ACM MemberNet - March 26, 2020

Welcome to the March 2020 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 https://www.acm.org/membership/acm-membernet-archive.

Read coverage of ACM in the news media.

March 26, 2020

TOP STORIES

AWARDS

MEMBER RECOGNITION

SIG NEWS

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

MEMBER PROGRAMS

LEARNING CENTER

ACM CAREER & JOB CENTER

EDUCATION

STUDENT NEWS

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS PROGRAM

CHAPTERS NEWS

ACM-W NEWS

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

TOP STORIES

ACM Announces 2019 Turing Award Recipients

ACM has named Patrick M. (Pat) Hanrahan and Edwin E. (Ed) Catmull recipients of the 2019 ACM A.M. Turing Award for fundamental contributions to 3-D computer graphics, and the revolutionary impact of these techniques on computer-generated imagery (CGI) in filmmaking and other applications.

Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan have fundamentally influenced the field of computer graphics through conceptual innovation and contributions to both software and hardware. Their work has had a revolutionary impact on filmmaking, leading to a new genre of entirely computer-animated feature films beginning 25 years ago with Toy Story and continuing to the present day.

Catmull is a computer scientist and former president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Hanrahan, a founding employee at Pixar, is a professor in the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Stanford University.

The ACM A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing,” carries a $1 million prize, with financial support provided by Google, Inc. It is named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of computing.

“CGI has transformed the way films are made and experienced, while also profoundly impacting the broader entertainment industry,” said ACM President Cherri M. Pancake. “We are especially excited to recognize Pat Hanrahan and Ed Catmull, because computer graphics is one of the largest and most dynamic communities within ACM, as evidenced by the annual ACM SIGGRAPH conference. At the same time, Catmull and Hanrahan’s contributions demonstrate that advances in one specialization of computing can have a significant influence on other areas of the field. For example, Hanrahan’s work with shading languages for GPUs, has led to their use as general-purpose computing engines for a wide range of areas, including my own specialization of high performance computing.”
Read the ACM news release.

AWARDS

ACM and CSTA Announce 2019-2020 Cutler-Bell Prize Student Winners

ACM and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) have announced the winners of the 2019-2020 Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing. Four high school students were selected from among a pool of graduating high school seniors throughout the US who applied for the award by submitting a project or artifact that engages modern technology and computer science. A panel of judges selected the recipients based on the ingenuity, complexity, relevancy and originality of their projects.

The Cutler-Bell Prize promotes the field of computer science and empowers students to pursue computing challenges beyond the traditional classroom environment. In 2015, David Cutler and Gordon Bell established the award. Cutler is a software engineer, designer, and developer of several operating systems at Digital Equipment Corporation. Bell, an electrical engineer, is researcher emeritus at Microsoft Research.

The winners are Kevin Meng, Plano West Senior High School, Plano, Texas; Lillian Kay Petersen, Los Alamos High School, Los Alamos, New Mexico; Axel S. Toro Vega, Dr. Carlos González High School, Aguada, Puerto Rico; and Zeyu Zhao, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland. The winning projects illustrate the diverse applications being developed by the next generation of computer scientists.

Each Cutler-Bell Prize winner receives a $10,000 cash prize. This year’s recipients will be formally recognized at the Computer Science Teachers Association’s annual conference, July 7-10.
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. The nominations deadline for general ACM awards has passed. The remaining award nominations deadlines are: the ACM-IEEE CS Eckert-Mauchly Award (March 30), Gordon Bell Prize (April 29), ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial Fellowship (May 1) ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award (June 1), and Doctoral Dissertation Award (October 31).

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. And read ACM President and former ACM Awards Committee Chair Cherri Pancake's article in Communications of the ACM, "Dispelling Common Myths about ACM Awards and Honors."

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 June 3.

SIG NEWS

ACM SIGGRAPH 2020 Candidate Slate

The ACM SIGGRAPH Nominating Committee has proposed the following candidates for the 2020 ACM SIGGRAPH election which will commence on 15 June 2020:

  • DIRECTOR A:
    Corinne Price, ICF
    Elizabeth Baron, Silverdraft
  • DIRECTOR B:
    Jesse Barker, Unity Technologies
    Makai Smith, Bentley Systems, Inc
  • DIRECTOR C:
    Hanspeter Pfister, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
    Tomasz Bednarz, The University of New South Wales (EPICentre), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Data61)

In accordance with the ACM SIGGRAPH Bylaws, additional candidates may be placed on the ballot by petition. All candidates must be ACM Professional Members as well as members of ACM SIGGRAPH. Anyone interested in petitioning must inform ACM Headquarters, Pat Ryan ([email protected]), of their intent to petition by 2 April 2020. Petitions must be submitted to ACM Headquarters for verification by 17 April 2020.

The Nominating Committee:
Rebecca Strzelec, Nominating Committee Chair
Scott Owen
Mark Elendt
Ariel Shamir
Manolis Savva
Paula Gaetano-Adi

Request for Proposals: Global Challenges in Economics and Computation

The ACM Special Interest Group on Economics and Computation (SIGecom), with financial support from Facebook, is announcing a call to support investigation into important theoretical problems and new research applications for economics and computation (EC). The group hopes to support pilot and early-stage research that leverages advances in EC for broader societal benefit, and encourages emerging scholars with diverse perspectives to apply.

Projects should address at least one of the UN's sustainable development goals and consider gender-sensitive solutions. The deadline to submit proposals is April 10.

Submissions should make progress on these goals using techniques at the interface of economics and computation. Areas of interest include but are not limited to those mentioned in the EC'20 call for papers, including design of economic mechanisms; game theory; information elicitation and generation; behavioral models; online systems; and methodological developments.

For more details and submission instructions, see the full call for proposals. To find collaborators, explore project ideas, and get feedback from relevant experts, see the Global Challenges in Economics and Computation 2020 Facebook group.

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

Message from Cherri Pancake Regarding Coronavirus COVID-19, March 17

Dear ACM Members:

As you are aware, last week the World Health Organization officially declared the novel coronavirus COVID-19 a pandemic. This global health crisis is a unique challenge that has impacted many ACM members. We would like to express our concern and support for all who are affected by this outbreak.

Under these difficult circumstances, ACM has been doing its best to be proactive in consulting with conference organizers, and unfortunately has had to cancel or postpone several conferences being held through mid-May. For conferences beyond that period we are currently working with conference organizers regarding possible alternatives to holding the event, such as postponement, remote options, or simply cancelling and focusing on the next conference in the series.

ACM publications continue to accept submissions and publish. ACM's Digital Library remains available around the world as do our TechTalks and Learning Center.

ACM thanks its members for their support and patience in this trying time. We are grateful to all of our volunteers—particularly conference organizers—for the time and energy they devote to ACM.

We are committed to finding the right balance between the important scientific mission served by ACM's conferences and the health and welfare of our members.

Stay well!

Cherri Pancake, ACM President

FODS 2020, October 18 to 20, Seattle, Washington (CFP)

The second ACM-IMS Interdisciplinary Summit on the Foundations of Data Science invites submissions of papers including (but not limited to) big challenges; models and algorithms; properties, logics, and languages; and types and classes of data. Submission deadline has been extended to May 15. FODS is an interdisciplinary event bringing together researchers and practitioners to address foundational data science challenges in prediction, inference, fairness, ethics and the future of data science.

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.

When you or your loved ones need long-term care…serious issues quickly arise:

  • How will I pay for extended care if I need it, or any of my loved ones need it?
  • Who would I call if a family member needed extended health care tomorrow?
  • How do I make sure my loved ones are receiving the level of quality care they deserve?
  • Where do I go for legal information and documents if I need to manage a family member's extended care?

Planning for long-term medical care can be stressful and confusing. Thanks to the buying power of ACM, you have access to LTCRplusSM, which includes extended health care or long-term care services you and your loved ones may need. Find out more today and request a free benefit guide about the ACM LTC insurance program. Call 844-582-7587 or visit https://info.ltcrplus.com/web-acm.

ACM Academic Membership Option

The ACM Academic Department Membership option allows universities and colleges to provide ACM Professional Membership to their faculty at a greatly reduced collective cost. ACM offers a membership for academic department faculty at the cost of $49 per person, more than half off the standard ACM professional membership fee of $99 per year. Through this program, each faculty member will receive all the benefits of individual professional ACM membership, including Communications of the ACM, member rates to ACM Special Interest Group conferences, member subscription rates to ACM journals, and much more. To learn more, visit the ACM Academic Department Membership page or contact Cindy Ryan.

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 March 25 TechTalk on Machine Learning and Decision Making with Michael I. Jordan

Register to watch the ACM TechTalk, The Decision-Making Side of Machine Learning, presented on March 25 by ACM Fellow Michael I. Jordan of the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about this topic on ACM's Discourse page.

Visit the TechTalks Archive for our full archive of past TechTalks.

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. By creating an account on the ACM Career and Job Center, you'll gain access to a wide range of tools to help you find the perfect job:

  • Finding a Job - Use the job search tools to find a job that matches your search criteria.
  • Create and Manage Email Alerts - Stay on top of the latest job openings. Receive an email when new jobs match your search criteria.
  • Create/Post Resumes - Get noticed by employers. Create or upload a resume with our easy-to-use tools so employer can get in touch with you.
  • View Saved Jobs - Save jobs that interest you, add notes, share with friends, and track your applies to keep on top of your job search.

For any assistance with the ACM Career and Job Center, please contact ACM's Advertising Sales Manager, Ilia Rodriguez.

EDUCATION

ACM Releases Curriculum Guidelines for Two-Year College Cybersecurity Programs

ACM's Committee for Computing Education in Community Colleges (CCECC) recently released Cybersecurity Curricular Guidance for Associate Degree Programs (Cyber2yr2020), a report outlining competencies and learning outcomes for those pursuing careers in information security. Cyber2yr2020 builds upon Cybersecurity Curricular Guidelines (CSEC 2017), an earlier report compiled by ACM and other leading organizations geared towards baccalaureate programs. The new report follows CSEC 2017 in outlining eight core areas that cybersecurity students should be proficient in, including Data Security, Software Security, Component Security, Connection Security, System Security, Human Security, Organizational Security, and Societal Security.
Read the ACM news release.

STUDENT NEWS

Apply Now for Computational and Data Science Fellowships and George Michael Memorial Fellowships

ACM SIGHPC Computational and Data Science Fellowships
If you are a graduate student in data science and computational science, you are encouraged to apply for the ACM SIGHPC Computational and Data Science Fellowships, an international program of graduate fellowships created by SIGHPC, ACM's Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing. The Fellowships aim to increase diversity in these fields.

To qualify, you must be either currently enrolled in a graduate program or accepted to begin in one no later than October 15 of this year; pursuing a graduate degree (Master's, PhD, or equivalent) in computational or data science; be less than halfway through her/his planned program of study; and a be woman and/or a member of a racial/ethnic group that is currently underrepresented in the computing field in the country where you will earn the degree.

The deadline for applications is April 30. Each fellowship recipient will receive a stipend prior to the start of their first academic term after August 1, and will be recognized formally at the annual SC conference awards presentation in November.

ACM-IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships
The ACM-IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships honor exceptional PhD students throughout the world whose research focus is on high performance computing applications, networking, storage, or large-scale data analysis using the most powerful computers that are currently available. The awards are presented each November at the annual SC Conference, where the recipients are recognized at the SC Awards Ceremony. Each fellowship is accompanied by an honorarium of $5,000 plus travel expenses to attend the conference.

Candidates must be enrolled in a full-time PhD program at an accredited college or university and must meet the minimum scholastic requirements at their institution. They are expected to have completed at least one year of study, and have at least one year remaining between the application deadline and their expected graduation.

Nominations are due May 1.

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 CGO 2020. 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 Community of Support for Women in Computing (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.
See ACM Distinguished Speakers in action on our flickr page.

Jeanna N. Matthews is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. She is a member of the Executive Committee of ACM's US Technology Policy Committee (USTPC), and serves as Co-chair of its Subcommittee of Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability. A member of the ACM Council, she has written several popular books including Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization and Computer Networking: Internet Protocols in Action.

For more information on Jeanna, please visit her DSP speaker information page.
Jeanna Matthews'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 February 13 to March 17, 2020:

ACM Student Chapters:

  • ABESIT ACM Student Chapter, ABESIT College of Engineering, Ghaziabad, India
  • Afrisol College of Computing ACM Student Chapter, Marondera, Zimbabwe
  • ASIET ACM Student Chapter, Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology, Enakulam, India
  • Berea College ACM-W Student Chapter, Berea, Kentucky
  • Chandigarh University ACM-W Student Chapter, Mohali, India
  • Embry-Riddle ACM SIGGRAPH Student Chapter, Prescott, Arizona
  • KITS ACM-W Student Chapter, KKR & KSR Institute of Technology and Sciences, Guntur, India
  • La Roche University ACM Student Chapter, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • NC Central University ACM Student Chapter, Durham, North Carolina
  • Quinnipiac University ACM Student Chapter, Hamden, Connecticut
  • SDMCET ACM Student Chapter, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Engineering and Technology, Dharwad, India
  • SUNY Rockland Community College ACM Student Chapter, State University of New York, Suffern
  • University of Houston ACM-W Student Chapter, Houston, Texas

ACM Professional Chapters:

  • Indore ACM Chapter, Indore, India
  • Lahore ACM SIGAI Chapter, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Phnom Penh ACM Chapter, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

ACM-W NEWS

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, visit: 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 Launches New Journals

ACM has launched ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare (HEALTH), a new journal envisioned as the premier publication of high-quality research on how computing is improving healthcare. HEALTH is multidisciplinary in scope, intersecting computer science, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, behavioral and social science, psychology, and the health field in general.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM has launched ACM Transactions on Internet of Things (TIOT). The new ACM journal features novel research contributions and experience reports in several research domains whose synergy and interrelations enable the Internet of Things vision. TIOT focuses on system designs, end-to-end architectures, and enabling technologies, and publishes results and insights corroborated by a strong experimental component.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM has launched Digital Threats: Research and Practice (DTRAP), new peer-reviewed open access journal that targets the prevention, identification, mitigation and elimination of digital threats. As DTRAP seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and industry practice, the new journal is aimed at concrete, rather than theoretical, threats. As of the first issue of DTRAP, all papers will be published on a gold open access basis and will be free to read and share via the ACM Digital Library.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics have launched ACM/IMS Transactions on Data Science (TDS), which includes cross-disciplinary innovative research ideas, algorithms, systems, theory and applications for data science. Papers that address challenges at every stage, from acquisition on, through data cleaning, transformation, representation, integration, indexing, modeling, analysis, visualization, and interpretation while retaining privacy, fairness, provenance, transparency, and provision of social benefit, within the context of big data, fall within the scope of the journal.

ACM Journals TODS, TOPS Seeking New Editors-in-Chief

ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due April 30.

ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS) is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Nominations are due May 20.

ACM Partners with Kudos Author Service

Since early this year, ACM has partnered with Kudos, implementing the Kudos service into the acceptance workflow for both its journals and conference proceedings. Kudos provides a platform for authors to explain their articles in lay language and to subsequently share them with a broader audience, especially via social media. It also provides the tools to monitor sharing activities like page views and clickthrough rates, all designed to increase the usage and citation rate of published papers.

The process is straightforward. After a paper has been accepted and uploaded into the ACM Digital Library, the author will receive an invitation from Kudos to create an account and add plain-language text into Kudos into its platform. The Kudos "Shareable PDF" integration with ACM will then allow an author to generate a PDF file to upload to websites—such as author homepages and institutional repositories—and preprint services, such as ArXiv. This PDF contains a link to the full-text version of the article in the ACM Digital Library, adding to the DL download and citation counts there, as well as adding views from other platforms to the author's Kudos dashboard.

Explaining and sharing via Kudos can increase readership, and ACM is pleased to offer this service to its authors.

New ACM Journals Accepting Submissions

ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing (TQC) will publish original research papers and surveys on topics in quantum computing and quantum information science. Topics can include models of quantum computing, quantum algorithms and complexity, quantum computing architecture, principles and methods of fault-tolerant quantum computation, design automation for quantum computing, quantum programming languages and systems, and more.

ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization (TELO) publishes high quality original papers in all areas of evolutionary computation and related areas such as population-based methods, Bayesian optimization, or swarm intelligence.

ACM Queue Presents: "Communicate Using the Numbers 1, 2, 3, and More"

In his article for ACM Queue, Thomas A. Limoncelli explains how to communicate more effectively by using numbers to shape your readers' and listeners' expectations: "People often use lists of various sizes when communicating. I might have 2 reasons for supporting the new company strategy. I might tell you my 3 favorite programming languages. I might make a presentation that describes 4 new features. There is 1 vegetable that I like more than any other. The length of the list affects how the audience interprets what is being said. Not aligning with what the human brain expects is like swimming upstream. Given the choice, why would anyone do that?"

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