ACM MemberNet - October 27, 2011

Welcome to the October edition of ACM MemberNet, bringing you the world of ACM and beyond. Explore the many facets of ACM with our newsletter of member activities and events. Read current and past issues of MemberNet online at http://membernet.acm.org. Is there a person, event, or issue you'd like to see covered? Please email mn-editor at acm.org.

TOP STORIES

Awards Member Recognition SIG Awards Conferences and Events Public Policy Member Programs Learning Center Career & Job Center Education Student News Distinguished Speakers Program Chapters News ACM-W News Publications News ACM in the News
TOP STORIES

Participate in Computer Science Education Week in December!
Computer Science Education Week, December 4 to 10, is fast approaching. Learn how you can find or host an event in your region in this week-long, nationwide celebration of computing's impact on our daily lives. CSEdWeek was established to address the crisis in computer science education and to prepare students with the fundamental computer science knowledge and skills they need for growing opportunities in 21st century careers. CSEdWeek is an activity of ACM and the Computing in the Core Coalition and is supported by many academic and industry organizations, including the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). Visit the CSEdWeek website to:
  • obtain customized resources for students, teachers, parents and community, administrators and counselors, colleges and universities, and corporations
  • find inspiration in descriptions of events held last year
  • make a pledge to take on an activity on behalf of computer science education
Last year, this successful week featured more than 300 events engaging students, parents, and teachers, and 1750 pledges of support. With your participation, we can make this year's CSEdWeek an even greater success.

Computing Community Consortium Seeks Nominations for Council Members
The Computing Community Consortium has issued a call for nominations to serve on the CCC Council for three years beginning January 2012. Nominations (including self-nominations) for the CCC Council are invited. The deadline is November 15. The CCC empowers the US computing research community to identify major research opportunities for the field and create venues for community participation in the process. CCC answers forward-looking questions like "What are the next big computing ideas?" and "What attracts the best and brightest minds of a new generation?" A recent example is the CCC-funded robotics project involving more than 100 robotics experts. Their report was the basis of a $70 million investment for the National Robotics Initiative announced in June. The CCC Council, chaired by Ed Lazowska (University of Washington) and vice chair Susan Graham (University of California-Berkeley), carries out the CCC's responsibilities. Visit the CCC blog for complete details about ongoing activities.

Dennis Ritchie, 1983 Turing Award Co-recipient, Dies at Age 70
With great sadness ACM mourns the loss of Dennis Ritchie, winner with Ken Thompson of the 1983 A.M. Turing Award for their development of generic operating systems theory and the implementation of the UNIX operating system. An important pioneer of modern computing, Ritchie was the creator of C, now the world's second most popular programming language by most measures. The C language paved the way for C++ and Java, while Unix was the basis for many of today's most widely used operating systems. His Turing Award Lecture, Reflections on Software Research, appeared in the August 1984 issue of Communications of the ACM.
1971 Turing Award Winner John McCarthy Dies at 84
ACM is sad to announce that John McCarthy, 1971 ACM Turing Award recipient, has died at age 84. He was cited for his major contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. In fact, he first coined the term "artificial intelligence" at the Dartmouth Conference in 1955. McCarthy invented the Lisp programming language and published its design in Communications of the ACM in 1960. A professor at Stanford University, McCarthy helped set up the Stanford AI Laboratory. He retired from Stanford in 2000.
Awards

Call for ACM Award Nominations
Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. And annually, ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. You and your colleagues are invited to nominate candidates for ACM awards, including:
Awards with November 30, 2011 nomination deadlines:
  • A.M. Turing Award
  • ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences
  • ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award
  • Software System Award
  • Grace Murray Hopper Award
  • Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award
  • Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics
  • Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award
  • Distinguished Service Award
  • Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award
Other Award nomination deadlines: Please take a moment to consider those individuals in your community who may be suitable for nomination. Refer to http://www.acm.org/nominations for nomination guidelines and the complete listing of Award Subcommittee Chairs and Members.

Member Recognition

Call for ACM Senior Member Nominations
The Senior Member advanced grade of membership recognizes ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who have demonstrated performance and accomplishment that set them apart from their peers. Nominations are accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadline for nominations is December 1.

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 30 distinct technological fields. Some awards presented (or to be presented) at recent conferences:
Conferences and Events

SC11 Aims to Unite HPC Communities
The SC11 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis is set for November 12 to 18 in Seattle, Washington. SC11 will place an emphasis on bringing together communities to facilitate information exchange, discussions and new collaborations for research and education related to innovating high performance computing applications and advancing scientific discovery and scholarship. This year's conference will focus on data intensive science, its challenges and opportunities for addressing the exponential growth and demands in the generation and analysis of data. New events this year are the Scientific Visualization Showcase, which will present state-of-the-art scientific visualizations that relate to HPC problems, and State of the Practice, a forum for peer-reviewed reports and presentations on best practices involving provisioning, using and improving the critical systems and services in HPC. The Communities Program, aimed at broadening the community of students, educators and researchers engaged in high performance computing, networking, data and analysis, will include educational outreach for educators, and diversity outreach for underrepresented groups. IBM's Watson computing system will be featured in an interactive kiosk. View the program schedule.

Director and Designer of "Kung Fu Panda" Films to Present at SIGGRAPH Asia 2011
The fourth SIGGRAPH Asia conference will once again provide an opportunity for the international computer graphics community to meet in Asia and learn from leaders in research, animation, art, software, visualization, hardware, games, visual effects, and education. The Art Gallery and the Emerging Technologies programs will return, as will the Computer Animation Festival, courses, technical papers, sketches and posters programs, and a Trade Exhibition. Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Raymond Zibach, director and production designer of DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" films, will will take attendees through their research process and trip to China to uncover important cultural elements portrayed in the movies, and the complex animation used to achieve realistic moves. Other scheduled keynote speakers are New York University computer science professor Ken Perlin, known for his Academy Award-winning noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, and Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and recipient of the 2008 ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award. Perlin will share his insights and expertise in the field of computer graphics and its future. Buxton will speak about the history and future of interaction and computer graphics, and the importance of balancing the two. The conference takes place December 12 to 15 in Hong Kong. Register by October 31 to enjoy Early Bird discounts of up to 10%.

IHI 2012, ACM SIGHIT International Health Informatics Symposium
IHI 2012 is ACM's premier community forum concerned with the application of computer science principles, information science principles, information technology, and communication technology to address problems in healthcare, public health, and everyday wellness. The conference highlights the most novel technical contributions in computing-oriented health informatics and the related social and ethical implications. IHI 2012 will feature keynotes, a multi-track technical program including papers, demonstrations, and panels. New additions to the IHI 2012 program include tutorials and a doctoral consortium. The conference will be held in Miami, Florida, January 28 to 30, 2012. View the preliminary program.

Public Policy

ACM, USACM Issue Statements on Draft Strategic Plan for National Cybersecurity Education Initiative
Earlier this month, Robert Schnabel, chair of ACM's Education Policy Committee, and Eugene H. Spafford, USACM Chair, issued statements on comments submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology on its draft strategic plan for NICE. Schnabel: "ACM and USACM applaud the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) strategic plan for clearly highlighting the need for a stronger cybersecurity workforce and an education pipeline that supports it. We are pleased to see that numerous recommendations in the NICE strategy align with many projects ACM is actively undertaking to improve computing education, and we look forward to seeing the eventual implementation of NICE.…" Spafford: "Licensing professionals should provide confidence in that person’s ability to successfully contribute to and succeed in the IT workforce. Our assessments, however, have shown that the body of knowledge in cybersecurity is not yet developed enough nor is the profession well-defined to the extent that licensing is warranted. Thus, the NICE strategy should not promote that as a solution.…"
Read the full statements.

Member Programs

ACM Member Referral Program Revamped as "Ambassadors for ACM"
ACM members like you are our greatest source of new members. Your first-hand experience with ACM's valuable career development and continuous learning programs makes you a perfect envoy to share your ACM experiences. That's why we're now calling this program Ambassadors for ACM. Along with a new name, we've refreshed the referral process as well as recruitment tips and opportunities for prizes, rewards and bonus gifts. Grand prizes for the 2011/2012 year now include an Android tablet and a Nook eBook reader. Learn more about new rules, recruitment tips and tools, as well as rewards and prizes by visiting the Ambassadors for ACM site.

Live Chat Feature Now Available to Members
ACM's new interactive Live Chat feature provides members with an opportunity for real-time customer service from our Member Service Representatives. To start your chat, simply log in to myACM with your ACM web account username and password and click on the Live Chat icon. Live chat is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. Any chats attempted after hours will automatically generate an email to ACM to be answered during regular business hours.

Auto and Home Insurance Benefit Available from Liberty Mutual
As an ACM member you could receive exclusive savings on your auto and home insurance. Plus, with Liberty Mutual, you get service and support when and where you need it. To learn more about Liberty Mutual insurance or to get a free, no-obligation quote, please visit http://www.libertymutual.com/acm or call 1-800-524-9400 and refer to group #8559.

ACM Member Benefit: The Association for Computing Machinery Platinum Plus MasterCard Credit Card
With the Association for Computing Machinery Platinum Plus MasterCard credit card with WorldPoints rewards, you'll earn points on purchases to redeem for cash, travel, merchandise, even unique adventures. Using this card benefits Association for Computing Machinery—at no additional expense to you. You can make an even bigger difference by redeeming your points to make a charitable donation. In addition, you'll get our Clarity Commitment summary—a simple explanation of key account terms written in plain language, so you understand what you're getting. And with Bank of America's $0 Liability Guarantee, you'll have fewer disruptions if you experience fraudulent charges.

Learn more about this and other ACM member programs by visiting the discounts and special offers page.

Attention Faculty: Order Complimentary Materials for Your Students
ACM offers the opportunity for faculty members to order complimentary materials for distribution to their students who are interested in the field of computing. Available items include ACM student membership brochures and posters, as well flyers featuring ACM's Digital Library, Code of Ethics, and student chapters, among others. Place your order using our easy online form and your request will be fulfilled promptly!

Learning Center

NYU-Poly Webinar: Discounted Online Graduate Programs for ACM Members
Tune in Thursday, November 1, 2–3 p.m. EDT, when NYU-Poly hosts a live webinar designed to introduce students to online graduate programs available for a 10% ACM member discount. All members of the ACM community are invited to attend and learn more about graduate degree programs in Bioinformatics, Cybersecurity, Wireless Innovation, and Organizational Behavior as well as Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Systems, and Computer Engineering, among others. To register, visit the NYU-ePoly Graduate Online Learning Webinar page. Those members interested in Cybersecurity can also register for the special webinar covering NYU-Poly's popular Cybersecurity program, taking place Tuesday, November 8, 6–7 p.m. EST. On Wednesday, November 16, from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. EST, the Graduate Advisor for Electrical Engineering, Professor Chen, will be available all day to discuss the Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunication Networks, and Systems Engineering programs. Click here to register for this session. The deadline to apply for the spring 2012 semester is December 15. For more information, call 877-50-EPOLY or email [email protected].

Safari Books Online Now Mobile-Optimized
Did you know Safari Books is now optimized for access with iPads and other mobile devices? To access Safari's latest iPad app through ACM's custom portal, follow these steps:
  1. On the iPad, go to the Apple iTunes App Store and download the "Safari to Go" app (it's free and installs quickly)
  2. Open the ACM Learning Center in your iPad browser and log into Safari Books Online
  3. You are now on ACM's custom Safari welcome page. On the bottom of this landing page there's a link that says "Switch to Safari To Go iPad App." Click on that and a little box pops up offering 2 choices: (1) Download the app and return (for anyone who hasn't gone through step 1); or (2) Switch to Safari To Go. If the app is already installed option (2) opens the Safari To Go App, which gives you iPad-optimized access to ACM's custom collection of 700 books and videos.
Members using Android tablets, iPhones, and other mobile devices can also enjoy mobile-optimized learning. After logging into Safari, just click on the "Switch to Mobile Version" link found at the bottom of every Safari Books Online webpage. Note: Some videos are not yet available for playback on mobile devices.

New Element K Courses, Books, and Resources
This month, Element K has new available courseware for ACM members. For current and aspiring project managers, the Microsoft Project 2010 package now contains a series on Project 2010 Web App. PRINCE2 Foundation covers this structured project management method. Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 (ICND2) v1.1 focuses on using Cisco Catalyst switches and Cisco routers that are connected in LANs and WANs typically found at medium-sized network sites. In programming, Java Programming (Java SE 6) is now available. View the course catalog in ACM's Learning Center for the complete list of courses. New online reference books include Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Certification (Second Edition). New blended learning reference titles include CompTIA A+ Certification: A Comprehensive Approach for All 2009 Exam Objectives (Windows 7); Fundamentals of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA); GIAC Information Security Fundamentals (GISF) Certification; Introduction to Ruby on Rails; Java Fundamentals (Java SE 6); and Java Programming (Java SE 6). To access these and many other online resources available from Element K, log into your account and click the Online Resources link under the Catalog tab. A new Brainbench exam on ASP .NET 4.0 has also been added. You can find the full list of Brainbench assessments by clicking on Brainbench Exams under the Professional Development tab.

ACM Members Save $1,000 on Enterprise Architecture Executive Program
On November 14 to 18, Penn State Executive Programs and the Smeal College of Business will present "Enterprise Integration & Transformation: Beyond IT/Business Alignment." This program was designed to help CIOs, Executive VPs, and IT managers, strategists, and architects create the foundation for an enterprise framework that captures the current state, envisions the future state, and determines actions needed for guiding integration and transformation efforts. Conducted at the Penn State University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania, the course is presented by Program Faculty Director Brian Cameron, author of the ACM Tech Pack on Enterprise Architecture, as well as top faculty from Penn State and other leading institutions. To see program content and learn more about the faculty, please visit the Enterprise Integration & Transformation home page.

All ACM members can participate for a reduced fee of $4,750 (regular cost is $5,750). Class size is limited. Reserve space via phone or email:
phone: 814 865-3435; Toll Free: 800 311-6364; Fax: 814 865-3372
email: [email protected]
Then apply online at http://php.smeal.psu.edu/psep/apply/.

Career & Job Center

Import your LinkedIn Profile in ACM's Career & Job Center!
Now available when posting a résumé in the Résumé Bank: import your LinkedIn profile. You will be required to sign in to your LinkedIn account. Please note that LinkedIn does not have exactly the same fields as ACM so you will have to review the imported information and update where necessary. Once you have a résumés created and saved in our system, you can publish it to the Résumé Bank so employers find you! Or keep it private and use it when applying online for jobs. So log in to ACM's Job Board and post your résumé today!

In addition, ACM offers CareerNews, which provides summaries of articles on career-related topics of interest to students and professionals in the computing field, in a bi-weekly email alert to ACM members. ACM members can subscribe to the CareerNews email alert service.

For more information about the Career & Job Center please contact Jennifer Ruzicka.

Education

Request for Proposals: Academic Grants to Support Teaching Parallelism
Are you teaching your students about parallelism? Working closely with ACM and others, Intel is providing resources to help faculty integrate parallelism into their undergraduate curricula. New Intel Microgrants of up to $5,000 are currently available to support the creation and sharing of innovative teaching methods and materials. Descriptions for current or planned course material which demonstrates how students can learn about parallel code in Data Structures, Algorithms, and Patterns will be accepted during published periods. Please see the Parallelism Content Awards site for details.

CS2013 Steering Committee Conducting "Characteristics of Graduates" Survey
The CS2013 Steering Committee, a joint ACM/IEEE Computer Society task force charged with producing revised computer science curricular guidelines, is conducting an important survey of the characteristics of CS graduates. The survey is based on the expected characteristics of computer science graduates from the CS2008 guidelines. Please take a moment to fill out the survey. Your feedback is crucial to the success of CS2013.

Student News

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions
ACM Student Research Competitions (SRCs), sponsored by Microsoft Research, offer a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research at well-known ACM sponsored and co-sponsored conferences before a panel of judges and attendees. The most recent SRC winners presented at PACT 2011. The next conferences accepting submissions are:
  • ICSE 2012, June 2–9, 2012, deadline December 1
  • CHI 2012, May 5–10, 2012, deadline January 9, 2012
Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

CRA's URO Zone Connects Students with Opportunities for Undergraduate Research
The Computing Research Association (CRA) has launched a new website to help undergraduate students identify computing research opportunities. The site—URO Zone, for Undergraduate Research Opportunities—provides links to a range of summer undergraduate research resources. It also posts profiles of undergraduates and details their recent computing research projects. URO Zone offers guidelines to help discover research opportunities in a variety of areas, from applied to theoretical computer science. It also defines specific research fields, describes CRA and ACM undergraduate awards programs, and lists links for finding computing research opportunities.

ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences
The ACM Women's Council (ACM-W), with funding from Wipro Technologies, provides support for women undergraduate or graduate students in computer science and related programs who wish to attend research conferences. The student does not have to present a paper at the conference she attends. High school students will also be considered for conference support. As of 2011, 20 ACM-W/Wipro scholarships will be funded annually: 10 scholarships of up to $600 will be awarded for intra-continental conference travel, and 10 scholarships of up to $1,200 will be awarded for intercontinental conference travel. ACM-W encourages the student's home department to match the scholarship award and recognize the student's achievement locally within her department. In addition, if the award is for attendance at one of several ACM special interest group conferences (SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGSOFT, SIGGRAPH, SIGITE, SIGOPS, and SIGPLAN), the SIG will provide complementary conference registration and a mentor during the conference. Applications are evaluated in six groups each year, in order to distribute awards across a range of conferences. For application form, notification dates and more information, please visit the scholarships page.

Graduating Students Eligible for Special Transition Rate
ACM offers a special ACM Professional Membership for $49 USD (regularly $99) to help graduating students make the transition to professional careers, and take advantage of continuous learning opportunities, including free online books and courses and access to ACM's Career & Job Center. This one-year-only transition rate includes all the benefits of Professional Membership plus the option of purchasing a Digital Library subscription for $50. Recent graduates can access this special transition offer through ACM's convenient online renewal form, or by following the instructions on the paper renewal form. For more information, visit the Reasons to Transition to Professional Membership page.

Distinguished Speakers Program

Featured Distinguished Speaker: Judson Rosebush
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 Judson Rosebush. Judson is a producer and director of computer animation, an author, and a media theorist. He is a graduate of the College of Wooster in art and has a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in Public Communications. He has worked in radio and television broadcasting, sound and video production, print, and hypermedia. His specialty is computer animation and the Internet.

For more information on Judson, please visit his DSP speaker information page.

ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program Expands to Colleges, Universities, Corporations
ACM's Distinguished Speakers Program (DSP) is expanding its venues for delivering compelling content on computing and IT to colleges, universities, and corporations. Previously available only to ACM Local Chapters, the DSP technology leaders and innovators offer more than 250 presentations on topics covering software engineering, high performance computing, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, gaming, mobile computing, and dozens more. Nearly 100 speakers can be booked through the ACM DSP to educate technical staff, ramp up the knowledge of teams, provide opportunities for direct speaker interaction, and boost attendance at meetings and events. ACM's Distinguished Speakers represent prominent companies, colleges and universities from around the world. These renowned thought leaders have proven abilities to address current issues, including Electronic Voting in the 21st Century; Software Engineering Best Practices; Software Under Siege: Viruses and Worms; Spatial Databases and Geographic Information Systems; and Careers in Computing—How to Prepare and What to Expect.

Read more about the ACM Distinguished Speakers Program and how to search for and select speakers on the DSP home page.

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 these new chapters that were chartered September 21 to October 20:

ACM Student Chapters:
  • ERU ACM Student Chapter, Kayseri, Turkey
  • Illinois State University ACM Student Chapter, Normal, Illinois
  • ITT Technical Institute Mount Prospect ACM Student Chapter, Mount Prospect, Illinois
  • KU ACM-W Student Chapter, Istanbul, Turkey
  • LMU ACM Student Chapter, Los Angeles, California
  • OCTC ACM Student Chapter, Owensboro, Kentucky
  • UC Irvine ACM Student Chapter, Irvine, California
  • UCCS ACM Student Chapter, Colorado Springs
  • University of Montana-Missoula ACM Student Chapter
Notice of Chapters to Be De-chartered
ACM is considering the de-charter of the following chapters due to inactivity. Members interested in revitalizing their chapters should contact Samantha Goldberg, Local Activities Coordinator, at [email protected]. ACM will terminate the chapters listed below after 90 days (January 25, 2012) unless interested volunteers express a desire to reactivate their chapter by preparing acceptable revitalization plans.

ACM Student Chapters:
Bahria University ACM Student Chapter; Boston College; Bryant & Stratton College - Milwaukee; Case Western Reserve University; Colby College ACM Student Chapter; Colorado State University/Pueblo; Computer Technology Club, Bowie State University; COMSATS Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter; East Central University; Fatih University; Francis Marion University ACM Student Chapter; Gonzaga University; Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar Student Chapter of ACM; Illinois Institute of Tech; Immaculata University; Instituto Tecnologico de Saltillo ACM Student Chapter; Instituto Tecnologico Superior de Irapuato; Lafayette College; Lakehead University ACM Student Chapter; Louisiana Technical University; Macalester College; Maine School of Science and Mathematics; MenTe ACM-W Student Chapter; Middle Tennessee State University; MUST ACM Student Chapter; Nassau Community College ACM Student Chapter; NUCES-FAST Peshawar ACM Student Chapter; Ohio University ACM Student SIGGRAPH; Saint Xavier University ACM Student Chapter; Samford University; Seattle University ACM Student Chapter; Shorter College ACM Student Chapter; Siena College; Sinhgad College of Engineering, Pune ACM Student Chapter; State University of NY at Potsdam; Tuskegee University; UAE University CIT ACM Student Chapter; Univ of Bristol Student ACM SIGGRAPH; University of Akron Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences; University of Cape Town Student Computing Association; University of Central Florida ACM Student SIGGRAPH; University of Colorado Denver; University of Colorado Denver ACM Computer Science Club; University of Karachi; University of Maine; University of Massachusetts/Lowell; University of New South Wales; University of Southern California ACM Student Chapter; University of Waikato; Utah State University SIGECOM ACM Student Chapter; Utah Valley State College; Valdosta State University ACM Student Chapter; Vanderbilt University Chapter; Vardhaman College of Engineering ACM Student Chapter; Wayne State College; Wilkes University Math/CS Club

ACM Professional Chapters:
Central Russia ACM SIGCHI; Metro Manila ACM SIGGRAPH; Mumbai ACM SIGCHI; South India ACM SIGCHI

ACM-W News

MINKWIC Regional Celebration Mentors Female Students, Faculty
by MINKWIC Co-chairs Carol Spradling and Judy Mullins
The MINKWIC (Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas Celebration of Women in Computing) conference, held October 7 to 8 in Kansas City, Missouri, saw attendance of approximately 175 students and faculty from 19 colleges and universities, as well as two local high school students and several industry professionals. Highlights included a poster session, lightning talks, graduate research papers, an Imposter Syndrome panel (addressing confidence problems that women often have upon entering the computing field) and a Breaking the Glass Ceiling panel. A Graduate School Information panel imparted a wealth of information and inspired many to consider pursuing graduate studies. Popular workshops were the Microsoft "Ace Your Interview" workshop and the "Crushing Gender Stereotypes" workshop sponsored by the Anita Borg Institute. CRA-W, the Women's Committee of the Computer Research Association, sponsored two keynote speakers: Patty Lopez from Intel's Fort Collins Design Center enlightened the Friday evening banquet with her talk on "Testing to Ensure that Moore's Law Continues"; and Lillian (Boots) Cassel from Villanova University gave an informative talk titled "No Discipline Is an Island: Where Computing and Other Disciplines Meet." Friday evening the students enjoyed a DJ dance party. Another conference highlight was the post-conference career fair, which was attended by 16 national and local companies: Microsoft, Google, IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, Sprint, Cerner, Garmin, Gallup, DST Systems, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Goldman Sachs, Sandhillls Publishing, VML, Principal Financial Hallmark, and Monsanto, as well as four graduate schools. For more information about the MINKWIC conference, visit the MINKWIC web site or Facebook page.

The Grace Hopper Regional Consortium), a project of ACM-W, provides programming that showcases female role models, encourages mentoring and networking, supplies accurate information about computing careers and creates opportunities for women to participate in the program—often for the first time in their careers. Visit the Grace Hopper Regional Consortium site to find out more about future conferences planned for Southern California, New England and Chicago in spring 2012.

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.
And to keep more informed about the activities of ACM-W and its members, you can sign up for our quarterly CIS Newsletter notification. Be sure to read the current issue for the latest news on ACM-W activities and events on the ACM-W CIS Newsletter issues page.

Publications News

ACM Launches Innovative Author-Izer Service for Authors and Computing Community
ACM Author-Izer is a unique new service that enables ACM authors to post links on either their own web page or institutional repository so that visitors can download the definitive version of their articles from the ACM Digital Library at no charge. ACM Author-Izer also allows authors to display download and citation statistics for each "authorized" article on their personal pages. Downloads from these sites are captured in official ACM statistics, improving the accuracy of usage and impact measurements. Consistently linking to definitive version of ACM articles should reduce user confusion over article versioning. ACM Author-Izer extends ACM's reputation as an innovative "Green Path" publisher, making ACM one of the first publishers of scholarly works to offer this model to its authors.

Call for Nominations: ACM Selected Readings Series
ACM is seeking an Editor-in-Chief for its ACM Selected Readings Series, a new publication series of readings on specific topics. The deadline for nominations is October 31. Visit the EIC search page for more information.

Call for Nominations: ACM Transactions on Graphics
The term of the current Editor-in-Chief of the Transactions on Graphics (TOG) is coming to an end, and the ACM Publications Board has set up a nominating committee to assist the Board in selecting the next EiC. Nominations, including self nominations, are invited for a three-year term as TOG EiC, beginning on January 1, 2012. The deadline for nominations is November 30. Please visit the EIC search page for more information.

acmqueue Presents: OCaml for the Masses
The next language you learn should be functional. In OCaml for the Masses, Yaron Minsky of Jane Street argues that the time has come for statically-typed functional languages like OCaml and Haskell, citing many reasons including the most important, concision: "The importance of concision is clear: other things being equal, shorter code is easier to read, easier to write, and easier to maintain."

Free Sample Issue of Communications of the ACM for Non-members!
New offer for ACM non-members! Fill out the online form and receive a free trial issue of Communications of the ACM. Read about the latest developments in the computing field, covered by today's leading experts.

ACM in the News

"Cloud Computing: Gaps in the 'Cloud"
Ruhr-University Bochum, October 24, 2011
Ruhr-University Bochum researchers in Germany discovered a massive security gap at Amazon Cloud Services and presented their findings at the recent ACM Cloud Computing Security Workshop.

"Big Data Rains Down on Seattle"
HPC Wire, October 20, 2011
Data-intensive science will be a key focus of the upcoming International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC11).

"Founding Father Wants Secure 'Internet 2'"
Financial Times, October 11, 2011
A new version of the Internet might be the best way to defend against cyberattacks, says Internet co-founder and 2004 ACM Turing Award winner Vint Cerf.

"Internet Risks Will Drive Users Offline, Researcher Predicts"
Government Computer News, October 3, 2011
The untrustworthy environment that has developed due to researchers' focus on securing legacy information technology architectures instead of developing secure technology will drive users offline, warns Purdue University professor and USACM Chair Eugene Spafford.

"Are African Americans Surging in Computer Science?"
Science Careers, September 30, 2011
"I could see there being certain kinds of master's program that may attract more people," says Ohio State University professor and former ACM President Stuart Zweben. "The programs that are more information technology-oriented rather than the more highly technical computer science-type programs tend to attract a greater fraction of African Americans."

Copyright © 2011, ACM, Inc.