ACM MemberNet - July 25, 2019

Welcome to the July 2019 edition of ACM MemberNet—Special Awards Banquet Edition.

The ACM Awards Banquet is an annual event recognizing technical excellence and outstanding service to the computing field. This year's banquet honoring the 2018 award recipients and newly inducted ACM Fellows was held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on June 15.

ACM's awards celebrate our long tradition of honoring those whose contributions have impacted our world for the better in countless ways. These prestigious and internationally recognized honors are an integral part of ACM's mission to unite computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges.

View our photo album of the banquet here.

July 25, 2019

AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE 2019 ACM AWARDS BANQUET:

ACM AWARD NOMINATIONS

ACM ADVANCED MEMBER GRADES

Communications of the ACM Article on Award Nominations by ACM President Cherri Pancake

ACM AWARDS BANQUET

ACM A.M. Turing Award

The ACM A.M. Turing Award was presented to Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yann LeCun for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.

Accompanied by a prize of $1,000,000, ACM's most prestigious award is given to recognize contributions of a technical nature which are of lasting and major technical importance to the computing field. Financial support of the A.M. Turing Award is provided by Google Inc.


Turing Award recipients Yann LeCun, Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio with ACM President Cherri Pancake, Google Senior Fellow Jeff Dean, and ACM CEO and Executive Director Vicki L. Hanson

ACM Prize in Computing

The ACM Prize in Computing was presented to Shwetak Patel for contributions to creative and practical sensing systems for sustainability and health.

The ACM Prize in Computing (formerly the ACM - Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences) recognizes an early- to mid-career fundamental innovative contribution in computing that, through its depth, impact and broad implications, exemplifies the greatest achievements in the discipline. The award carries a prize of $250,000. Financial support is provided by Infosys.


ACM Prize recipient Shwetak Patel

ACM Charles P. “Chuck” Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award

The inaugural ACM Charles P. “Chuck” Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award was presented to Mendel Rosenblum for reinventing the virtual machine for the modern era and thereby revolutionizing datacenters and enabling modern cloud computing.

The award celebrates Chuck Thacker's pioneering contributions in computing and his long-term inspirational mentorship of generations of computer scientists. The award is accompanied by a prize of $100,000 with financial support provided by Microsoft.


ACM Thacker Breakthrough Award recipient Mendel Rosenblum with Cherri Pancake, Eric Horvitz (Microsoft) and Vicki L. Hanson

ACM - AAAI Allen Newell Award

The ACM - AAAI Allen Newell Award was presented to Henry Kautz for contributions to artificial intelligence and computational social science, including fundamental results on the complexity of inference, planning and media analytics for public health.

The award is named for Allen Newell, a trailblazer in computer science research and education, and a founder of the artificial intelligence and cognitive science fields. The Newell Award is presented to individuals selected for career contributions that have breadth within computer science, or that bridge computer science and other disciplines. It is accompanied by a $10,000 prize provided by ACM and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and by individual contributions.


ACM Newell Award recipient Henry Kautz

Software System Award

The Software System Award was presented to Gerald C. Combs for creating the Wireshark network protocol analyzer, an essential tool for nearly anyone who designs, deploys, analyzes and troubleshoots the wide range of network protocols that tie the internet together, and for continued leadership of the international Wireshark developer community.

The Software System Award is presented to an institution or individuals recognized for developing a software system that has had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts, in commercial acceptance, or both. A prize of $35,000 accompanies the award, with financial support provided by IBM.


Software System Award recipient Gerald C. Combs with Cherri Pancake, Tanveer Syeda-Mahmood (IBM Research) and Vicki L. Hanson

Grace Murray Hopper Award

The Grace Murray Hopper Award was presented to Constantinos Daskalakis and Michael J. Freedman. Daskalakis was recognized for his seminal contributions to the theory of computation and economics, particularly the complexity of Nash Equilibrium. Freedman was cited for the design and deployment of self-organizing geo-distributed systems.

The award is named for Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, a pioneer in software development whose work spanned programming languages, software development concepts, compiler validation, and data processing. The Hopper Award is presented to the outstanding young computer professional of the year, selected on the basis of a single recent major technical or service contribution. The candidate must have been 35 years of age or less at the time the qualifying contribution was made. A prize of $35,000 accompanies the award, with financial support provided by Microsoft.


Hopper Award recipients Michael J. Freedman and Constantinos Daskalakis with Cherri Pancake, Susan Dumais (Microsoft) and Vicki L. Hanson

Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award

The Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award was presented to Pavel Pevzner for pioneering contributions to the theory, design and implementation of algorithms for string reconstruction and to their applications in the assembly of genomes.

The award is named for Paris Christos Kanellakis, who, as a distinguished computer science theoretician and esteemed faculty member of Brown University, focused much of his work in the area of theoretical computer science, particularly the principles of database systems and logic. The Kanellakis Award honors specific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing. It is accompanied by a prize of $10,000 and is endowed by contributions from the Kanellakis family, and financial support by ACM's Special Interest Groups SIGACT, SIGDA, SIGMOD, and SIGPLAN, the ACM SIG Project Fund, and individual contributions.


Kanellakis Award recipient Pavel Pevzner

Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award

The Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award was presented to Robert Sedgewick for developing classic textbooks and online materials for the study of algorithms, analytic combinatorics, and introductory computer science that have educated generations of students worldwide.

The Karlstrom Award is presented annually to an outstanding educator who is appointed to a recognized educational baccalaureate institution; recognized for advancing new teaching methodologies; effecting new curriculum development or expansion in computer science and engineering; or making a significant contribution to ACM's educational mission. Those teachers with 10 years or less experience are given special consideration. The Karlstrom Award is accompanied by a prize of $10,000, with financial support provided by Pearson Education.


Karlstrom Award recipient Robert Sedgewick with Cherri Pancake, Tracy Johnson (Pearson Education) and Vicki L. Hanson

Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics

The Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics was presented to Meenakshi Balakrishnan for his research, development, and deployment of cost-effective embedded-system and software solutions addressing mobility and education challenges of the visually impaired in the developing world.

The ACM Lawler Award recognizes an individual or group who has made significant humanitarian contributions through the use of computing technology. This biennial endowed award is accompanied by a prize of $5,000.


Lawler Award recipient Meenakshi Balakrishnan with Cherri Pancake and Vicki L. Hanson

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Victor Bahl for significant and lasting service to the broad community of mobile computing and wireless networking, and for building strong linkages between academia, industry, and government agencies.

The Distinguished Service Award is given on the basis of value and degree of service to the computing community. The contributions are not limited to service to the Association, and should include activities in other computer organizations and should emphasize contributions to the computing community at large.


Distinguished Service Award recipient Victor Bahl

Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award

The Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award was presented to Chris Stephenson for advancing CS education by architecting and nurturing the Computer Science Teachers Association to incorporate more than 22,000 K-12 CS educators and partners into the ACM community.

The Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award recognizes outstanding service contributions to the Association. Candidates are selected based on the value and degree of service overall, and may be given to up to three individuals each year.

Outstanding Contribution Award recipient Chris Stephenson with Cherri Pancake and Vicki L. Hanson

ACM Athena Lecturer Award

The ACM Athena Lecturer Award was presented to Elisa Bertino for pioneering and impactful contributions to data management and data security theory and systems, along with outstanding contributions to broadening participation in computing via professional leadership and mentoring.

The ACM Athena Lecturer Award recognition celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. The award carries a cash prize of $25,000, with financial support provided by Two Sigma. The recipient gives an invited talk at a major ACM conference of her choice.


Athena Lecturer Award recipient Elisa Bertino with Cherri Pancake, Alfred Spector (Two Sigma) and Vicki L. Hanson

ACM Presidential Award

The ACM Presidential Award was presented to Vint Cerf, whose many ACM contributions include serving as ACM President, as Co-chair of ACM's Awards Committee, and on the ACM Council three times. He is also honored for establishing the ACM Fellows program.

The award is given at the discretion of the ACM President and recognizes leaders whose actions and achievements serve as paragons for our field.


ACM Presidential Award recipient Vint Cerf

2018 ACM Fellows

The ACM Fellows Program was established in 1993 to recognize and honor outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology and for their significant contributions to the mission of ACM. The ACM Fellows serve as distinguished colleagues to whom ACM and its members look for guidance and leadership as the world of information technology evolves.

View the complete listing of ACM Fellows.

The 2018 Fellows are:

  • Gul Agha
  • Krste Asanovic
  • N Asokan
  • Paul Barham
  • Peter L. Bartlett
  • David Basin
  • Elizabeth M. Belding
  • Rastislav Bodik
  • Katy Borner
  • Amy S. Bruckman
  • Jan Camenisch
  • Adnan Darwiche
  • Andre M. Dehon
  • Premkumar T. Devanbu
  • Tamal Dey
  • Sandhya Dwarkadas
  • Steven Feiner
  • Tim Finin
  • Thomas Funkhouser
  • Minos Garofalakis
  • Mario Gerla
  • Juan E. Gilbert
  • Mohammad T. Hajiaghayi
  • Dan Halperin
  • Johan Håstad
  • Tian He
  • Wendi Beth Heinzelman
  • Aaron Hertzmann
  • Jessica K. Hodgins
  • John Hughes
  • Charles Lee Isbell
  • Kimberly Keeton
  • Sanjeev Khanna
  • Lillian Lee
  • Tom Leighton
  • Fei-Fei Li
  • Michael Littman
  • Huan Liu
  • Jiebo Luo
  • Bruce M. Maggs
  • Bangalore S. Manjunath
  • Vishal Misra
  • Frank Mueller
  • David Parkes
  • Gurudatta Parulkar
  • Toniann Pitassi
  • Lili Qiu
  • Matthew Roughan
  • Amit Sahai
  • Alex Snoeren
  • Gerald Tesauro
  • Bhavani Thuraisingham
  • Salil Vadhan
  • Ellen M. Voorhees
  • Avi Wigderson
  • Alec Wolman


The 2018 ACM Fellows

Doctoral Dissertation Award

The Doctoral Dissertation Award was presented to Chelsea Finn of the University of California, Berkeley for her dissertation, Learning to Learn with Gradients.

Honorable Mentions were presented to Ryan Beckett and Tengyu Ma, who both received PhD degrees in Computer Science from Princeton University. Beckett's dissertation is Network Control Plane Synthesis and Verification, and Ma's dissertation is Non-convex Optimization for Machine Learning: Design, Analysis, and Understanding.

The Doctoral Dissertation Award is presented annually to the author(s) of the best doctoral dissertation(s) in computer science and engineering. The award is accompanied by a prize of $20,000 and the honorable mention is accompanied by a prize totaling $10,000. Winning dissertations will be published in the ACM Digital Library as part of the ACM Books Series.


Doctoral Dissertation Award Chelsea Finn with Cherri Pancake and Vicki L. Hanson


Doctoral Dissertation Award Honorable Mention recipients Tengyu Ma and Ryan Beckett

ACM Student Research Competition

The ACM Student Research Competition (SRC) represents a unique forum for ACM undergraduate and graduate student members to present their original research. Student winners from Student Research Competitions held at the ACM ICCAD, SC, SIGCSE, SIGSPATIAL and Tapia conferences advanced to compete in the Grand Finals where their research contributions were evaluated, via the web, by the ACM SRC committee. Financial sponsorship of $120,000 is provided by Microsoft per competition year. The finalists honored represent the best student research of the past year.

The winners of the 2018-2019 ACM SRC Grand Finals are:

Graduate Category:

Undergraduate Category:

SRC Grand Finals winners with Cherri Pancake, Ben Zorn (Microsoft) and Vicki L. Hanson

ACM AWARD NOMINATIONS

ACM Award Nomination Submission Procedures

Each year, ACM recognizes technical and professional achievements within the computing and information technology community through its celebrated Awards Program. ACM welcomes nominations for candidates whose work exemplifies the best and most influential contributions to our community, and society at large. ACM's award committees evaluate the contributions of candidates for various awards that span a spectrum of professional and technological accomplishments. For awards presented at the annual June banquet, the deadline for award nominations is January 15, 2020, with the exception of the deadline for the Doctoral Dissertation Award nominations which is October 31, 2019.

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.

ACM ADVANCED MEMBER GRADES

Advanced Member Grades Nominations Information

The Senior Member advanced grade of membership recognizes ACM members with at least 10 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership. Nominations are accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadline for nominations is September 3.

The Distinguished Member designation recognizes ACM members with at least 15 years of professional experience and 5 years of continuous ACM Professional membership who have demonstrated significant accomplishments or made a significant impact on the computing field. The deadline for nominations is August 1.

Fellow is ACM's most prestigious member grade recognizing the top 1% of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. The deadline for nominations is September 7.

Communications of the ACM Article on Award Nominations by ACM President Cherri Pancake

In her article for the August issue of CACM, Dispelling Common Myths about ACM Awards and Honors, ACM President Cherri Pancake shares her insights on what elements make nominations effective. Pancake is a former ACM Awards Committee Chair.

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