ACM MemberNet - June 30, 2016

Welcome to the June 2016 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.

More ACM member newsletters: ACM-W Connections, newsletter from ACM Women's Council; MemberNet Europe; MemberNet India.

Read coverage of ACM in the news media.

Is there a person, event, or issue you'd like to see covered? Please email mn-editor at acm.org.

June 30, 2016

TOP STORIES

ACM Special Interest Groups Elect New Officers

Each year a number of ACM's Special Interest Groups conduct elections. Listed below are the SIGs that conducted elections in 2016. Follow the link for each SIG to view the election results and contact information for the newly elected officers and board members:

SIGAI SIGCSE SIGDOC SIGHPC SIGIR SIGLOG SIGSIM

ACM SIGGRAPH is currently conducting its election. Results will be announced in August.

Award Nomination Deadline: SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering

The SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering is awarded every two years by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and ACM in the area of computational science to one individual or a group of individuals 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. The prize is awarded at the biennial SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering. Nominations are due July 31.

AWARDS

Award Nomination Deadline: SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering

The SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering is awarded every two years by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and ACM in the area of computational science to one individual or a group of individuals 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. The prize is awarded at the biennial SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering. Nominations are due July 31.

MEMBER RECOGNITION

Call for ACM Senior and Distinguished 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.

The Distinguished Member designation recognizes ACM members with at least 15 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who have demonstrated significant accomplishments or made a significant impact on the computing field. The deadline for nominations is August 1.

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 7.

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

SIGIR 2016, July 17 to 21, Pisa, Italy

The major international forum for the presentation of new research results and the demonstration of new systems and techniques in the field of information retrieval, SIGIR 2016 will feature keynotes by Christopher Manning, a professor of computer science and linguistics at Stanford University, and Vipin Kumar, a Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota.

ISSTA 2016, July 18 to 20, Saarbrücken, Germany

The leading research symposium on software testing and analysis, ISSTA 2016 will bring together academics, industrial researchers, and practitioners to exchange new ideas, problems, and experience on how to analyze and test software systems. Scheduled keynotes are Lionel C. Briand (SnT centre for Security, Reliability, and Trust, University of Luxembourg), Martin Vechev (ETH Zurich), and Christian Holler (Mozilla). Four workshops on related topics are co-located with the conference.

GECCO 2016, July 20 to 24, Denver, Colorado

The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference will present the latest high-quality results in genetic and evolutionary computation. Scheduled keynoters are Bernard Chazelle, Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University; Holger H. Hoos, Computer Science Professor at the University of British Columbia; and Stephanie Forrest, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico.

SIGGRAPH 2016, July 24 to 28, Anaheim, California

The world's largest, most influential annual event on computer graphics and interactive techniques, SIGGRAPH 2016 will engage attendees with cutting-edge research, demos, educational sessions, art, screenings, and hands-on interactivity featuring the community's latest technical achievements. Innovators from Disney Studios, Pixar, NVIDIA, Industrial Light & Magic, and more will be on hand to enlighten and inspire.

KDD 2016, August 13 to 17, San Francisco, California

The SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining brings together researchers and practitioners from data science, data mining, knowledge discovery, large-scale data analytics, and big data. The event also includes keynotes by leaders from Microsoft, Oxford University, NEA, and University of California, Berkeley, as well as invited talks by Applied Data Science experts.

SIGCOMM 2016, August 22 to 26, Florianópolis, Brazil

Covering the applications, technologies, architectures, and protocols for computer communication, SIGCOMM will feature workshops, technical papers, tutorials, posters and demos. Workshops include Global Access to the Internet for All); Hot Topics in Middleboxes and Network Function Virtualization; QoE-based Analysis and Management of Data Communication Networks; Fostering Latin-American Research in Data Communication Networks; and Networking and Programming Languages. "Mentoring Moments" will give graduate students a chance to talk about their research with one or two outstanding researchers.

PUBLIC POLICY

USACM Sends Comments to NTIA on Internet of Things

USACM submitted comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on the potential benefits and challenges of the Internet of Things and what role, if any, the US Government should play in this area. NTIA will use the public input to issue a "green paper" that identifies key issues.

MEMBER PROGRAMS

ACM and SocialCoder Team Up for Positive Impact through Computing

You can use your technical skills for social good and offer volunteer support on software development projects to organizations who could not otherwise afford it. SocialCoder connects volunteer programmers/software developers with registered charities and helps match them to suitable projects based on their skills, experience, and the causes they care about. Learn more about ACM's new partnership with SocialCoder, and how you can get involved.

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 Ambassadors for ACM program offers opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral.

Submit the ACM Referral Form, and your referrals can join ACM at a special discount rate. Our members are our greatest asset. Your support of ACM is critical to our continuing efforts to advance computing as a science and a profession. Please consider becoming an Ambassador for ACM.

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LEARNING CENTER

Watch July 7 Webcast with Jeff Dean: "Large-Scale Deep Learning with TensorFlow for Building Intelligent Systems"

Register to watch the next free ACM webinar, Large-Scale Deep Learning with TensorFlow for Building Intelligent Systems, to be presented on Thursday, July 7 at 12 pm ET by Jeff Dean, Google Senior Fellow at Google Research and 2012 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award Recipient.

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

New Skillsoft Books and Videos

New books covering the latest IT skills and technologies are always being added to the ACM Skillsoft Learning Collections. Here are some of the notable titles recently added to our library:

  • Agile Project Management Using Team Foundation Server 2015
  • Beginning SOLID Principles and Design Patterns for ASP.NET Developers
  • Business Intelligence Strategy and Big Data Analytics: A General Management Perspective
  • Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 12
  • Kubernetes Microservices with Docker
  • Photoshop Elements 14 For Dummies
  • Pro CSS3 Layout Techniques
  • Rails 5 Revealed
  • Relational Database Design and Implementation, 4th Edition
  • Teach Yourself VISUALLY Android Phones and Tablets, 2nd Edition

Recently, Skillsoft added significant video content in knowledge areas including WS Certified Developer; ICND1; Microsoft Project 2013; Oracle Database 12c Revisions; PowerPoint Best Practices; and Using Justinmind.

See the Skillsoft Learning Collections page for more information on books and videos. A more comprehensive list of recently added book and video titles is available here (see sidebar).

Member Discount on EMC Courseware

ACM has partnered with EMC to bring members a 15% discount on practical training in some of today's most vital IT knowledge areas, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, Information Storage and Management, Virtualization, and more. These EMC courses focus on technology, not products, to teach technology topics applicable to any vendor environment. Training is available in various modalities, including eLearning, instructor-led (ILT), online ILT, video ILT, and video ILT-stream. For the list of eligible courses and the discount code, visit the EMC courses page.

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

ACM's Career & Job Center and CSTA Job Board Offer Indispensable Job Search Tools

Be sure to visit ACM's Career & Job Center to update your résumé or create a new one in the Résumé Bank, so that employers can find you. ACM members' résumés include an ACM logo on their entry, highlighting their ACM membership to employers. 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). Log in to ACM's Job Board and post your résumé today.

Computer Science Teachers Association members: Be sure to visit the CSTA Job Board to create and upload your résumé to the Résumé Bank so that employers find you. Log in and post your résumé today!

ACM and CSTA members: Set up job alerts specifying your skills, interests, and location to receive email notifications when a job is posted that matches your criteria. For more information about the ACM Career & Job Center or CSTA Job Board, please contact Jennifer Ruzicka.

STUDENT NEWS

Apply for 2016 Cutler-Bell Prize for Excellence in High School Computing

Every year, the ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing recognizes talented high school students in computer science. The intent of the program is to promote and encourage the field of computer science, as well as to empower young and aspiring learners to pursue computing challenges outside of the traditional classroom environment.

The application process involves a Challenge that focuses on having the student develop an artifact that engages modern computing technology and computer science. Judges will be looking for submissions that demonstrate ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, originality, and a desire to further computer science as a discipline. The application period closes November 1. If you need inspiration, check out last year's winners and their projects!

Four winners will be selected and each will be awarded a $10,000 prize and cost of travel to the annual ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing Reception, where students will demonstrate their programs and discuss their work. The prizes are funded by a $1 million endowment established by David Cutler and Gordon Bell.

Winners of the 2016 Cutler-Bell Prize will be notified via email in January 2017.

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions: Submission Deadlines

ACM Student Research Competitions (SRCs), sponsored by Microsoft, 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 SIGMIS CPR 2016.

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 2015-2016 scholarships are made possible by generous support from Google, Microsoft Research, and Oracle.

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 Ingmar Weber. Ingmar is a senior scientist in the Social Computing group at the Qatar Computing Research Institute. His interdisciplinary research uses large amounts of online data from social media and other sources to study human behavior at scale. He serves on program committees for conferences on web data mining and social media analysis, and has given tutorials at conferences including WWW, CIKM, and WSDM.

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

ACM, IEEE Computer Society Share Distinguished Speakers Programs

IEEE-CS and ACM are sharing 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

ACM Congratulates Student Chapter Excellence Award Winners

The ACM Student Chapter Excellence Awards recognize chapters that display considerable initiative during the academic year. All student chapters in good standing were encouraged to apply for this award in five key areas. We had over 78 submissions and would like to thank all the chapters who participated. The 2015-2016 Student Chapter Excellence award winners are:

  • Outstanding Chapter Activities: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana ACM Student Chapter, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Outstanding Community Service: PSUT ACM Student Chapter, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Jordan
  • Outstanding Website: Amity ACM Student Chapter, Amity School of Engineering and Technology, Noida, India
  • Outstanding Recruitment Program: UPES ACM Student Chapter, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India
  • Outstanding School Service: University of Tehran ACM Student Chapter, Iran

These winning chapters will receive $500 and a "best of" icon to proudly display on their chapter's web page. Learn more about the winning chapters and how to apply for an award.

Reminder to Chapters: Submit Your Annual Reports

ACM's fiscal year is coming to a close, which means it is time to submit your ACM Annual Report. The report is for the fiscal year 2016 (July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016). Chapters that are currently under probationary status who do not complete this annual report will face de-chartering.

To complete the report online, you must log in with your unique chapter web account at http://www.acm.org/chapters/chapters/interface. Please note, your chapter web account is entirely separate from your personal web account and should be accessible to all officers.

If you are unsure of your chapter web account or need to reset the password, please follow this link: https://campus.acm.org/public/account/signin.cfm.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected].

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 May 13 to June 16, 2016:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology ACM Student Chapter, Hyderabad, India
  • Carleton College ACM-W Student Chapter, Northfield, Minnesota
  • Clemson University ACM-W Student Chapter, Clemson, South Carolina
  • FUTA ACM Student Chapter, Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria
  • Habib University ACM Student Chapter, Karachi, Pakistan
  • Harare Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Harare, Zimbabwe
  • McMaster University ACM Student Chapter, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  • Rowan University ACM-W Student Chapter, Glassboro, New Jersey
  • Snow College ACM-W Student Chapter, Ephraim, Utah

ACM Professional Chapters:

  • Atlanta ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter, Atlanta, Georgia
  • CCOMM ACM Chapter, Nanjing, China (SIGCOMM)
  • CRITAC ACM Chapter, Accra, Ghana
  • Harare ACM SIGSAC Chapter, Harare, Zimbabwe

ACM-W NEWS

New York Celebration of Women in Computing Supports Technical Women

By Jennifer Goodall, State University of New York at Albany
NYCWiC 2016 was held April 8 and 9 at the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center in Lake George, New York. It was the most well attended by far (242 registrants) and had a full program with optional workshops (Git, Hackathons, Agile, Imposter Syndrome) and résumé critiques before the formal conference kicked off. A poster session, keynote ("What's that program doing with my database?" by Phyllis Frankl from New York University Tandon School of Engineering), research and first-timer talks, and a screening of the documentary film "Code: Debugging the Gender Gap" made for a full first day. Saturday started with a keynote by Amanda Stent of Yahoo! ("Multilingual named entity identification at scale"), followed by birds-of-a-feather sessions, panels on graduate school, cool jobs, and diversity outreach programs. The day ended with a career fair and photo session with the Sit With Me Red Chair.

ACM-W Celebrations are local events that showcase female role models, encourage mentoring and networking, supply accurate information about computing careers, and create opportunities for women to present their research, often for the first time in their careers. Many of these events include poster competitions for undergraduate and graduate students to present their research and project work. You can find information on starting new Celebrations and conference planning resources on the ACM-W Celebrations site. Please contact Wendy Powley for any additional assistance.

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 Policies on Authorship

Anyone listed as an author on an ACM paper must meet certain criteria, including making substantial intellectual contributions to some components of the original work and drafting and/or revising the paper. Read the entire set of criteria in the Policy on Authorship.

Authors submitting papers for peer-review to ACM publications will represent that the paper submitted is original; that the work submitted is not currently under review at any other publication venue; that they have the rights and intent to publish the work in the venue to which it is submitted; and that any prior publications on which this work is based are documented appropriately. Read more about this policy in the Author Representation Policy.

The ACM Publications Board has adopted policy and procedures to support reproducibility in computer science publications. This policy is a first concrete achievement in the larger ongoing work of the ACM Publications Task Force on Best Publishing Practices for Data, Software, and Reproducibility.

ACM Publications Welcome New Editors-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing (TALLIP) welcomes Nianwen Xue as its new Editor-in-Chief, effective June 1. Nianwen is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department and Language and Linguistics Program at Brandeis University.

ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics (JEA) welcomes Gonzalo Navarro as its new Editor-in-Chief, effective July 1. Gonzalo is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chile.

Computer Systems Organization and Human-Centered Computing Category Editors Needed for ACM Computing Reviews

Computing Reviews, the post-publication review and comment journal of ACM, is seeking volunteer editors interested in serving as category editors for two areas: Computer Systems Organization and Human-Centered Computing.

New ACM Journals Accepting Submissions

The new ACM journal ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems (TCPS) is accepting submissions for special issues on Internet of Things and Medical Cyber-Physical Systems.

The new ACM journal ACM Transactions on Social Computing (TSC) is accepting submissions on work that covers the full spectrum of social computing including theoretical, empirical, systems, and design research contributions.

acmqueue Presents: "The Hidden Dividends of Microservices"

"Microservices aren't for every company, and the journey isn't easy," explains Tom Killalea, a consultant who sits on the boards of companies including Capital One, ORRECO, and MongoDB. While difficult to implement, a microservices-based approach can pay dividends to the organization that takes the trouble, though some of the benefits are not always obvious. Killalea's article describes a few of the less-obvious ones that may make the adoption of microservices worth the effort, including permissionless innovation, accelerated deprecations, and an end to centralized metadata.

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