ACM MemberNet - January 23, 2014

Welcome to the January 2014 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.

January 23, 2014

ACM Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Report

In the past fiscal year (July 2012–June 2013), ACM has changed its publishing policy to reflect the open access environment. Among the changes are increased access to ACM journals and conference proceedings; enabling Special Interest Groups to sponsor open access to their most current proceedings; and giving ACM authors greater control of their published works with three choices for managing their publishing rights: an author pays open access option, an exclusive license agreement, and the traditional copyright transfer. ACM also continued its commitment to global development and support via its hubs in Europe, India and China. The first European Federated Research Conference took place in Paris, which incorporated five conferences on diverse aspects of computing. ACM India hosted its first Celebration of Women in Computing and held a Faculty Summit in cooperation with Microsoft Research on "Scaling Up Research and Innovation in Indian Institutions." ACM China finished its third year of operation by extending its outreach efforts to bring ACM awareness to academic institutions and industries, increasing the number of conferences, chapters, and memberships in China. Through its Education Board and Council, Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), Education Policy Committee, and Computer Science Teachers Association, ACM has influenced US education policy and joined educational initiatives to advance the field of computing for the next generation. Its examination of current computing curricula and massive open online courses has resulted in useful evaluations of the current CS educational system in the US. ACM hopes to extend these and other activities to other parts of the world. Read more about ACM's activities and future plans in the annual report.

2014 SIG Election Candidate Slate

In accordance with ACM Bylaw 6, the following Special Interest Groups will hold elections in 2014: SIGCAS, SIGGRAPH, SIGSPATIAL, and SIGUCCS. ACM Policy and Procedures require that those SIGs holding elections notify their membership of candidates for elected offices. To see the slate of candidates, please visit the 2014 ACM SIG Election site.

In accordance with the SIG Bylaws, additional candidates may be placed on the ballot by petition. All candidates must be Professional Members of ACM, as well as members of the SIG. Anyone interested in petitioning must inform ACM Headquarters (Pat Ryan, ACM, 2 Penn Plaza, Suite 701, NY, NY 10121; [email protected]) and the SIG Viability Advisor Will Tracz of their intent to petition by March 17.

Additional information will appear in the February issue of MemberNet and on the 2014 ACM SIG Election site.

SIGART Is Now SIGAI

SIGART, the ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence, has changed its name to SIGAI, reflecting the fact that artificial intelligence is widely associated with the initials "AI," both within computer science and more broadly in the popular literature. Seeking to be more readily recognizable within the ACM community, among students, and to the outside world, it was decided that the SIGART acronym did not readily evoke the common interest of this SIG. It is hoped that the new acronym will solidify its identity, update its image, and help new AI practitioners to find it and join this community. Read more about SIGAI and new volunteer opportunities on their site.

AWARDS

Eckert-Mauchly Award Nominations Due March 30

The ACM/IEEE-CS Eckert-Mauchly Award honors recipients with a certificate and $5,000 given jointly by the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society for outstanding contributions to the field of computer and digital systems architecture, where the field of computer architecture is considered to encompass the combined hardware-software design and analysis of computing and digital systems. Nominations are due March 30.

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 March 3. Please read Advice to Those Seeking ACM Senior Members by Senior Member Committee Chair Susan Rodger on how to submit a strong nomination package.

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

Young Scientists Invited to Apply for Second Heidelberg Laureate Forum in 2014

The organizers of the second Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) are encouraging young researchers to apply now to attend the Forum. The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) is looking for outstanding young mathematicians and computer scientists from all over the world who would like to have a unique opportunity to personally meet distinguished experts from both disciplines and find out how to become a leading scientist in their field. Applications will be accepted until February 28. Successful candidates will be selected by an international committee of experts that will ensure only the most qualified candidates are invited. Submit applications online here. Nominations are also being accepted .

The second Forum will take place September 21–26, 2014. It will once again bring together winners of the Abel Prize and Fields Medal (mathematics), as well as the Turing Award and Nevanlinna Prize (computer science) for an inspiring week in Heidelberg. The young researchers attending the first Forum were from 49 countries. There are 100 spaces available for each discipline of mathematics and computer science. For more information on the program, visit the HLF website.

Tapia 2014, February 5 to 8, 2014, Seattle, Washington

The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing (Tapia 2014) brings together students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities to celebrate the diversity that exists in computing; connect with others with common backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, and gender to create communities that extend beyond the conference; network with computing leaders in academia and industry; and draw inspiration from presentations and conversations with leaders with common backgrounds. This year's conference theme is "The Strength of Diversity," celebrating the contributions to computing by members of broad and diverse communities. The conference includes workshops, career fairs, poster sessions, a doctoral consortium, a robotics competition, a code-a-thon, and keynote sessions. Scheduled plenary speakers are Chieko Asakawa, IBM Fellow, IBM Research–Tokyo; James McLurkin, assistant professor, Rice University; Latanya Sweeney, Professor of Government and Technology in Residence, Harvard University; Dan Garcia, Senior Lecturer, University of California at Berkeley; and Kathryn McKinley, Principal Researcher, Microsoft, delivering the Ken Kennedy Distinguished Lecture.

CSCW 2014, February 15 to 19, 2014, Baltimore, Maryland

The 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2014) is the premier venue for presenting research in the design and use of technologies that affect groups, organizations, communities, and networks. Bringing together top researchers and practitioners from academia and industry in the area of social computing, CSCW encompasses both the technical and social challenges encountered when supporting collaboration. Papers, workshops, panels, interactive posters, videos, demonstrations, and a doctoral colloquium will cover topics ranging from social media to information sharing in the health field. The opening plenary speaker will be Mary Flanagan, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities at Dartmouth College; the closing plenary speaker will be Patrick Meier, Director of Social Innovation at the Qatar Computing Research Institute.

CGO 2014, February 15 to 19, 2014, Orlando, Florida

The International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization (CGO) provides a premier venue to bring together researchers and practitioners working at the interface of hardware and software on a wide range of optimization and code generation techniques and related issues. The conferences spans the spectrum from purely static to fully dynamic approaches, including techniques ranging from pure software-based methods to architectural features and support. The program will feature 28 technical papers and three keynote speeches: "21st Century Computer Architecture," by Mark D. Hill (University of Wisconsin-Madison); "Are Scripting Languages Ready for Mobile Computing?" by Calin Cascaval (Qualcomm); and "Heterogeneous Computing—What Does It Mean for Compiler Research?" by Norm Rubin (NVIDIA).

SIGCSE 2014, March 5 to 8, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia

SIGCSE 2014 gathers colleagues from around the world to present papers, panels, posters, special sessions, and workshops, and to discuss computer science education in birds-of-a-feather sessions and informal settings. The SIGCSE Technical Symposium addresses problems common among educators working to develop, implement and/or evaluate computing programs, curricula, and courses. The symposium provides a forum for sharing new ideas for syllabi, laboratories, and other elements of teaching and pedagogy, at all levels of instruction. Scheduled keynote speakers are Andrea Lawrence, Associate Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Spelman College; Robert M. Panoff, founder and Executive Director of Shodor, a nonprofit education and research corporation; Hadi Partovi, co-founder and CEO of Code.org; and A.J. Brush, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research.

The First Annual ACM Conference on Learning at Scale will be held immediately prior to and collocated with SIGCSE, March 4 to 5. The conference is intended to promote scientific exchange of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the learning sciences and computer science. Inspired by the emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the accompanying huge shift in thinking about education, this conference was created by ACM as a new scholarly venue and key focal point for the review and presentation of the highest quality research on how learning and teaching can change and improve when done at scale.

Call for Participation: SIGIR 2014, July 6 to 11, 2014, Queensland, Australia

SIGIR 2014 is the major international forum for the presentation of new research results and for the demonstration of new systems and techniques in information retrieval. The conference will feature papers, posters, demonstrations, tutorials and workshops focused on research and development in information retrieval. The Conference and Program Chairs are now inviting all those working in areas related to information retrieval to submit original papers related to any aspect of IR theory and foundation, techniques and application. A list of key submission dates, relevant paper topics, submission guidelines and instructions is now available.

PUBLIC POLICY

USACM Issues Statement on Presidential Commission on Election Administration Recommendations to President Obama

Jeremy Epstein, Chair of the USACM Voting Committee, issued a statement on the Presidential Commission on Election Administration Recommendations to President Obama:
"USACM commends the Presidential Commission on Election Administration for focusing on technology as a critical aspect of modern voting systems. The Commission's recommendations on several key areas reflect policy positions that USACM recommended to the Commission, and has promoted in other venues to meet the significant election requirements of reliability, responsiveness, security, privacy, auditing, and accessibility...." He then pointed out the key Commission recommendations that reflect these core USACM positions:

Modernization of voter registration by the states through continued expansion of online voter registration and expanded state collaboration in improving both accuracy of the voter rolls and efficiency in the registration process.
Investment in voting technology to reform the standards and certification process for new voting technology to address soon-to-be antiquated voting machines, and to encourage innovation and the adoption of widely available and significantly less expensive off-the-shelf technologies and "software-only" solutions.
Assuring that polling places are accessible to all voters and are designed to function smoothly so that they are usable for every citizen through the entire voting process.
Conducting post-election audits of voting equipment and publicly disclosing data on machine performance in a common data format to allow ballots to be recounted accurately and without revealing voters' individual choices.
Improving the ability of military and overseas voters to access ballots and other voting materials through increased use of the Internet, although Internet voting is not sufficiently secure for use. It can, however, be an effective method for communication with these voters.

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. Please consider becoming an Ambassador for ACM. The 2013–2014 Ambassadors for ACM program offers opportunities for you to earn new prizes, rewards and bonus gifts with each referral. The top ACM Ambassador for December was Witold Zakrzewski.

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.

Computer History Museum—Special Offer for ACM Members

Located in Mountain View, California, the Computer History Museum is a nonprofit organization with a four-decade history as the world's leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computer history and is home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, including computer hardware, software, documentation, computer-generated ephemera, photographs and moving images. ACM Members can enjoy 50% off Museum memberships (excluding digital) and 50% off Admission. Visit the membership discount page for more information.

LEARNING CENTER

Watch January 23 Webcast with Don Gotterbarn and Keith Miller: "Computing Professionalism: Do Good and Avoid Evil"

Watch Computing Professionalism: Do Good and Avoid Evil…and Why It Is Complicated to Do that in Computing, presented January 23 by Don Gotterbarn, Director of the Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute and Chair of the ACM Committee on Professional Ethics. The talk is followed by a question and answer session moderated by Keith Miller of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Most computing professionals want to avoid evil and to do the right thing. But that isn't always easy. Sometimes doing the right thing exacts a difficult price from the individual professional. Other times, it is difficult to know exactly what the right thing is. Gotterbarn and Miller try to help with both problems.

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

CAREER & JOB CENTER

Import Your LinkedIn Profile in ACM's Career & Job Center

Be sure to visit ACM's Career & Job Center to update your résumé or create a new one in the Résumé Bank. ACM members' résumés include an ACM logo on their entry, highlighting their ACM membership to employers.

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 résumé created and saved in our system, you can publish it to the Résumé Bank so that employers find you! Or keep it private and use it when applying online for jobs. Log in to ACM's Job Board and post your résumé today. You can also upgrade to a Preferred Résumé to keep it at the top of the Résumé Bank, highlighted with a star next to it for increased visibility ($25 for 90 days).

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

ACM, IEEE-CS Launch Innovative Computer Science Curriculum

As unabated growth in the global computing field continues, ACM and the IEEE Computer Society have jointly developed new curriculum guidelines for undergraduate degree programs that foster integration of computing with other disciplines. The report, Computer Science 2013, organizes computer science around 18 Knowledge Areas that reflect the application of computing tools in a wide array of disciplines. It also incorporates new areas of knowledge for computing skills that include information assurance and security, parallel and distributed computing, and platform-based applications. The report provides curricular models suitable to a broad range of higher education institutions worldwide. It is available to academic leaders, accrediting bodies, and college and university faculties.
Read the news release.

STUDENT NEWS

XRDS Needs You!

XRDS, the ACM magazine for students, is seeking students to become an active part of our team. Please email your resume/CV and a short paragraph about yourself to [email protected].

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 ICCAD 2013. The next conferences accepting submissions are:

MODULARITY(AOSD)2014, June 9-11, deadline February 2
ICS 2014, June 10-13, deadline March 7
SIGGRAPH 2014, August 10-14, deadline May 6

Learn about more competitions on the SRC submissions page.

ACM-W Student Scholarships for Attendance at Research Conferences

The ACM Women's Council (ACM-W) provides support for women undergraduate or graduate students in computer science and related programs who wish to attend research conferences. This exposure to the Computer Science research world can encourage a student to continue on to the next level (Undergraduate to Graduate, Masters to Ph.D., Ph.D. to an industry or academic position). The student does not have to present a paper at the conference she attends. Students can apply an unlimited number of times; however, once a student receives an award, she is no longer eligible for future ACM-W scholarships.

The ACM-W scholarships are divided between scholarships of up to $600 for intra-continental conference travel, and scholarships of up to $1200 for intercontinental conference travel. Scholarship applications are evaluated in six groups each year, in order to distribute awards across a range of conferences.

ACM-W encourages the student's home department to match the scholarship award and recognize the student's achievement locally within their department. In addition, if the award is for attendance at one of several ACM Special Interest Group conferences (SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCHI, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGEVO, SIGGRAPH, SIGHPC, SIGIR, SIGITE, SIGMM, SIGMOBILE, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN, and SIGSOFT), the SIG will provide complimentary conference registration and a mentor during the conference. The number of free registrations available varies from SIG to SIG. The 2013-2014 scholarships are made possible by generous support from Google.

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 ACM Distinguished Speaker: Albert Zomaya

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 Albert Zomaya. Albert is currently the Chair Professor of High Performance Computing & Networking and Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow in the School of Information Technologies, The University of Sydney. He is also the Director of the Centre for Distributed and High Performance Computing which was established in late 2009. He held the CISCO Systems Chair Professor of Internetworking during 2002–2007 and also was Head of school there from 2006–2007. Prior to his current appointment, he was a Full Professor in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at the University of Western Australia, where he also led the Parallel Computing Research Laboratory during from 1990–2002. His research interests are in the areas of parallel and distributed computing and complex systems.

Albert is the author or co-author of seven books, more than 500 publications in technical journals and conferences, and the editor of 16 books and 23 conference volumes. He serves on the editorial boards of more than 20 journals, including ACM Computing Surveys and IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, and has served as General and Program Chair for more than 60 events. He is an ACM Distinguished Engineer.

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

IEEE-CS and ACM have joined to share 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 these new chapters that were chartered December 10, 2013 to January 10, 2014:

ACM Student Chapters:

Michigan Tech ACM Student Chapter, Houghton
Mission San Jose High School ACM Student Chapter, Fremont, California
Shah and Anchor Kutchhi Polytechnic (SAKP) ACM Student Chapter, Mumbai, India
Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico (UIPR-ICSA) ACM Student Chapter, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
Uppsala University ACM-W Student Chapter, Uppsala, Sweden

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 Zarina Strakhan, Local Activities Coordinator, at [email protected]. ACM will terminate the chapters listed below on January 30, 2014 unless interested volunteers express a desire to reactivate their chapter by preparing acceptable revitalization plans.

ACM Student Chapters:
A.T.R.I ACM Student Chapter; ABV Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management ACM Student Chapter; ACM ITESCO Student Chapter; aCTIv ACM Student Chapter; Al Akhawayn University ACM Student Chapter; Alfred State College; Augsburg College ACM; Bellarmine College; BITS Pilani-Goa Campus ACM Student Chapter; Central Washington University ACM Student Chapter; CIIT, Lahore ACM Student Chapter; Claremont College ACM Student Chapter; Clayton College and State University ACM Student Chapter; Columbia ITT Tech ACM Student Chapter; Concordia University/Austin ACM Student Chapter; DePaul University ACM Stu. Chap.; Excelsior College ACM Student Chapter; Furman Univ ACM-W Student Chapter; Grinnell College ACM Student Chapter; Hanoi University of Technology ACM Student Chapter; Howard University; Indiana University; Informatica—Northern Kentucky University Student Chapter of the ACM; Instituto Technologico de Matamoros ACM Student Chapter; Instituto Tecnologico de Culiacan ACM Student Chapter; ITSLPSIC ACM Student Chapter; IUPUI ACM Student SIGGRAPH; MAE ACM Student Chapter; Maryville College ACM Student Chapter; Mount Vernon Nazarene University; NCC ACM Student Chapter; Northwestern Undergraduate Computing Society; NU ACM Student Chapter; Politehnica University of Bucharest ACM Student Chapter; Purdue Univ. Calumet Student ACM SIGGRAPH; Ramapo College of New Jersey ACM Student Chapter; Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology ACM Student Chapter; SREC ACM STUDENT CHAPTER; State University of NY/Stony Brook; Treston ACM Student Chapter; UCLAve ACM Student Chapter; UET ACM Student Chapter; Univ. of Saint Francis Student ACM SIGGRAPH; Universidad de Guadalajara ACM Student Chapter; Universidad Privada del Norte ACM Student Chapter; University of Delaware; University of Florida; University of Houston-Downtown; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ACM-W Student Chapter; University of Michigan/Flint ACM Student Chapter; University of Mobile ACM Student Chapter; University of North Carolina/Charlotte Student ACM-W Chapter; University of Virginia's College at Wise ACM Student Chapter; UPR-Rio Piedras ACM Student Chapter; Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, ACM Student Chapter; Webster University ACM Student SIGGRAPH Chapter; Wichita State University Chapter of ACM; Wittenberg University; Wytheville Community College

ACM Professional Chapters:
Baltimore ACM Chapter; Bangalore ACM Chapter; Bangalore ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter; Beijing SIGSPATIAL Chapter; Central Israel ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter; Chengdu ACM Chapter; Hadath ACM SIGSAC Chapter; Jakarta, Indonesia ACM Chapter; Jeju ACM Chapter; Kampala ACM Chapter; Macao ACM Chapter; Melbourne ACM Chapter; Mexico ACM Chapter; Moscow ACM SIGPLAN Chapter; Taif ACM Chapter; Thailand ACM Chapter; Thapar University ACM Chapter; Timisoara ACM Chapter; Vienna ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter

ACM-W NEWS

First Women in Cybersecurity Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, April 11-12, 2014

Registration, participation, sponsorship, scholarship, and career fair opportunities are now open for the First National Women in Cybersecurity Conference (WiCyS). The WiCyS conference will offer: Distinguished Speaker sessions, technical presentations, technical workshops (both for faculty and students), poster competitions, Birds-of-a-Feather discussions, panel discussions, lightning talks, and a career fair. The conference is an effort to bring together women students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry for sharing of knowledge and experience, networking and mentoring. Any individual or organization interested in recruitment/retention of women in this field and/or diversification of their cybersecurity workforce is especially encouraged to get involved. ACM-W is a sponsor and support is provided by NSF. Visit these pages for registration and scholarship (scholarship deadline is January 31; registration deadline March 10 or until capacity is reached), participation, sponsorship, and career fair opportunities. Visit the WiCyS timeline for a list of important dates, and the news page for frequent updates.

MINK WIC Celebration Unites Women in Computing from Four States for Mentoring, Empowerment

By Carol Spradling, Co-Organizer, MINK WIC

The Missouri Iowa Nebraska Kansas Women in Computing conference (MINK WIC) was held on October 18 and October 19, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri, with a total of 254 attendees consisting of 174 students and 46 faculty from 33 colleges and universities, five invited high school students and 29 industry professionals. Conference highlights included a poster session, lightning talks, graduate research papers, an Imposter Syndrome panel, a Big Switch panel, a Work-Life panel, a Dealing with the Boy's Club panel, and two technical talks, "Attributes of Influential Software Developers" and "Thinking Beyond the Code: Making Your Own Rules." Microsoft conducted a "Top 10 Tips to Building Your Resume and Acing Your Interview" workshop. Our keynote speakers were recently-retired technical executive Norah Denzel on "The Most Popular Ways Technical Women Shoot Themselves in the Foot in Their Careers," and digital media innovator Sarah Granger on "Empowerment in the Digital Age."

One of the favorite conference events was the Red Chair on loan from the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). A professional photographer took photos of the students, faculty and speakers sitting in the Red Chair. The photos, posted on our Facebook page, were a very popular attraction for everyone.

Another conference highlight was the Career Fair, which was attended by 14 national and local companies: American Century Investments, Cerner, Commerce Bank, Dwolla, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Gallup, Garmin, KCP&L, Microsoft, Monsanto, NetApp, Perceptive Software, VML and West Corp.

Many generous sponsors supported MinkWiC. The Kauffman Foundation contributed the use of their Kauffman Conference Center and provided a significant donation toward the cost of the evening banquet. Other generous sponsors donated $22,000, which allowed us to charge a $25 conference fee for all students and faculty. The fee covered conference meals and lodging.

ACM-W Celebrations showcase female role models, encourage mentoring and networking, supply accurate information about computing careers, and create opportunities for women to to present their research, often for the first time in their careers. The small conferences are run with almost 100% volunteer effort and involve considerable fundraising. If you are interested in working on or supporting any of the celebrations, please contact Valerie Barr or Jodi Tims. We'd love to have you join our conference committees or become a sponsor of this important effort to encourage and increase the participation of women in computing.

ACM-W's updated newsletter, ACM-W Connections, features in its inaugural issue news from India and Europe, and articles about child-friendly conferences and the process of applying to graduate school. Each issue will include updates on ACM-W programs (celebrations, scholarships and awards, and chapters); Judy Olson's Ask Judy column (Judy is the 2011 ACM-W Athena Lecturer); and contributed articles and announcements of upcoming events.

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.

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

A New Look for Interactions

ACM's Interactions print and web presence has a new look! With the January-February 2014 issue, this magazine for the human-computer interaction and interaction design communities is celebrating its 20th birthday with a new logo, graphics and layout. The content's new, too: departments "How Was It Made?" and "What Are You Reading?" debut, and a new forum, "The Business of UX," covers aspects of the field from a business perspective. Read more about the redesign in three articles from the current issue: "Improving over Time," by current editors Ron Wakkary and Erik Stolterman; "Redesigning Interactions," by designer Luke Hayman of Pentagram; and "New Vision by Design," by ACM Director of Group Publishing Scott Delman.

Editor-in-Chief Sought for ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization

ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO) is seeking a new editor-in-chief. Nominations are due March 3.

ACM Transactions on Information Systems and ACM Journal on Experimental Algorithmics Welcome New Editors-in-Chief

ACM has selected new Editors-in-Chief for two of its journals. Their terms begin June 1.

ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS): Maarten de Rijke, professor of Information Processing and Internet in the Informatics Institute at the University of Amsterdam. He leads the Information and Language Processing Systems group, one of the world's leading academic research groups in information retrieval.

ACM Journal on Experimental Algorithmics (JEA): Peter Sanders, professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Institute of Theoretical Informatics. He has received several awards for his research.

ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing and ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms Accepting Submissions

ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing (TOPC) is now accepting submissions. TOPC is a forum for novel and innovative work on all aspects of parallel computing, including foundational and theoretical aspects, systems, languages, architectures, tools, and applications. Visit the submissions site for more information.

ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems (TSAS) is now accepting submissions. TSAS is a new scholarly journal that publishes the highest quality papers on all aspects of spatial algorithms and systems and closely related disciplines. Visit the submissions site for more information.

CACM Reports: Performing Surgery with Touchless Technology

A team of surgeons and scientists assesses the benefits and constraints of using touchless technology to let surgeons maintain sterility during surgical procedures that involve imaging applications. Citing their experience developing a touchless system for use in vascular surgery, they conclude that system developers can drive the design of this technology. By combining knowledge of what imaging practices achieve with an understanding of the technical properties of touchless systems, these developers can change the practice of the surgical team as members interpret images, communicate information, and coordinate procedures. Other highlights in the Communications of the ACM January issue: a novel way to address the glut of conference submissions; a reflection on the legacy of Microsoft's Steve Ballmer; and "The Software Inferno," paralleling Dante's tale from The Divine Comedy as experienced by a software architect.

Communications, the flagship publication of ACM, offers readers access to this generation's most significant leaders and innovators in computing and information technology, and is available in print, web and digital format.

Read the news release.

ACM Queue Presents: The Road to SDN

In The Road to SDN, a team of researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Princeton University give the history of programmable networks up to modern software-defined networking (SDN). SDN began 20 years ago, just as the Internet was taking off, at a time when the Internet's amazing success exacerbated the challenges of managing and evolving the network infrastructure. As SDN continues to develop, its history has important lessons to teach. First, SDN technologies will live or die based on "use pulls." Second, the balance between vision and pragmatism remains tenuous. Maintaining SDN's bold vision requires more thinking outside the box about the best ways to program the network without being constrained by the limitations of current technologies.

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM, the computing industry's most trusted source for news, analysis and insights! Non-members can use our online form and receive a new ACM membership with your 12-month subscription, or request a sample issue using our online free trial issue form.

ACM IN THE NEWS

"The World Changing Ideas of 2014"

Fast Company, January 14, 2014
2014 will see a big jump in students who are studying computer programming. In 2013, Idaho and Tennessee passed legislation allowing computer science to fulfill math or science graduation requirements—a move that will lead to class sizes 50% larger than before—and organizations such as Code.org and the Association of Computing Machinery are working to spread the movement nationwide. This year, says ACM's director of public policy, Cameron Wilson, "we will unite behind the idea that every student should have access to K-12 computer science education as a fundamental new literacy for all, instead of knowledge for a privileged few."

"Successful 'Hour of Code' computer tutorials prompt effort to change school policies"

The Washington Post, January 14, 2014
The success of the Hour of Code initiative has motivated founders Hadi Partovi and Ali Partovi to harness the momentum and use it to expand computer science education in elementary and secondary schools. More than 20 million people around the world took part in the Hour of Code, sponsored in part by ACM.

"Tech Women Are Busy Building Their Own Networks"

The Washington Post, January 8, 2014
Several networks have formed to focus on advancing the careers of women in technology, including Women in Tech, Tech LadyMafia, ACM's Women in Computing (ACM-W), and the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT).

"New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'Max Flow' Problem"

MIT News, January 7, 2014
MIT researchers presented a paper at the ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms in January that describes a theoretical algorithm that can significantly decrease the number of operations needed to solve the maximum-flow problem.

"Two States to Use Clemson Voting Technology in Elections"

The Newsstand (SC), January 2, 2014
Clemson University professor and USACM member Juan Gilbert and his colleagues have developed voting technology designed to help the disabled vote securely and independently.

"Viewing Where the Internet Goes"

The New York Times, December 30, 2013
In an interview, Internet pioneers Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn discuss the future of Internet regulation. Current ACM president Cerf received ACM's 2004 Turing Award along with Kahn.

"New approach to vertex connectivity could maximize networks' bandwidth"

MIT News, December 24, 2013
Researchers at MIT, Technion, and the University of Freiburg say they have developed a technique for addressing vertex-connectivity problems. The research was presentd at the ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms in January.

"IBM Earns Patent for 'Encrypted Blobs'"

Network World, December 19, 2013
"Our patented invention has the potential to pave the way for more secure cloud computing services—without having to decrypt or reveal original data," says IBM researcher and 2010 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient Craig Gentry.

"Innovative Technology Addresses Wireless Interference"

National Science Foundation, December 16, 2013
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and 2013 ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient Dina Katabi is leading a team that is working to create tools and programs to improve the speed, efficiency, and security of wireless data transmissions.