ACM MemberNet - October 26, 2017

Welcome to the October 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.

Read coverage of ACM in the news media.

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October 26, 2017

TOP STORIES

AWARDS

MEMBER RECOGNITION

SIG AWARDS

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

MEMBER PROGRAMS

LEARNING CENTER

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

EDUCATION

STUDENT NEWS

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS PROGRAM

CHAPTERS NEWS

ACM-W NEWS

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

ACM FYI

TOP STORIES

ACM Joins Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society

ACM is among 21 industry, nonprofit, and academic organizations that recently joined the Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society. PAI was established in in February 2017, with an initial membership of 32 organizations, to study and formulate best practices on AI technologies, to advance the public’s understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society.

Initial efforts of the PAI will be organized around a set of Thematic Pillars. These areas of focus may evolve over time: safety-critical AI; fair, transparent, and accountable AI; collaborations between people and AI systems; AI, labor and the economy; social and societal influences of AI; AI and social good; and special initiatives.

AWARDS

Jesús Labarta Recognized with ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award

ACM and the IEEE Computer Society have named Jesús Labarta of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) as the recipient of the 2017 ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award. Labarta is recognized for his seminal contributions to programming models and performance analysis tools for high performance computing. The award will be presented at SC17: The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis,, November 12-17.
Read the ACM news release.

Stefan Savage and Regina Barzilay Named 2017 MacArthur Fellows

Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego and Regina Barzilay of MIT have been named 2017 MacArthur Fellows. Savage, an ACM Fellow and 2015 ACM Prize in Computing recipient, was cited for "identifying and addressing the technological, economic, and social vulnerabilities underlying internet security challenges and cybercrime." Barzilay, an ACM member, was cited for "developing machine learning methods that enable computers to process and analyze vast amounts of human language data."

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 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 December 3.

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

WUWNet 2017, November 6 to 8, Halifax, Canada

The ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks & Systems covers research directions in underwater networks and network-related signal processing, communications, systems, and applications. Four speakers will give talks: Lee Freitag (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Daniel Rouseff (Ocean Acoustics Department, University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab), Mae Seto (Dalhousie Univeristy) and Milica Stojanovic (Northeastern University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering).

CIKM 2017, November 6 to 10, Singapore

The ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management covers information retrieval, data management, and knowledge management. This year CIKM highlights technologies and insights that materialize the “Smart Cities, Smart Nations” vision. Keynote speakers are Amazon's Rajeev Rastogi; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Qiang Yang; University of Michigan's Rada Mihalcea; and TCS's K Ananth Krishnan.

VRST 2017, November 8 to 10, Gothenburg, Sweden

The ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology is an international forum for the exchange of experience and knowledge among researchers and developers concerned with virtual and augmented reality software and technology. Keynote speakers are Fabio Pellacini, Sapienza University of Rome; Shengdong Zhao, NUS Singapore; Anders Ynnerman, University of Linköping; and Martin Enthed, IKEA Communications AB.

SC17, November 12 to 17, Denver, Colorado

The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis will gather the HPC community with a program of invited talks, panels, research papers, tutorials, workshops, posters, and birds-of-a-feather sessions, as well as student programs to engage and foster the next generation of HPC professionals. Philip Diamond, Director General of the international Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, will be the keynote speaker.

ICCAD 2017, November 13 to 16, Irvine, California

The IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer Aided Design is the premier conference devoted to technical innovations in electronic design automation. Keynoting will be Krysta Svore, Microsoft Research; Maja Mataric, University of California; and Todd Austin, University of Michigan. The talks will cover quantum computing, socially assistive robotics, and "How EDA Could Save the World." A CAD contest will be held, in addition to the tutorials and workshops.

MSWiM 2017, November 21 to 25, Miami, Florida

The 20th ACM International Conference on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems will feature symposia and workshops on emerging topics related to wireless networking and mobile computing. Keynote speakers will be Albert Y. Zomaya, University of Sydney; Sotiris Nikoletseas, University of Patras and CTI Patras; and Stephan Olariu, Old Dominion University.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2017, November 27 to 30, Bangkok, Thailand

The 10th edition of SIGGRAPH Asia will showcase some of the world’s top professionals, academics and creative minds who are at the forefront of digital imaging, research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education and emerging technologies. Keynote speakers are Albert Yu-Min Lin, an award-winning National Geographic Explorer, and Michael Cohen, Director of Facebook's Computational Photography Group.

AIES 2018, February 2 to 3, New Orleans, Louisiana (CFP)

ACM SIGAI is pleased to announce the launch of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, to be co-located with AAAI-18. The conference welcomes contributions on a broad set of topics, including building ethical AI systems; value alignment; moral machine decision making; trust and explanations in AI systems; fairness and transparency in AI systems; ethical design and development of AI systems; AI for social good; human-level AI; impact on the workforce; and more. Submission deadline is November 10.

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 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.

The ACM Group 10-year Level Term Life Plan, administered by Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC is a valuable member benefit available to ACM members and their families at economical group-negotiated rates. ACM members and their spouses, under age 65, are eligible to apply for benefit amounts ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000. This plan also offers an Accelerated Life Benefit, which pays up to 60% of the benefit amount before death if the insured is diagnosed as terminally ill. Learn more about ACM Group Level Term Life Insurance Plan today, or call 1-800-503-9230.

Did you know that the average borrower could save $18,668 by refinancing their student loans? ACM has partnered with Credible to help you find out if you are overpaying and could save thousands by refinancing. As a multi-lender marketplace that allows borrowers to receive competitive loan offers from its top lenders, Credible empowers consumers to take control of their student loans. Borrowers can fill out one form, then receive and compare personalized offers from numerous lenders and choose the best offer. Reduce your rate, lower your payments, repay faster. To learn more visit Credible.com.

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

Watch November 15 Talk with Jonas Bonér on Reactive Microsystems and Microservices at Scale

Register to watch the next free ACM webinar, Reactive Microsystems—The Evolution of Microservices at Scale, to be presented on November 15 by Jonas Bonér, Founder and CTO of Lightbend (formerly known as Typesafe), inventor of the Akka project, and ACM Queue Case Study contributor. Viktor Klang, Deputy CTO at Lightbend, will moderate the talk. ACM Learning Webinars are free with registration, available for streaming on all major mobile devices, and are recorded for on-demand viewing.

Turing Award Recipient Silvio Micali's Talk on Algorand and Blockchain Now Available on Demand

"Algorand: A Better Distributed Ledger," presented by 2012 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipient Silvio Micali, is now archived and available on demand. The updated recording now features a full, integrated slide presentation. If you registered previously or attended the live presentation, simply click the registration link to be taken to the updated talk. If you have not, please register.

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

ACM Career & Job Center Connects You with Career Opportunities

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.

EDUCATION

ACM AI/Blockchain Workshops for Practitioners

ACM is sponsoring a series of practitioner-oriented workshops on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. The first workshop in the series occurred on July 31, 2017 in Toronto. Additional workshops are planned for San Francisco, New York, Beijing, Bangalore, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Boston and Los Angeles. Speakers include leading names in AI and Blockchain.

STUDENT NEWS

Applications for HLF 2018 Open November 6

Young researchers in computer science and mathematics from all over the world can apply for one of 200 coveted spots to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), an annual networking event. The HLF offers all accepted young researchers the great opportunity to personally interact with the laureates of the most prestigious prizes in the fields of mathematics and computer science. For one week, the recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, the ACM Prize for Computing, the Fields Medal, and the Nevanlinna Prize engage in a cross-generational scientific dialogue with young researchers in Heidelberg, Germany.

The 6th HLF will take place from September 23 to 28, 2018. The application period runs from November 6, 2017 until February 9, 2018. Young researchers at all phases of their careers (undergraduate, graduate PhD or postdoc) are encouraged to complete and submit their applications by February 9.

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 January 5, 2018. 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.

Volunteer with XRDS Magazine

Student volunteers are needed for XRDS, ACM’s quarterly student publication that examines cutting-edge research in computer science and presents viewpoints on technology’s impact in the world today. You can apply for Web Editor; Digital Content Editor; Department Editor—Hello World; Department Editor—Careers; and Department Editor—Labz. For detailed information on how to apply and job description and eligibility requirements for each position please visit http://xrds.acm.org/volunteer.cfm.

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 GHC 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.

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

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 isJean-Daniel Fekete. Jean-Daniel is Senior Research Scientist (DR1, equivalent to Full Professor) at INRIA, France. His main Research areas are Visual Analytics, Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction. He was a member of the ACM SIGCHI Conference Management Committee, in charge of Data Analysis from 2010-2011. An ACM member, his main publication venues are the ACM SIGCHI and IEEE VIS conferences.

For more information on Jean-Daniel, please visit his DSP speaker information page.
Jean-Daniel Fekete'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 September 13 to October 13, 2017:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • Alabama A&M University ACM Student Chapter, Normal
  • Augusta University ACM Student Chapter, Augusta, Georgia
  • Baldwin Wallace University ACM-W Student Chapter, Berea, Ohio
  • Baylor University ACM Student Chapter, Waco, Texas
  • Bournemouth University ACM Student Chapter, Poole, UK
  • Grand Canyon University ACM Student Chapter, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Howard University ACM Student Chapter, Washington, DC
  • Information Technology PRMITR ACM Student Chapter, Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of Technology and Research, Amravati, India
  • Jaipur National University ACM Student Chapter, Jaipur, India
  • Kansas State University ACM SIGAI Student Chapter, Manhattan
  • KJCOEMR ACM Student Chapter, K J College of Engineering & Management Research, Pune, India
  • Nazarbayev University ACM Student Chapter, Astana, Kazakhstan
  • NSU ACM SIGAPP Student Chapter, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Oklahoma City University ACM-W Student Chapter, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  • UNSA ACM Student Chapter, National University of Saint Agustine, Arequipa, Peru
  • UPC ACM Student Chapter, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Alella, Spain

ACM-W NEWS

ACM India Celebration Explores Future of Women in Computing Research

The ACM India Celebration of Women in Computing (AICWiC) held September 11 to 13 was hosted by the ACM-W Chennai Chapter and the School of Computing at SRM University. The Lady Ada Final Programming competition supported by ReliScore had more than 1,000 female participants across India. The winners were felicitated by Mukund Madhavan, President, ACM India and Arati M. Dixit, Chair, ACM-W India.

At an inaugural ACM-W India chapter summit there was an enthusiastic discussion on how to start an ACM-W Chapter and the possible events that can be organized for encouraging and empowering women talent in computing. Dixit shared her thoughts and motivated the participants, and talks focused on "How Women Empowerment Can Be Done through ACM- W Chapters" and "How Can Computing Technology Reach Girls in Rural Areas." Tutorials instructed attendees on "Web Application Development Using Hibernate with Spring MVC" and "Deep Learning."

Gargi B. Dasgupta, senior research manager at IBM Research India, delivered a keynote speech on "Cognitive Technologies and Their Applications." She talked about the technology components in conversational chatbots that help in automated understanding of natural language queries, automated response generation and knowledge extraction for driving the conversation. Dixit delivered a talk on "Dawn of Women in Computing: A Turing Award Perspective." Her talk focused on women Turing Award winners with an extensive discussion of the work of Silvio Micali and Shafi Goldwasser, 2012 Turing Award recipients. Tracy Camp, professor, Colorado School of Mines, gave a Skype talk on "Implementing a Wireless Geophysical Sensor Network," focusing on designing an efficient wireless sensor network capable of real-time continuous geophysical monitoring, which requires a more intelligent approach than a naïve "sense and store" method.

After a lunchtime poster presentation, the celebration ended with an exciting panel discussion on "Road Ahead for Women in Computing Research."

If you would like more information on Celebrations or would like to organize an event in your area, please contact Wendy Powley, Chair of the Celebrations Committee. We can help you get started!

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 Digital Library Moving to New Platform

ACM has selected Atypon’s online publishing platform, Literatum, to house the ACM Digital Library. For the last 20 years, the ACM DL has run on ACM’s own platform. The move to Literatum will allow ACM to reallocate time previously spent on product maintenance to new product development in partnership with Atypon. All Atypon publishers benefit from client-specific enhancements to Literatum. The Literatum publishing platform provides easy-to-use tools and automated technologies that free publishers to focus on content—not technology—giving them more control oover the presentation, marketing, and sale of their online publications.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data Welcomes New Editors-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data (TKDD) welcomes Charu Aggarwal and Xindong Wu as new Co-Editors-in-Chief. The appointment is from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2020. Charu is a Distinguished Research Staff Member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Xindong is Director and Professor, School of Computing and Informatics, and Alfred and Helen Lamson Endowed Professor in Computer Science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Ubiquity Magazine Has Been Upgraded!

Ubiquity, ACM's online magazine of critical analysis and in-depth commentary, now covers 12 new and exciting topic areas relevant to the future of computing, from autonomous driving to digital surveillance. Readers can also directly pitch Ubiquity editors article ideas and high-quality video content.

ACM Transactions on Social Computing and ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction 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 Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI) (previously the Journal of Human-Robot Interaction) is accepting submissions on human-robot interaction, including robotics, computer science, engineering, design, and the behavioral and social sciences. THRI is also accepting submissions for the inaugural special issue.

ACM Queue Presents: "Network Applications Are Interactive"

In Network Applications Are Interactive, Antony Alappatt describes how the network era requires new models, with interactions instead of algorithms. "The miniaturization of devices and the prolific interconnectedness of these devices over high-speed wireless networks is completely changing how commerce is conducted. These changes will profoundly change how enterprises operate. Software is at the heart of this digital world, but the software toolsets and languages were conceived for the host-based era. The issues that already plague software practice will be more profound with such an approach. It is time for software to be made simpler, secure, and reliable."

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM

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ACM FYI

What Are People of ACM and People of ACM European Chapters?

People of ACM and People of ACM European Chapters are interviews highlighting the unique scientific accomplishments and compelling personal attributes of ACM members who are making a difference in advancing computing as a science and a profession. These bulletins feature ACM members in the US and in Europe whose personal and professional stories are a source of inspiration for the larger computing community. Both series appear on a bimonthly basis.

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