Information Management to Data Analytics in the Cloud.

BAC 2014, October 8 to 9, Houston, Texas

BAC 2014, the first ACM-sponsored conference to focus on Business Analytics, will address key issues relating to organizing and managing massive volumes of data effectively, the evolution of analytics techniques and software tools to support complex analytical processes, and how business analytics impacts and changes business organizations and their competitive situations. Papers on theoretical foundations, economic impacts, Big Data, and more are invited for this inaugural event. Submissions are due May 30.

GHC 2014, October 8 to 11, Phoenix, Arizona

GHC 2014, the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, is the world's largest gathering of women technologists and is a great opportunity to gain professional visibility as a subject matter expert, expand your network and inspire other women in computing. This year's conference will focus on key areas where emerging technologies are having a dramatic impact. Registration opens June 2. Other ways to participate: submit a nomination for the GHC ABIE Awards for someone you know who is doing important work in the areas of technical leadership, social impact, emerging leaders, and educators. Deadline is May 15.

HILT 2014, October 18 to 21, Portland, Oregon

HILT 2014 will provide a forum for experts from academia/research, industry, and government to present the latest findings in designing, implementing, and using language technology for high integrity software. The conference will feature keynote and invited presentations from leading experts in language technology and high-integrity systems. Submissions are invited for technical papers, experience reports (including experience in teaching), and tutorial proposals on a broad range of relevant topics. Deadline is June 7; visit the conference website for more information.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2014, December 3 to 6, Shenzhen, China

Submissions are invited for the 7th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia. The largest conference on computer graphics in Asia is seeking submissions for workshops, technical papers, the Computer Animation Festival, Emerging Technologies, Mobile Graphics Symposium, courses, and more. Visit the submissions page for more information and a complete list of deadlines.

PUBLIC POLICY

In comments to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, ACM's Public Policy Council USACM recommended the use of an independent systems engineering analysis to review the design and operation of complex processes and systems. Members outlined the elements for an analysis and described its implementation in the context of national surveillance programs. This description, submitted in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, links it to several recommendations by the Review Group. A systems engineering analysis for data flowing into, through and out of a system includes auditability (including provenance); confidentiality; integrity; data quality (of collected and derived data); functional completeness; functional correctness; and functional appropriateness.

USACM Supports Creation of Public Interest Trade Advisory Committee

In comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), USACM supported creation of a Public Interest Trade Advisory Committee to serve as a new mechanism for stakeholder input on trade policy issues. USACM encouraged the proposed Advisory Committee to seek input on trade-related principles and policies affecting public interests in the digital age. It pointed out that across major industries and society, new developments in digital trade and internet-based products and services have created countless new jobs, products, and services; accelerated the speed, scope, and scale of innovation; resulted in diverse consumer products and growing consumer demand; and facilitated advanced manufacturing and big data analytics vital to US businesses in the global economy. To meet these challenges, USACM stated that trade policies should foster and encourage a wide variety of digital technologies and services to emerge within a competitive marketplace. It also encouraged the Advisory Committee to include quality technical information and advice from the computing community to help evaluate and strengthen policy recommendations to the USTR.

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 2013–2014 Ambassadors for ACM program offers opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral. The top ACM Ambassador for March was Kuldeep Sharma.

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.

Exclusive Offer on Auto and Home Insurance from Liberty Mutual

Get quality protection for your auto and home. Liberty Mutual is pleased to offer ACM members special savings and personalized coverage. Enjoy exceptional service your way: at a local office, by phone, online or via mobile device. We will help ensure that you, your family and your valuables are properly protected. Visit Liberty Mutual for a free quote or call 1-800-524-9400. Please identify yourself as a member of ACM, group number 8559.

Discounts and savings are available where state laws and regulations allow, and may vary by state. Certain discounts apply to specific coverages only. To the extent permitted by law, applicants are individually underwritten; not all applicants may qualify.

LEARNING CENTER

Watch April 23 Webcast: "The Online Revolution: Education for Everyone" with Andrew Ng

Watch the the latest free ACM webcast, The Online Revolution: Education for Everyone, presented on April 23 by Andrew Ng. The talk is followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Marti Hearst. Andrew Ng is a co-founder (with Daphne Koller) of Coursera, one of the first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms; he is also Director of the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford University. Marti Hearst is an ACM Fellow and a professor in the School of Information at University of California, Berkeley.

ACM Learning Webinars are free with registration, available for streaming on all major mobile devices, and are recorded for on-demand viewing.

Explore New IT/Desktop Videos and Courses

An extensive new library of IT and desktop videos is available to all ACM Members through your Books 24x7 subscription. Thousands of short videos offer practical, "on-the-job" support across technical topic areas, such as Android Application Development; AngularJS; Big Data Analytics and Map Reduce; C/C++; Excel; IT Security; Java; Python; RESTful Web Services; SCRUM; Windows PowerShell; and much more.

Several new Skillsoft course packages were added to our course catalog as well, with updated training and exam preparation in these areas: Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP & ScrumMaster aligned); Certified Business Analysis Professional; Certififed Ethical Hacker (CEH) version 8; CISM 2013; CISSP 2013 Domain; CompTIA A+ 220-801 and 802; EMC Information Storage and Management (ISM) v2; ICND 2.0: Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices; Linux Professional Institute: Junior Level Linux Professional (LPIC-1) Exams 101 and 102; Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Implementing a Data Warehouse and Database Administration); and Windows Server 2012 (Installing and Configuring).

To access IT and Desktop Videos and Skillsoft courses, visit the ACM Learning Center or enter through myACM (for videos, click on the Books 24x7 link in the top right corner of the Skillport landing page).

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.

CSTA JOB BOARD

Computer Science Teachers Association Launches Job Board

The Computer Science Teachers Association has launched its new CSTA Job Board, the career hub for K-12 Computer Science teachers. The new career center provides access to 100% computer science K-12 teaching-related job postings.

The CSTA Job Board will allow you to manage your career:

  • Search and apply to K-12 computer science related jobs
  • Upload your anonymous résumé and allow employers to contact you
  • Set up job alerts specifying your skills, interests, and location to receive email notifications when a job is posted that matches your criteria

or recruit for open positions:

  • put job openings in front of the most qualified group of K-12 computer science-focused professionals
  • Simply create an employer account on the CSTA Job Board and choose from three levels of online job postings options: Basic 30-Day Online Job Posting ($190); Enhanced 30-Day Online Posting ($250); or Premium 30-Day Online Posting ($310).

CSTA Members: be sure to visit the CSTA Job Board directly (or click the Job Board link from the CSTA homepage) to create and upload your résumé to the Résumé Bank so that employers find you, or keep it private and use it when applying online for jobs. Log in and post your résumé today!

EDUCATION

Computer Science Teachers Association Launches Job Board

(see story under CSTA Launches Job Board)

STUDENT NEWS

Apply for George Michael HPC Fellowship

The ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship is now open for submissions from exceptional PhD students throughout the world whose research focus is on high-performance computing applications, networking, storage, or large-scale data analysis using the most powerful computers that are currently available. Recipients receive a $5,000 honorarium, travel and registration for SC14, and recognition at the SC14 Awards Ceremony. Submissions are due May 1.

Apply for N2Women Fellowship to Attend Conferences

Networking Networking Women (N2 Women) is a discipline-specific community for researchers in the communications and networking research fields, fostering connections among under-represented women in computer networking and related research fields. The group offers fellowships covering travel costs for female graduate students planning to attend premier technical conferences in networking and communications. In exchange, the students help organize the N2 Women meeting at the conferences. Funding is provided by ACM SIGMOBILE, HP Labs, and Microsoft Research, and will partially cover a student's travel cost (up to $500) to an event where an N2 Women meeting is held. Please click on the Fellowships link of the website for a complete listing of opportunities and deadlines.

XRDS Needs You!

XRDS, the ACM magazine for students, is seeking students to become an active part of our team. Please email your resume/CV and a short paragraph about yourself to [email protected].

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 SAC 2014. The next conferences accepting submissions are:

Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences

The ACM Women's Council (ACM-W) provides support for women undergraduate or graduate students in computer science and related programs who wish to attend research conferences. This exposure to the computer science research world can encourage a student to continue on to the next level (Undergraduate to Graduate, Masters to Ph.D., Ph.D. to an industry or academic position). The student does not have to present a paper at the conference she attends. Students can apply an unlimited number of times; however, once a student receives an award, she is no longer eligible for future ACM-W scholarships.

The ACM-W scholarships are divided between scholarships of up to $600 for intra-continental conference travel, and scholarships of up to $1200 for intercontinental conference travel. Scholarship applications are evaluated in six groups each year, in order to distribute awards across a range of conferences.

ACM-W encourages the student's home department to match the scholarship award and recognize the student's achievement locally within their department. In addition, if the award is for attendance at one of several ACM Special Interest Group conferences (SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCHI, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGEVO, SIGGRAPH, SIGHPC, SIGIR, SIGITE, SIGMM, SIGMOBILE, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN, and SIGSOFT), the SIG will provide complimentary conference registration and a mentor during the conference. The number of free registrations available varies from SIG to SIG. The 2013-2014 scholarships are made possible by generous support from Google.

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

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 Kenneth De Jong. Kenneth received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1975 and is currently a professor in the Computer Science department and the Associate Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. His research interests include evolutionary computation, adaptive systems and machine learning. He is an active member of the Evolutionary Computation research community with a variety of papers, PhD students, and presentations in this area. He is also responsible for many of the workshops and conferences on Evolutionary Algorithms. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Evolutionary Computation (MIT Press), and a board member of ACM SIGEVO. He is the recipient of an IEEE Pioneer award in the field of Evolutionary Computation and a lifetime achievement award from the Evolutionary Programming Society.

For more information on Kenneth, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Kenneth De Jong'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 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 March 13 to April 11:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • BVB ACM Student Chapter, B V Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology, Vidyanagar, India
  • CEC ACM Student Chapter, College of Engineering Cherthala, Cherthala, India
  • DA-IICT ACM Student Chapter, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gujarat, India
  • JBIET ACM Student Chapter, JB Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India
  • JNEC Aurangabad ACM Student Chapter, Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Aurangabad, India
  • MHSSCOE ACM Student Chapter, M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
  • Okan University ACM Student Chapter, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Oxford College ACM Student Chapter, Bangalore, India
  • SUAGM ACM Student Chapter, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
  • Trinity College ACM Student Chapter, Hartford, Connecticut
  • UEM Jaipur ACM Student Chapter, Chomu, India

ACM Professional Chapters:

  • Australia and New Zealand ACM SIGKDD Chapter, Chippendale, NSW, Australia
  • Wu-Han ACM Chapter, Wuhan, China
  • Seattle ACM SIGKDD Chapter, Kenmore, Washington

ACM-W NEWS

First Caribbean Celebration of Women in Computing Promotes Diversity

The First Caribbean Celebration of Women in Computing (CCWiC 2014) was held February 27-28 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The participation of 192 women included 38 high school girls, 29 parents and teachers, 52 graduate and undergraduate students, and 73 members from academia and industry. CCWiC 2014 promoted diversity with efforts that address the decline of women who choose computing related professions. The event offered opportunities for mentoring, networking, and technical/career development for women in computing.

Four keynote addresses were held during the conference. Nagin Cox, a NASA engineer, made a presentation on the Mars curiosity project. A.J. Brush, Senior Researcher at Microsoft, talked about her work as Director of the Lab of Things. Brian Gonzalez, Director of the Global Education Sector at Intel, spoke on Intel's work in supporting technology education in developing countries. Karen Alkoby, on faculty at Gallaudet University and the first deaf women to hold a PhD in Computer Science, presented a talk titled "Overcoming the Impossible."

CCWiC included an academic fair for promoting computing programs at higher learning institutions in Puerto Rico and the US and a job fair for graduate and undergraduate students. A research poster session was held where high school students visited posters by graduate and undergraduate students working in computer science, computer engineering, computational math, and information technology. Panels on the status of women in computing in PR were presented along with technical talks.

CCWiC 2014 was sponsored by ACM-W, the College of Engineering and the Computer and Networking Laboratory at University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Microsoft Research, the Computing Alliance for Hispanic Institutions (CAHSI), Texas Instruments, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Rock Solid Technologies, Google, Travelers, and CIAPR (Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de PR).

ACM-W Celebrations showcase female role models, encourage mentoring and networking, supply accurate information about computing careers, and create opportunities for women to to present their research, often for the first time in their careers. The small conferences are run with almost 100% volunteer effort and involve considerable fundraising. If you are interested in working on or supporting any of the celebrations, please contact Valerie Barr or Jodi Tims. We'd love to have you join our conference committees or become a sponsor of this important effort to encourage and increase the participation of women in computing.

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.

Also read the ACM-W Connections newsletter for updates on ACM-W programs (celebrations, scholarships and awards, and chapters); Judy Olson's Ask Judy column (Judy is the 2011 ACM-W Athena Lecturer); and contributed articles and announcements of upcoming events.

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

ACM Transactions on Algorithms Seeks New Editor-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Algorithms is seeking candidates for a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due May 16.

ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing and ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms Accepting Submissions

ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing (TOPC) is now accepting submissions. TOPC is a forum for novel and innovative work on all aspects of parallel computing, including foundational and theoretical aspects, systems, languages, architectures, tools, and applications. Visit the submissions site for more information.

ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems (TSAS) is now accepting submissions. TSAS is a new scholarly journal that publishes the highest quality papers on all aspects of spatial algorithms and systems and closely related disciplines. Visit the submissions site for more information.

CACM Reports: Stopping Snowden with Better Security

Despite the National Security Agency's virtually unlimited resources and access to the best computer security experts in the country, NSA had become lax in utilizing even the most important, simple, and cheap good computer security practices, reports Bob Toxen, chief technical officer at Horizon Network Security in the cover story of the May issue. He recounts how Edward Snowden copied up to 1.7 million top-secret documents, and examines the computer security aspects of how NSA could have prevented this from happening. This issue also reports on the end of Moore's Law; the future of Bitcoin; how computers are changing biology; and cloud security.

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 news release.

ACM Queue Presents: A Primer on Provenance

Lucian Carata and colleagues at the University of Cambridge describe the importance of knowing where data comes from and what processes may have altered it. In A Primer on Provenance, they describe how sometimes the transformations applied to data are not directly controlled by or even known to developers, and information about a result is lost when no provenance is recorded, making it harder to assess quality or reproducibility. Computing is becoming pervasive, and the need for guarantees about it being dependable will only aggravate those problems; treating provenance as a first-class citizen in data processing represents a possible solution.

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ACM IN THE NEWS

"Study Finds No Evidence of Heartbleed Attacks Before the Bug Was Exposed"

The New York Times, April 16, 2014
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center have found no indications the Heartbleed bug had been exploited prior to its exposure last week, according to University of California, Berkeley professor and 2007 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient Vern Paxson.

"Sneak a Peek Through the Mist to Technology of the Future"

University of Bristol News, April 11, 2014
A tabletop display system developed by researchers at the University of Bristol could change the way people interact and collaborate in the future. The researchers will present a research paper on the MisTable at this month's ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

"Researchers See If Google Glass Can Help Parkinson's Patients"

ABC News, April 11, 2014
Newcastle University researchers are experimenting with Google Glass to see if it can assist Parkinson's disease patients in monitoring their symptoms and increasing their mobility. The researchers will detail their findings this month at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems later this month.

"Users' Stark Reminder: As Web Grows, It Grows Less Secure"

The New York Times, April 10, 2014
The Heartbleed bug that gives hackers entry into the main system for encrypting consumers' online data demonstrates the Web is still in its infancy, and that "we don't have our house in order when it comes to Internet security," says Princeton University professor and USACM Co Vice-Chair Edward Felten.

"Instrument Science Preps for Exascale Era"

HPC Wire, April 3, 2014
Computation Institute director and 2012 ACM High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing Achievement Award recipient Ian Foster presented a white paper at the recent Big Data and Extreme-scale Computing workshop in which he posited that data volumes and velocities in the experimental and observational science communities are in some instances exceeding Moore's law to such a degree that these communities will soon need exascale-class computational environments to be productive.

"UW Gesture Technology Increases Efficiency of Hands-Free Use"

The Daily, April 2, 2014
"AllSee is the first gesture-recognition system that can work on devices that harvest energy from TV signals around us," says UW professor and 2012 ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award recipient Shyam Gollakota.

"Open Source Workshop Explores FOSS in Universities"

Opensource.com, March 31, 2014
Universities' application of free and open source software (FOSS) was the focus of an open source workshop held at ACM's annual meeting of its Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).

"How Twitter Knows You're Obese"

Illinois Institute of Technology, March 27, 2014
Research by Illinois Institute of Technology professor Aron Culotta has found that tweets can accurately predict a county's rates of obesity, diabetes, teen births, health insurance coverage, and access to health foods. He will present his research at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

"How One College Went From 10% Female Computer Science Majors to 40%"

Quartz, March 26, 2014
Since former ACM president Maria Klawe was appointed Harvey Mudd College president, she has helped change the computer science department to try to encourage more female students to enroll in computer science classes.

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