ACM MemberNet - August 28, 2014

Welcome to the August 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.

August 28, 2014

AWARDS

Call for ACM Award Nominations

Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. And annually, ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. You and your colleagues are invited to nominate candidates for ACM awards, including:
Awards with November 30 nomination deadlines:

  • A.M. Turing Award
  • ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences
  • ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award
  • Software System Award
  • Grace Murray Hopper Award
  • Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award
  • Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics
  • Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award
  • Distinguished Service Award
  • Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award

Other Award deadlines:

  • Doctoral Dissertation Award: October 31

Please take a moment to consider those individuals in your community who may be suitable for nomination. Refer to http://awards.acm.org/award_nominations.cfm for nomination guidelines and the complete listing of Award Subcommittee Chairs and Members.

MEMBER RECOGNITION

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

Fellow is ACM's most prestigious member grade recognizing the top 1% of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. The deadline for nominations is September 5. Please read the late James Horning's article, Making the case for an ACM Fellow. (Jim served for over 10 years as Co-Chair of the Awards Committee.)

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

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 theme, "Everyone. Everywhere." will focus on the ubiquity of computing in society today, and the need to include diverse groups in the innovation process. Scheduled keynote speakers include Shafi Goldwasser, 2012 ACM A.M. Turing Award co-recipient and RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT; Maria Klawe, President at Harvey Mudd College and a former ACM President; Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer at Microsoft; and Arati Prabhakar, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Technical sessions will feature technology leaders including Elizabeth Churchill, Director of Human Computer Interaction at eBay Research Labs; Lorrie Faith Cranor, Director of the Carnegie Mellon Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University, and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Rayid Ghani, Research Director and Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute and the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago; Yoky Matsuoka, VP of Technology at Nest Labs; and Linda Northrop, Chief Scientist of the Software Solutions Division of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute.

ASSETS 2014, October 20 to 22, Rochester, New York

ASSETS 2014, the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, explores the design, evaluation, and use of computing and information technologies to benefit people with disabilities and older adults. ASSETS is the premier forum for presenting innovative research on mainstream and specialized assistive technologies, accessible computing, and assistive applications of computer, network, and information technologies. The program includes a Doctoral Consortium and Student Research Competition, as well as sessions on topics ranging from mobility issues to social isolation.

SPLASH 2014, October 20 to 24, Portland, Oregon

SPLASH 2014, the ACM SIGPLAN conference on Systems, Programming, Languages and Applications: Software for Humanity embraces all aspects of software construction and delivery to make it the premier conference at the intersection of programming, languages, and software engineering. This year SPLASH will host the OOPSLA and Onward events, as well as the Dynamic Languages Symposium, Doctoral Consortium, and Student Research Competition. Scheduled keynote speakers are Gary McGraw, CTO of Cigital, Inc.; Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google Inc.; and experimental UI designer Bret Victor.

SC 2014, November 16 to 21, New Orleans, Louisiana

SC14, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, will bring together the high performance computing community of scientists, engineers, researchers, educators, students, programmers, system administrators, and developers to engage in important conversations of how HPC technologies can be used to better the world. SC14 will also be launching new initiatives focused on Big Data and analytics as well as innovative new technologies in HPC. The program includes the Student Research Competition, and the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize recognizing outstanding achievement in HPC will be presented.

PUBLIC POLICY

USACM Names New Leadership

ACM President Alex Wolf has appointed Ed Felten as Chair and Stuart Shapiro and Jeremy Epstein as Co-Vice Chairs of the ACM US Public Policy Council (USACM). Felten is the Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University and also holds the endowed chair title of Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs, named for one of the co-designers of the TCP/IP protocol. Shapiro is a Principal Information Privacy and Security Engineer and a member of the Privacy Community of Practice at the MITRE Corporation. Epstein is Lead Program Officer for the National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, and is on loan from SRI International.
Read more on USACM's Tech Policy blog.

ACM Fellow Joins White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Randal E. Bryant, former Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and an ACM Fellow, has begun a temporary assignment in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to provide analysis and advice on Big Data. At OSTP's Technology and Innovation Division, he will serve as an advisor to Deputy Director of Policy Thomas Kalil for 10 to 12 months. In his role as Assistant Director for Information Technology Research and Development, Bryant's areas of focus will include the application of data-driven approaches to areas such as health and education. He also will address privacy concerns that arise from the large-scale collection of data, both by fostering innovation in technical methods to preserve privacy and by identifying procedural methods to ensure privacy concerns are addressed in any proposed use of Big Data.
Read more about Bryant on USACM's Tech Policy blog and in the Carnegie Mellon news release.

USACM Recommends Technologies to Protect Personal Interactions with Big Data Collectors

In comments submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the ACM US Public Policy Council (USACM) said the collection and analysis of Big Data resulting from innovations in computing and electronic communication technologies requires privacy enhancing technologies that make it easy for people with or without technical knowledge to protect their personal interactions with data collectors. USACM expressed concern that that the language of recent Big Data reports from US government agencies suggests that limiting the collection of personal data is inherently infeasible in a Big Data world.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Europe and USACM Address Computing Issues in EU-US Free Trade Agreement

The ACM Europe Council and USACM presented a consensus position on computing policy issues to negotiators of a new EU-US free trade agreement. ACM Europe Council Chair Fabrizio Gagliardi delivered remarks in July in Brussels for the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement. The proposed treaty addresses trade issues between the EU and the US.
Read more on USACM's Tech Policy blog.

MEMBER PROGRAMS

ACM Congratulates Our Top Ambassador

Jorge Andres Pérez García, a student at Autonomous University of Tamaulipas, Mexico, qualified for the 2013-2014 Ambassadors for ACM Grand Prize, an Android tablet. Jorge is webmaster for the UAT-ACM Student Chapter and is an ACM student member. Jorge was also the top Ambassador for the month of June. The top ACM Ambassador for July was Nabendu Chaki.

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.

The 2014-2015 Ambassador program has launched, with opportunities to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral. Learn more about rules, recruitment tips and tools, as well as rewards and prizes.

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. Please consider becoming an Ambassador for ACM.

The HP Employee Purchase Program (EPP) offers HP and Compaq consumer products at discounts typically up to 10% off starting prices. ACM members can also take advantage of instant rebates, coupons, and HP Home & Home Office sales promotions that combine with the EPP discount, for a typical savings of 20-30% off.

LEARNING CENTER

Watch August 29 Webcast, "Async JavaScript at Netflix"

Register to watch the next free ACM webcast, Async JavaScript at Netflix, to be presented on August 29 at noon ET (11 am CT/10 am MT/9 am PT/4 pm GMT) by Jafar Husain, Cross-UI Team Technical Lead, Netflix. Jafar specializes in building application servers and user interfaces using functional reactive programming. The talk will be followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Erik Meijer, Founder and CEO, Applied Duality and ACM Queue editorial board member. ACM Learning Webinars are free with registration, available for streaming on all major mobile devices, and are recorded for on-demand viewing.

Skillsoft Course Library Now Includes DoD Cybersecurity Training

Recently, ACM's Skillsoft courseware library underwent a major "refresh." Notably, this update includes the brand new Department of Defense Knowledge Center and its wealth of training in cybersecurity and information assurance. The DoD Knowledge Center houses tracks aligned with the Certified Internet Security Auditor (CISA) and Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) certifications, previously unavailable to ACM members. Other key additions include TestPreps for Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), CompTIA Network+, as well as CompTIA+ and CompTIA Security practice labs.

Additional new coverage includes a class on ethics in project management; courses on relational database design and methodologies as well as systems and data management; training toward the Advanced Level Linux Professional certification; Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013; configuration of Microsoft Windows 8.1; Microsoft Windows Server 2012 administration; installing and configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2; new features for administrators of Oracle Database 12c; and VMware datacenter virtualization design optimization and administration with vSphere 5. See all new learning assets added on the Skillsoft Course Exchange listing and check out the updated catalog and new DoD Knowledge Center by logging into Skillsoft from the ACM Learning Center.

Discounts on CompTIA Certification Exams and Training Materials for ACM Members

ACM members are eligible for discounts on CompTIA certification exams (including A+, Network+, and Security+), as well as learning content and training materials that prepare learners for these certification exams. Members can save 15% on CompTIA Exam Vouchers/Bundles and 10% on Training Content/Materials using coupons on the Learning Center's CompTIA 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 Job Board Matches Job Seekers, Employers

The Computer Science Teachers Association's CSTA Job Board is the career hub for K-12 Computer Science teachers. The 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

MSIS Curriculum Task Force Call for Participation

ACM and AIS (the Association for Information Systems) are launching a joint process to review and revise MSIS 2006, the Master's-level curriculum recommendation for Information Systems. The process will be led by a task force consisting of two co-chairs (one from each organization— Eija Karsten from AIS and Heikki Topi from ACM) and six additional members (three representing ACM and three AIS). The co-chairs are inviting qualified prospective members interested in MSIS revision to join the task force. Visit the ACM-AIS MSIS curricular review page for selection criteria and information on what materials you should submit to be considered. The deadline for submitting the materials is September 5.

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 SIGGRAPH 2014. The next conferences accepting submissions are:

  • SAC 2015, April 13-17, 2015, deadline September 12
  • SIGCSE 2015, March 4-7, 2015, deadline October 27
  • ASPLOS 2015, March 14-18, 2015, deadline November 14
  • ICSE 2015, May 16-24, 2015, deadline November 21

Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

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.

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.

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 Vicki Hanson. Vicki Hanson is Professor and Chair of Inclusive Technologies, School of Computing, University of Dundee, UK; Distinguished Professor of Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York; and an IBM Research Staff Member Emeritus. Her research in human-computer interaction seeks to improve the accessibility of technology for people with disabilities and the aging population. Efforts she led at IBM include a bilingual educational application for deaf children and accessibilityWorks, a system allowing disabled users to adapt Web content to fit their needs. At Dundee, her work has examined ways in which mainstream technology can be changed to ensure all people can participate in the emerging digital economy. This work is expanding to include considerations of care home design and technology support to improve the quality of life for care home residents.

Vicki is Vice President of ACM and serves on the ACM-W Europe Executive Committee. She is a Past Chair of the ACM SIG Governing Board and Past Chair of SIGACCESS. She co-founded ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing and has served on numerous conference program and organizing committees including ASSETS, CHI, CUU, Hypertext, and OOPSLA, as well as the ACM Awards and Fellows committees. She is a Fellow of both ACM and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society, recipient of the Anita Borg Institute Woman of Vision Award for Social Impact, and recipient of the ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award. She has received an IBM Corporate Award for Contributions to Accessibility, multiple IBM Outstanding Contribution Awards for her work in accessibility and education, the University of Oregon Arts and Sciences Alumni Fellows Award, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.

For more information on Vicki, please visit her DSP speaker information page.
Vicki Hanson'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 June 21 to August 20:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • Dokuz Eylul University ACM Student Chapter, Izmir, Turkey
  • Easwari Engineering College ACM Student Chapter, Chennai, India
  • ERU ACM-W Student Chapter, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey
  • GITAM ACM Student Chapter, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, Visakhapatnam, India
  • IntelliTec College ACM Student Chapter, Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • ITM University ACM Student Chapter, Gurgaon, India
  • Michigan State University ACM-W Chapter, East Lansing
  • MITS ACM Student Chapter, Mody Institute of Technology & Science, Laxmangarh, India
  • PUC ACM Student Chapter, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago
  • University of Cincinnati ACM-W Student Chapter, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • UPV ACM-W Student Chapter, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
  • NMIMS Shirpur ACM Student Chapter, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Shirpur, India

ACM Professional Chapters:

  • Wananchi ACM SIGCHI Chapter, Kenya
  • Czech Republic ACM SIGAPP Chapter, Prague
  • Korea ACM SIGARCH Chapter, Seoul
  • Mexico City ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter, Mexico

ACM-W NEWS

Southern California Celebration Empowers Women with Diverse Technical Program

By Christine Alvarado, Conference Co-Chair

The second Southern California Celebration of Women in Computing (CWIC-SoCal) took place in Carlsbad, California on April 5 and 6. There were 169 registered student attendees (including 12 men) representing 20 institutions. While the vast majority of students came from Southern California, participants came from as far away as Arizona, Mexico, and Brazil.

The conference included a diverse technical program. There were two keynote talks: Gloria Mark from University of California, Irvine talked about how electronic multitasking can affect our stress levels and moods, and Meredith Ringel Morris from Microsoft Research discussed emerging technologies that integrate social networking with internet searching. Jessica Safir of Google led a leadership workshop in which participants figured out their personal interaction style. Students, faculty and industry practitioners presented both technical work and career and life stories and advice. Saturday's program culminated with a career fair, followed by a Lego-building social event led by the members of the University of California, San Diego Women in Computing group.

Conference participants appreciated the "positive and supportive setting" in which they could practice presenting their work and networking. They reported that seeing so many technical women in one place was "extremely empowering," and that they appreciated "being able to talk with other women computer science majors" in order to "trade tips about the major."

The conference was generously sponsored by Qualcomm and Google, as well as several other local (and not-so-local) companies, colleges and universities. Overall, the conference was a huge success, and we're already looking forward to SoCal CWIC 2016, to be held near Ventura, California.

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 Welcomes Aravind Srinivasan as New Editor-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Algorithms (TALG) has selected a new Editor-in-Chief. Aravind Srinivasan, a Computer Science Professor at University of Maryland, College Park, will begin his three-year term on September 1.

ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems Welcomes Alexander Tuzhilin as New Editor-in-Chief
ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS) has selected a new Editor-in-Chief. Alexander Tuzhilin, Professor of Information Systems at New York University's Stern School of Business, will begin his three-year term on September 1.

ACM Transactions on the Web Seeks New Editor-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB) is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due September 15.

ACM Transactions on Applied Perception Seeks New Editor-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (TAP) is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due November 3.

Information Systems Category Editor Needed for Computing Reviews

Computing Reviews, the post-publication review and comment journal of ACM, is seeking a volunteer interested in serving as a category editor for a segment of the information systems area. Please see the Information Systems Category Editor search page for more information.

CACM Reports: Reshaping Terrorist Networks with Novel Algorithms; Creating "Face Movies" from Still Photos

Identifying terrorists whose removal would maximally destabilize their networks saves civilian and military lives as well as financial costs, write University of Maryland researchers who developed a software platform to achieve this goal. Known as STONE (Shaping Terrorist Organization Network Efficiency), this platform relies on reward programs and capture operations based on three novel algorithms. The August issue of CACM also reports on progress on maximum flow algorithms; specialized software engineering degrees; and pragmatism for intellectual property.
Read the ACM news release.

A new technique for creating face animations of real people, known as photobios, has been achieved by computer scientists at the University of Washington, Google Inc., and Adobe Inc. The September issue of CACM also reports on how to prevent online deception in social media; securing the tangled Web; and dhanges in weather forecasting.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Queue Presents: Privacy, Anonymity, and Big Data in the Social Sciences

In their article Privacy, Anonymity, and Big Data in the Social Sciences, Jon P. Daries and his colleagues at MIT and Harvard describe the balancing act necessary in human subjects research to try to ensure their privacy. As an experiment, they "de-identified" and released a data set from 16 MOOCs (massive open online courses) from MITx and HarvardX on the edX platform. The challenge then, is to see how difficult it is to re-identify the anonymized data.

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.

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

"Looking to the Future of Data Science"

The New York Times, August 27, 2014
KDD 2014 conference nets record attendance in booming field, data science.

"Leslie Lamport '60"

Technology Review, August 19, 2014
Leslie Lamport, the recipient of the 2013 ACM A.M. Turing Award, looks back on his seminal work that gave rise to technologies ranging from search engines to 911 call centers to air traffic control systems.

"Stroustrup: Why the 35-Year-Old C++ Still Dominates 'Real' Dev"

InfoWorld, August 15, 2014
C++ designer and ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient and Fellow Bjarne Stroustrup says the programming language remains vital and relevant 35 years after he first designed it in 1979.

"USC Researcher Gets Major Commitment to Study Computer Science"

USC News, July 24, 2014
The Simons Foundation has selected ACM Fellow Shang-Hua Teng, the University of Southern California's Seeley G. Mudd Professor of Computer Science, for its class of 2014 Simons Investigators. Teng is just one of two computer scientists chosen nationwide for the program.

"Some Universities Crack Code in Drawing Women to Computer Science"

The New York Times, July 17, 2014
"We made it very clear that being a female scientist, that's normal," Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and a former ACM president, said. The University of Washington revamped its introductory course—women now make up 37 percent of the class—to emphasize the creative and real-world applications of computer science, said ACM Fellow and USACM member Ed Lazowska, a computer science and engineering professor there.

"Panel Recommends NIST Declare Independence from NSA"

Federal Computer Week, July 14, 2014
NIST's Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology recently adopted a report written by a select group of technical experts including Google vice president and ACM past president Vint Cerf, Microsoft's Steve Lipner, Princeton University professor and USACM Chair Edward Felten, and cryptographer Bart Preneel.

"Python Bumps Off Java as Top Learning Language"

IDG News Service, July 8, 2014
Python has surpassed Java as the top language used to introduce US students to programming and computer science, according to a new survey published by ACM.

"Interview with the Most Influential Woman in UK IT 2014: Wendy Hall"

ComputerWeekly.com, July 3, 2014
ComputerWeekly.com has named University of Southampton computer sciences professor Wendy Hall, a former president of ACM, its Most Influential Woman in UK IT 2014.

"China Still Has the Fastest Supercomputer, but the U.S. Still Rules"

Computerworld, July 2, 2014
University of Tennessee professor and ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award recipient Jack Dongarra, one of the academic leaders of the Top500 initiative, cites aggressive Chinese high-performance computing investment as another factor in the eroding US share of leading supercomputing systems.

Copyright © 2014, ACM, Inc.