ACM MemberNet - August 31, 2017

Welcome to the August 2017 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 past issues of MemberNet online at http://www.acm.org/membership/acm-membernet-archive and older issues at http://membernet.acm.org.

Read coverage of ACM in the news media.

Is there a person, event, or issue you'd like to see covered? Please email [email protected].

August 31, 2017

TOP STORIES

AWARDS

MEMBER RECOGNITION

SIG AWARDS

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

MEMBER PROGRAMS

LEARNING CENTER

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

STUDENT NEWS

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS PROGRAM

CHAPTERS NEWS

ACM-W NEWS

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

ACM FYI

TOP STORIES

Highlights from ACM's Celebration of 50 Years of the A.M. Turing Award

ACM celebrated 50 years of the A.M. Turing Award with a two-day conference June 23-24 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. Twenty-three Turing Laureates attended the conference, and nine Laureates took part by participating in panel discussions or delivering talks. Fifteen ACM Special Interest Groups sponsored the conference, and funded 110 student scholars to attend the event, enabling them to interact with the Laureates throughout the course of the conference. Panel discussions covered a wide range of topics of current interest, including deep neural networks, privacy, preservation of electronic artifacts, computing in a post-Moore's Law world, ethics in computing, quantum computing and augmented reality.

The conference was livestreamed on ACM's website and on Facebook. Watch on-demand videos of the talks and panels. Watch a series of short videos shown at the conference of Turing Laureates reflecting on their work and accomplishments. View photos from the conference, and photos from a reception held after the first day of the conference.

Future of Computing Academy Announces Executive Committee

The ACM Future of Computing Academy (ACM-FCA) announced its inaugural Executive Committee at a meeting in late June. The ACM-FCA is a new initiative created by ACM to support and foster the next generation of computing professionals. Its scope is the development, within ACM, of a coherent and influential voice for the next generation of computing professionals that addresses challenging issues facing the field and society in general. The focus is on harnessing collective action to define and launch new ACM initiatives that will carry ACM into the future.

The ACM-FCA Inaugural Executive Committee consists of these officers:

  • Chair: Brent Hecht, Northwestern University
  • Vice-Chair: Svitlana Volkova, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Secretary-Treasurer: Jeronimo Castrillon, TU Dresden
  • Exec Member-at-Large: Mirja Kühlewind, ETH Zurich
  • Exec Member-at-Large: Jason Ernst, Left

Members of the inaugural class of the ACM-FCA are an international group, originally from 19 different countries. View the full list on the ACM-FCA site.

AWARDS

2017 George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship Recipients Announced

Shaden Smith of the University of Minnesota and Yang You of the University of California, Berkeley have been named recipients of the 2017 ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships. The Fellowships will be formally presented at SC17 in November.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Award Nomination Submission Procedures

Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. ACM welcomes nominations for candidates whose work exemplifies the best and most influential contributions to our community, and society at large. ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. For awards presented at the annual June banquet, the deadline for nominations has been changed from November 30, 2017 to January 15, 2018, with the exceptions of the Doctoral Dissertation Award nominations, which are due October 31, 2017 and the ACM - IEEE CS George Michael Memorial Fellowship nominations, which are due May 1, 2018.

Please take a moment to consider those individuals in your community who may be suitable for nomination. Refer to the award nominations page 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. Nominations are accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadline for nominations is September 3.

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

ICFP 2017, September 3 to 9, Oxford, UK

The ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming provides a forum for researchers and developers to learn about the latest work on the design, implementations, principles, and uses of functional programming. Keynote talks will be delivered by North Carolina State University's Chris Martens, and Rich Hickey, author of Clojure and designer of Datomic.

ESEC/FSE 2017, September 4 to 8, Paderborn, Germany

The joint meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering is a forum for sharing the most recent innovations, trends, experiences, and challenges in software engineering. Keynote speakers include ACM member and Zuhlke Technology Group co-founder Wolfgang Emmerich; Roy T. Fielding, Senior Principal Scientist at Adobe; and ACM Fellow Richard N. Taylor.

ACM Europe Conference 2017, September 7 to 8, Barcelona, Spain

The inaugural ACM Europe Conference will be a truly international event, bringing together computer scientists and practitioners from around the world. A celebration of the ACM European Fellows and a talk by 2012 Turing Award laureate Silvio Micali are also planned. The two main themes of the conference are High Performance Computing and Cybersecurity. In addition, co-located meetings will include:

For more information and to register for this free event, please visit the ACM Europe Conference website.

Ubicomp 2017, September 11 to 15, Maui, Hawaii

The 2017 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing will cover many aspects of this field, including deep learning, virtual reality design, pervasive urban applications, mobile devices, anticipatory systems, swarm intelligence, hikers' technology preferences, self-tracking personal information, blockchains, social networks, and mental health monitoring.

Tapia 2017, September 20 to 23, Atlanta, Georgia

The ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing is a premier venue to acknowledge, promote and celebrate diversity. Keynote speakers include Edward Castillo, Research Scientist, Radiation Oncology Department, Beaumont Health Research Institute; James Mickens, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University; and Adrienne P. Felt, a member of Google's Chrome Metrics and Usable Security Team.

Mobicom 2017, October 16 to 20, Snowbird, Utah

The International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking is dedicated to addressing the challenges in mobile computing and wireless and mobile networking, including networks, systems, algorithms, and applications that support mobile computers and wireless networks. Workshops, posters, demos and exhibits, an app contest, a student career event, and more will engage attendees.

UIST 2017, October 22 to 25, Quebec City, Canada

The ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology is the premier forum for innovations in human-computer interfaces. Scheduled keynote speakers are Gabriella Coleman, Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University; and Niki Kittur, Associate Professor and Cooper-Siegel Chair in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

SPLASH 2017, October 22 to 27, Vancouver, Canada

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. University of California, Irvine's Crista Lopes; Kodowa co-founder and CEO Chris Granger; and UCSD's Lera Boroditsky are scheduled keynote speakers.

ACMMM 2017, October 23 to 27, Mountain View, California

Celebrate the 25th ACM Multimedia Conference at the Computer History Museum! Program will cover art, entertainment and culture, privacy implications, storytelling and social media, deep learning, perception, and many other aspects of multimedia. Keynote speakers include Nvidia USA Senior VP Bill Dally, Google VP Scott Silver, and Starkey CTO and SVP Achin Bhowmik.

ASSETS 2017, October 30 to November 1, Baltimore, Maryland

The 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. Karen Peltz Strauss of the Federal Communications Commission is the keynote speaker.

MEMBER PROGRAMS

ACM Congratulates Our Grand Prize Winner and Top Ambassadors

ACM congratulates Rohit Narayanan, a student in computer science at Federal Institute of Science and Technology (FISAT), Cochin, who won the 2016-2017 Ambassadors for ACM Grand Prize, a GoPro Hero 4 camera. Narayanan is also Vice Chair of the FISAT ACM Student Chapter. Winning the 2nd Grand Prize (a Fitbit Surge) was Tintu Thomas, of Amaljyothi College of Engineering.

ACM also recognizes our top Ambassadors for the months of April, May, and June:

  • April: Balasubramani R
  • May: Abduladhem Abdulkareem Ali
  • June: (4-way tie):
    Omer Van Der Horst Jansen
    Abhishek Bajpai
    Manas Marthi
    Yetunde Folajimi

These members also received gifts from ACM acknowledging their initiative in sharing the importance of ACM's valuable programs, such as career development and continuous learning, with others.

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 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.

ACM is pleased to offer an exclusive worldwide travel discount service to our members through Local Hospitality. Savings average 10-20% below market on all hotels and car rental suppliers around the world. Save time and money by visiting http://www.acm.org/membership/discounts/acm-travel-discount-program.

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 partnership with SocialCoder, and how you can get involved.

LEARNING CENTER

ACM Members Receive Access to Elsevier ScienceDirect

ACM Professional and Student members now have access to more than 1,200 online books from Elsevier's ScienceDirect platform. Titles include all current releases from Elsevier's Computer Science "Insights" library, and are available in PDF format. The Elsevier Computer Science collection covers Artificial Intelligence, Computational Theory and Mathematics, Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design, Computer Networks and Communications, Computer Science Applications, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Hardware and Architecture, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Systems Signal Processing, and Software. To access ScienceDirect, click on the ScienceDirect link in the top right corner of any ACM Learning Center page and enter your ACM Web Account username and password.

Watch September 7 Talk with Mike Milinkovich on Open Collaboration with Eclipse

Register to watch the next free ACM webinar, Open Collaboration, the Eclipse Way, to be presented on Thursday, September 7 at 12 p.m. ET by Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation. Will Tracz, Past Chair of ACM SIGSOFT, moderates the Q&A session. ACM Learning Webinars are free with registration, available for streaming on all major mobile devices, and are recorded for on-demand viewing.

Watch ACM Fellow Eric Horvitz's August 16 Talk, "AI, People, and the Open World" on Demand

Register to watch on demand AI, People, and the Open World, presented by Eric Horvitz, ACM Fellow and Technical Fellow and Director of Microsoft Research Labs. In his 60-minute August 16 talk, Horvitz shared reflections on promising directions with fielding AI solutions in the open world.

New Skillsoft Books and Videos

New books covering the latest IT skills and technologies are always being added to the ACM Skillsoft Learning Collections. New titles recently added to our library cover Advances in GPU Research and Practice; Cloud Computing: A Self-Teaching Introduction; Exploring Swift Playgrounds: The Fastest and Most Effective Way to Learn to Code and to Teach Others to Use Your Code; Functional Programming in R: Advanced Statistical Programming for Data Science, Analysis and Finance; Website Hosting and Migration with Amazon Web Services; and much more.

ACM members have access to thousands of IT and productivity videos from Skillsoft. Covering a variety of today's hottest topics, these videos offer "on-the-job" support and "just-in-time" solutions for busy practitioners. Recently, Skillsoft added significant video content in the following knowledge areas: Application Performance Engineering; AWS Essentials; CISM; Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions; HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3; IBM WebSphere Commerce; JS Frameworks and Libraries; MongoDB; Office 365; PowerShell Essentials; Securing Windows Server 2016; Security+; and System Center.

Visit the Skillsoft Learning Collections page for more information on books and videos. Visit the Skillsoft videos page for a more comprehensive list of recently added book and video titles (see sidebar).

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

Introducing the New ACM Career & Job Center

Connecting with the right employers in computing can be a daunting task. Thankfully, the world's leading companies, colleges and universities come to the ACM Career & Job Center to find the best candidates. The new ACM Career and Job Center makes it easier than ever to find the right opportunities for you. New features include:

  • Access to the best companies, colleges and universities through our cutting-edge recruitment technologies, including automated job matching
  • Easy job alerts that notify you via email when your perfect job is posted
  • A new, quicker and more user-friendly candidate application process

Please note: all existing job board profiles, resumés and cover letters have been transferred to the new job site. We do require you to reset your password in order to access your account. Simply click on http://jobs.acm.org/jobs/user/forgotPassword, enter your email address and you will be provided with a link to reset your password and log in to your account. For any assistance, please contact ACM's Advertising Sales Manager, Ilia Rodriguez.

STUDENT NEWS

Apply for 2017 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, 2017. If you need inspiration, check out last year's winners and their projects!

Up to four winners will be selected and each will be awarded a $10,000 prize and a trip to the annual ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing Reception. The prizes are funded by a $1 million endowment established by David Cutler and Gordon Bell.

Detailed information, including the link to the online application, is available on the ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing website. Winners of the 2017-2018 Cutler-Bell Prize will be notified via email in February 2018.

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions: Submission Deadlines

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 SIGDOC 2017. The next conferences accepting submissions are:

Learn more about competitions on the SRC submissions page and SRC guidelines for students.

ACM Scholarships for Women Computing Students to Attend 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). For application form, notification dates and more information, please visit the scholarships page.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS PROGRAM

About the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program

Book the speaker for your next event through the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP) and deliver compelling and insightful content to your audience. ACM will cover the cost of transportation for the speaker to travel to your event. Our program features renowned thought leaders in academia, industry and government speaking about the most important topics in the computing and IT world today. Our booking process is simple and convenient.

This month's featured speaker is Keith Cheverst. Keith is a Reader in HCI at Lancaster University, and has been a visiting scientist at Newcastle University’s Culture Lab, at Microsoft Research, Cambridge (working with the Socio-Digital Systems Group), and at the University of Melbourne (Department of Computing and Information Systems). Keith’s primary research focus is in exploring the obdurate problems associated with the user-centred design of interactive systems in complex or semi-wild settings to gain insights into issues of user adoption and appropriation. He is particularly interested in interactive systems that facilitate sense of community and that comprise context-aware mobile and/or ubiquitous computing technologies. A member and Past Chair of the steering committee for the ACM MobileHCI conference series, Keith currently serves as its liaison to ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI). A member of ACM SIGCHI, Keith has served as an Associate Chair for the ACM CHI conference, and has held senior program committee roles for the ACM DIS, EICS and IUI conferences.

For more information on Keith, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Keith Cheverst'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

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 new chapters that were chartered June 13 to August 14, 2017:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • ANITS ACM Student Chapter, Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences, Visakhapatnam, India
  • Ashford University ACM Student Chapter, San Diego, California
  • Dakota State University ACM-W Student Chapter, Madison, South Dakota
  • Francis Marion University ACM Student Chapter, Florence, South Carolina
  • Isfahan University of Technology ACM Student Chapter, Isfahan, Iran
  • ITU ACM Student Chapter, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
  • Marist College ACM-W Student Chapter, Poughkeepsie, New York
  • PCCOE & R ACM Student Chapter, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering and Research, Pune, India
  • Seattle Pacific University ACM Student Chapter, Seattle, Washington
  • SKNSITS ACM Student Chapter, Sinhgad Institute of Technology, Kusgaon, Lonavala, India
  • TCE IT ACM-W Student Chapter, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, India
  • Treston International College ACM Student Chapter, Taguig City, Phillippines
  • University of Houston Clear Lake ACM Student Chapter, Houston, Texas
  • University of New Hampshire ACM-W Student Chapter, Durham
  • Valdosta State University ACM-W Student Chapter, Valdosta, Georgia

ACM Professional Chapters:

  • Australia and New Zealand ACM SIGKDD Chapter, Chippendale
  • Bangkok ACM SIGCHI Chapter, Bangkok, Thailand
  • Hohhot ACM Chapter, Hohhot, China
  • Kuala Lumpur ACM SIGCHI Chapter, Skudai, Malaysia
  • Stamford ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter, Stamford, Connecticut

ACM-W NEWS

Jodi Tims Named New Chair of ACM-W

On July 1, Jodi Tims succeeded Valerie Barr as Chair of the ACM-W Women's Council. She was previously Vice Chair. Tims is a Professor of Computer Science at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, where she also serves as Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Learn about other new ACM-W Council members here.

2017 INSPIRE Celebration of Women in Computing, UK Explores "Identity, Impact and Voice"

On May 12, the ACM-W UK professional chapter organized the 2nd INSPIRE Conference—Identity, Impact and Voice, in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire ACM student chapter. The conference was attended by nearly 50 university students and academics from all over the UK. The aim of the conference is to encourage and recognize commitment to advancing the careers of women in STEM employment and research in higher education. This one-day conference provided an oportunity to hear from world-leading speakers from academia and industries, showcase good practice, learn new skills and form networks of like-minded colleagues.

In addition to talks delivered by prestigious speakers like Cecilia Mascolo (Professor of Mobile Systems, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge), Ruth Aylett (Professor of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University), Gen Ashley (Director of Women Who Code, Lead at Google WomenTechMakers London), there were multiple student presentations and a panel discussion on "Identifying and Negotiating Identity."

During the conference, ACM-W UK launched a mentoring scheme, with the aim of helping women at universities (undergrad, postgrad, PhD and Post-doc) around the UK to connect with senior academics from different universities and industrial professionals in their field.

The conference was a great success as evident from the stupendous feedback. When participants were asked about what they liked about the event, the unanimous choices were the inspiring talks by the keynote speakers and the panel discussion.

If you are considering organizing an event or you would like to know more about ACM Celebrations, please feel free to contact Wendy Powley, Chair of the Celebrations Committee.

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 Management Information Systems and ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems Welcome New Editors-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS) welcomes Daniel Zeng as Editor-in-Chief, for the term September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2020. Daniel is Gentile Family Professor of MIS at the University of Arizona.

ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS) welcomes Bashar Nuseibeh as Editor-in-Chief, for the term October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2020. Bashar is Professor of Computing at The Open University, and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at the National Institute of Informatics in Japan.

ACM Transactions on Social Computing Accepting Submissions

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.

ACM Queue Presents: "Research for Practice: Vigorous Public Debates in Academic Computer Science"

This installment of ACM Queue's Research for Practice features a special curated selection from John Regehr, who takes us on a tour of great debates in academic computer science research. In case you thought flame wars were reserved for Usenet mailing lists and Twitter, think again: the academic literature is full of dramatic, spectacular, and vigorous debates spanning file systems, operating system kernel design, and formal verification.

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 FYI

What Is eLearn?

eLearn Magazine aims to be a primary source of information on the uses of online learning strategies. Its intended audience includes readers interested in eLearning in higher education, K-12 educators, and those working in corporate, government, not-for-profit, and nonprofit organizations. Read about the vision of the new Editors-in-Chief for future issues of eLearn.

Copyright © 2017, ACM, Inc.