ACM MemberNet - September 30, 2014

Welcome to the September 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.

September 30, 2014

Notice of SIG Elections to Extend Officers' Terms

Officers of permanent ACM Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are elected by plurality vote of the SIG members beginning July 1. At the end of the term, the SIG Governing Board may exercise an option at the request of the SIG officers to extend their term for a set number of years as set forth in the SIG's bylaws. In accordance with this policy, the SIG Governing Board voted to approve the request to extend the terms of office for the following SIGs: SIGAda, SIGCOMM, SIGDOC, SIGKDD, SIGMM, SIGMOBILE, SIGSAC, and SIGSAM.

Elections will be held for any of these SIGs if a petition is brought forward by one percent (1%) of the members of the SIG. A petition to initiate an election must be received at ACM Headquarters: Pat Ryan, Chief Operating Officer, Office of Policy and Administration, ACM, 2 Penn Plaza, Suite 701, New York, NY 10121 by November 3, 2014.

Questions about the petition process should be directed to ACM's Chief Operating Officer Pat Ryan at (ryan_p at acm dot org).

AWARDS

SIAM, ACM Honor Software Developers for Large-Scale Scientific Computing Toolkit

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and ACM will present the 2015 SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering to the PETSc core development team for the development of PETSc (Portable Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation), a suite of data structures and routines intended for use in large-scale application projects. PETSc, an initiative of Argonne National Laboratory, where it continues to be developed, employs the Message Passing Interface (MPI), a standardized, portable message-passing system used by modern computer software on a wide variety of parallel computers. PETSc, which is easy to use for beginners, is carefully designed to allow advanced users to have detailed control over the solution process. The project is a collaboration among William Gropp of the University of Illinois; Lois Curfman McInnes, Satish Balay, Jed Brown, Barry Smith, and Hong Zhang of Argonne National Laboratory; and Matt Knepley of the University of Chicago. The prize of $5,000 is awarded biennially by SIAM and ACM in recognition of outstanding contributions to the development and use of mathematical and computational tools and methods for the solution of science and engineering problems. It will be awarded at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 25-March 1, 2015.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM, IEEE Computer Society Honor MIT Professor with Ken Kennedy Award for Advances in Parallel Computing Systems

Charles E. Leiserson of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will receive the 2014 ACM-IEEE Computer Society Ken Kennedy Award for his influence on parallel computing systems and their adoption into mainstream use through scholarly research and development. He was also cited for his mentoring of computer science leaders and students. Leiserson introduced the notion of cache-oblivious algorithms, which can exploit the memory hierarchy near optimally despite having no tuning parameters for cache size or cache-line length. He also developed the Cilk multithreaded programming technology, and led the development of several Cilk-based parallel chess-playing programs which won numerous prizes in international competition. The award will be presented at the SC14 supercomputing conference on November 18 in New Orleans.
Read the ACM news release.

Hopper Award Recipient Craig Gentry Receives MacArthur Fellowship

Craig Gentry, recipient of the 2010 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, is among 21 individuals named as 2014 MacArthur Fellows. Gentry, a Research Scientist in the Cryptography Research Group at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, was cited for "fueling a revolution in cryptography and theoretical computer science through his breakthroughs in fully homomorphic encryption, leading to the possibility of more secure cloud computing." MacArthur Fellows are recognized both for their achievements and for significant potential contributions in the future; each Fellow receives a stipend of $625,000 to pursue any creative or research project of their choosing.
Read more about Craig Gentry.

Vint Cerf, Steve Bellovin Named to Cyber Security Hall of Fame

ACM Past President and Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf and USACM member and Columbia University Computer Science professor Steve Bellovin will join the 2014 class of the Cyber Security Hall of Fame when they are formally inducted at a banquet on October 30. This distinction honors innovative individuals and organizations that demonstrate vision and leadership in creating the foundational building blocks for the cybersecurity industry. Past honorees from USACM are Peter Neumann, Eugene Spafford, and the late Willis Ware.

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 Nominations

The Senior Member advanced grade of membership recognizes ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who have demonstrated performance and accomplishment that set them apart from their peers. Nominations are accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadline for nominations is December 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.

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

SIGITE/RIIT 2014, October 15 to 18, Atlanta, Georgia

SIGITE/RIIT 2014, the 15th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education and the 3rd Annual Conference on Research in Information Technology, will focus on the theme of "Riding the Wave of Change in Information Technology." Topics will include end-user development, pedagogy, and security and privacy. The keynote speaker will be Flavio Villanustre, VP Technology Architecture & Product for LexisNexis and HPCC Systems.

HILT 2014, October 18 to 21, Portland, Oregon

HILT 2014 is SIGAda's conference on High Integrity Language Technology. Co-located with SPLASH 2014, the conference 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. Keynote speakers are Thomas Ball, a Principal Researcher and Research Manager at Microsoft Research, and Christine Anderson, Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Invited speaker is Peter Feiler, a 29-year veteran and Principal Researcher of the Architecture Practice (AP) initiative at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

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. Vicki Hanson, Rochester Institute of Technology professor and ACM Vice President and Disinguished Speaker, will keynote.

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.

SIGUCCS 2014, November 2 to 7, Salt Lake City, Utah

SIGUCCS 2014 is the conference of ACM's Special Interest Group on University and College Computing Services, focusing on the issues surrounding the support, delivery, and management of college and university IT services. Conference sessions are geared toward providing attendees with the tools to grow and be adaptable to change with new technologies. Plenary speakers are Keith W. McIntosh, Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer at Ithaca College; Scott Christopher, Vice President of Speaking and Training, The Culture Works; and Phil Gerbyshak, Social Media Trainer and Speaker.

MIG 2014, November 6 to 8, Los Angeles, California

MIG 2014, the 7th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion in Games, brings together researchers from a variety of fields to present their most recent results, to initiate collaborations, and to contribute to the establishment of the research area. The conference will consist of regular paper sessions, poster presentations, and as well as presentations by a selection of internationally renowned speakers in all areas related to games and simulation. The conference includes entertaining cultural and social events that foster casual and friendly interactions among the participants. Papers will cover a range of topics from animation to predicting player behaviors.

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. Physicist and best-selling author Brian Greene will keynote.

L@S 2015, March 14 to 15, Vancouver, Canada (Call for Papers)

L@S 2015, the second ACM Conference on Learning at Scale, is intended to promote scientific exchange of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the learning sciences and computer science. The conference was inspired by the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the accompanying shift in thinking about education. It was created by ACM as a new scholarly venue and key focal point for the review and presentation of the highest quality research on how learning and teaching can change and improve when done at scale. "Learning at Scale" refers to new approaches for students to learn and for teachers to teach, when engaging large numbers of students. Paper submission opens October 6 and closes October 22.

PUBLIC POLICY

NSF Names ACM Fellow James F. Kurose to head Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate

The National Science Foundation has selected James F. Kurose, a distinguished professor in the computer science department at University of Massachusetts Amherst, to serve as Assistant Director for the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). In his new role he will support CISE's mission to promote the progress of computer and information science and engineering research and education and advance the development and use of cyberinfrastructure; promote understanding of the principles and uses of advanced computer, communication and information systems in support of societal priorities; and contribute to universal, transparent and affordable participation in a knowledge-based society. Kurose is an ACM Fellow and founding editor-in-chief of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.
Read the NSF news release.

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. The 2014–2015 Ambassadors for ACM program offers opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral. The top ACM Ambassador for August was Gaurav Indra.

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.

Featured Member Benefit: Liberty Mutual Insurance

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 September 30 Webcast, "The Changing Nature of Invention in Computer Science"

Register to watch the latest free ACM webcast, The Changing Nature of Invention in Computer Science, presented on September 30 by Dennis Shasha, Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute of New York University and a 2013 ACM Fellow. The talk is followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Eric Simon, Chief Architect at SAP in the area of Information Management.

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

Book Swap Adds Nearly 200 New eBooks and Videos to ACM Learning Center

This month, ACM added dozens of new titles to the ACM custom eBook and Safari video collections to update existing editions, fill coverage gaps, and introduce new coverage reflecting current trends in computing. In our refreshed Safari Books Online collection, ACM members will find updated coverage of popular web and mobile programming toolkits, as well as titles for mobile and Java developers, and open source tools. Safari videos cover Android application development fundamentals (update), Hadoop, Java, and software architecture. Check out what's new on the Safari swap page.

More than 120 new book titles have been added to the Books 24x7 collection, including Oracle Database 12C, parallel programming with Ada, PHP programming with the Zend framework, Windows 8, and Xcode 5, as well as business titles on healthcare information systems and management information systems, and popular vendor certification prep guides. The book swap also highlights new and emerging bodies of research in computer vision and image processing, ethical computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning in image steganalysis, recommender systems, and securing critical infrastructures and critical control systems. Check out what's new on the Books 24x7 swap page.

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

ACM Report Confirms Continuing Growth in Graduates with Advanced Computing Degrees

In its second annual report on computing education trends, ACM reports continuing growth in enrollment and degree production at participating not-for-profit US academic institutions that grant bachelor's and/or master's degrees in the major computing disciplines. The report, ACM NDC Study, is based on a survey of nearly 1,000 non-doctoral-granting academic departments and institutions in computing (NDC). The study also offers valuable pipeline data to businesses and industries that are competing in the job market for workers with skills in these areas. In addition, the report, published in the September issue of ACM Inroads, tracks ethnicity and gender data in these computing programs, and shows that increases in bachelor's degrees are more pronounced at public institutions.
Read the ACM news release.

STUDENT NEWS

Apply Now for CRA's Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers Award

The Computing Research Association (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers Award program recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research. Eligible nominees must be enrolled as undergraduates in a North American college or university throughout the academic year September 2014 to May 2015. They must be nominated by two faculty members and recommended by the chair of their home department. The deadline for nominations is November 3.

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 MobiCom 2014. The next conferences accepting submissions are:

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
CHI 2015, April 18-23, 2015, deadline January 5, 2015

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.

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: Roberto Ierusalimschy

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 Roberto Ierusalimschy. Roberto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), where he works with programming language design and implementation. He is the leading architect of the Lua programminglanguage and the author of the book Programming in Lua. He holds an Engineering degree (1982), an MS in Computer Science (1985), and a PhD in Computer Science (1989), all from PUC-Rio. He was a visiting researcher at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), affiliated with University of California, Berkeley, 1994; at GMD Research Center for Information Technology, Berlin, Germany, 1997; and at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001-2002. He was also a Tinker Professor at Stanford University, 2012.

For more information on Roberto, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Roberto Ierusalimschy's Digital Library author page.

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

Notice of ACM Chapters to Be De-Chartered

ACM is considering the de-charter of certain chapters due to inactivity. Please be sure to check the following link to see if your chapter is listed: http://www.acm.org/chapters/chapter-decharter/. ACM will terminate the chapters listed on November 17, 2014. Members interested in revitalizing their chapters should contact [email protected]. Those interested in remaining active should complete their 2014 Annual Report.

Welcome New ACM Chapters

Chapters are the "local neighborhoods" of ACM. The regional ACM Professional, Student, ACM-W, and Special Interest Group (SIG) chapters around the globe involve members locally in competitions, seminars, lectures, workshops, and networking opportunities. ACM welcomes these new chapters that were chartered August 21 to September 22:

ACM Student Chapters:

AUD ACM Student Chapter, American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Bloomfield College ACM Student Chapter, Bloomfield, New Jersey
Claflan University ACM Student Chapter, Orangeburg, South Carolina
Gogte Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Belgaum, India
Humboldt State University ACM Student Chapter, Arcata, California
IFTM University ACM Student Chapter, Institute of Foreign Trade and Management, Moradabad, India
Iowa State University ACM Student Chapter, Ames
Johnson & Wales University ACM-W Student Chapter, Providence, Rhode Island
Narasaraopeta Engineering College ACM Student Chapter, Narasaraopeta, India
NUST SEECS ACM-W Student Chapter, NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Islamabad, Pakistan
Rollins College ACM Student Chapter, Winter Park, Florida
SV College ACM Student Chapter, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Tirupati, India
University of Denver ACM Student Chapter, Denver, Colorado
University of Florida ACM-W Student Chapter, Gainesville
University of Gujrat Sialkot ACM Student Chapter, Sialkot, Pakistan
Wellesley College ACM Student Chapter, Wellesley, Massachusetts

ACM-W NEWS

Exciting Year Ahead for ACM-W Celebrations Project

By Jodi Tims, Celebrations Project Chair

The 2014–2015 academic year promises to be another exciting one for the ACM-W Celebrations Project. This fall will see conferences in Goa, India (September 25-26), the Rocky Mountain region of the US (October 23-25), and Ontario, Canada (October 24-25). During the spring semester, there will be 10 additional celebrations, including first-time events in Abu Dhabi and Cuba.

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. Information on starting new Celebrations and conference planning resources are on the ACM-W Celebrations site. Please contact me for any additional assistance and I'll be happy to help.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to publically thank all of the women on my Celebrations committee that are helping to support the project:

Laura Dillon, Michigan State University
Rachelle Hippler, Bowling Green State University, Firelands Campus
Martha Kosa, Tennesse Technological University
Wendy Powley, Queen's University at Kingston

The hard work and dedication of this group of volunteers is invaluable!

MemberNet will include reports from recent Celebrations, so be sure to read future issues and see the amazing impact that this project is having on the students, faculty, and industry attendees of these events. We are once again grateful to Microsoft Research for their continued support of the Celebrations project and helping to make it possible for us to celebrate women in computing all over the world.

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: local celebrations, scholarships and awards, chapters, and more.

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

ACM Transactions on Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Computing Systems Accepting Submissions

The new ACM journal ACM Transactions on Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Computing Systems (TOMPECS) is now accepting submissions. Visit the submissions site for more information.

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.

ACM Transactions on Information and System Security Seeks New Editor-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC) is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due November 10.

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: Reading News with Maps

The October issue of Communications of the ACM reports on how certificate transparency prevents security breaches; adapting to new technologies in higher education; and rethinking how we compute, among other topics. "Reading News with Maps" details an application called NewsStand that enables users to search data when they are not sure what they are seeking. Check out the video for this cover story, which illustrates the process.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Queue Presents: Certificate Transparency

In Certificate Transparency, Ben Laurie (of Google, among many other organizations) explains how we cannot have a secure Web as long as we rely so much on the current method of depending on third-party certificate authorities. "Ultimately, we want to ensure that Web users are actually talking to whom they think they're talking to, and that no one else can intercept the conversation. That's really an impossible goal-how can a computer know what the user is thinking-but for now let's reduce the problem to a slightly different one: how to ensure the Web user is talking to the owner of the domain corresponding to the URL being used." His solution is to use "public, verifiable, append-only logs." Ideal certificate transparency allows everyone to participate, introduces no latency, relies on no third party, and is automatic.

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

"Facebook, Intel Back Effort to Lift Engineer Diversity"

Bloomberg, September 24, 2014
Former ACM President Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College) and former ACM Secretary/Treasurer Telle Whitney (CEO, Anita Borg Institute) will lead Building Recruiting and Inclusion for Diversity (BRAID), an initiative aimed at rectifying a lack of diversity among computer science undergraduates.

"Protecting Our Processors"

National Science Foundation, September 23, 2014
NSF and Semiconductor Research Corporation recently awarded nine research grants totaling almost $4 million to 10 universities under a joint program focused on Secure, Trustworthy, Assured and Resilient Semiconductors and Systems (STARSS). "Through this partnership with SRC, we are pleased to focus on hardware and systems security research addressing this challenge and to provide a unique opportunity to facilitate the transition of this research into practical use," says NSF Computer and Network Systems Division Director and ACM Fellow Keith Marzullo.

"Sensors Everywhere Could Mean Privacy Nowhere, Expert Says"

Purdue University News, September 16, 2014
Purdue University professor and immediate USACM Past Chair Eugene Spafford says the Internet of Things will involve microprocessors and sensors placed essentially everywhere, permanently recording data on people, often without their knowledge.

"Rice Wireless Experts Tap Unused TV Spectrum"

Rice University, September 9, 2014
Rice University researchers have developed a multiuser, multiantenna transmission scheme designed to make use of the unused portion of the UHF radio spectrum that has historically been reserved for TV broadcasts. The researchers presented their findings earlier this month at ACM's MobiCom 2014 conference.

"Vicki Hanson Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Accessibility and Computing"

Rochester Institute of Technology, September 3, 2014
ACM awarded the 2014 SIGACCESS Outstanding Contributions Award to Rochester Institute of Technology professor and ACM Vice President and Disinguished Speaker Vicki Hanson.

"Pushing the Start Button on a Computer Science Curriculum for K-12 Schools"

Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2014
Representatives from various schools, the College Board, the Computer Science Teachers Association, tech companies, and other organizations from across California gathered recently to discuss how to get more children interested in computer science.