ACM’s Annual Report for FY08

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology.

Publications

The centerpiece of the ACM Publications portfolio is the ACM Digital Library and its associated Guide to Computing Literature. At the end of FY08 there were more than two million pages of full-text articles in the DL, and more than 1,196,000 bibliographic citations in the Guide. Indeed, nearly 18,000 articles were loaded in the DL this year, and more than 86,000 citations were added to the Guide. Moreover, in April ACM introduced several major features to the DL Library, including detailed Author Profile pages as well as citation and usage statistics that provide a snapshot of an individual author’s contributions to computing, and some measure of their influence in advancing the field.

After months of extensive planning and preparation, the newly revitalized Communications of the ACM debuted at the end of FY08. ACM’s flagship now boasts a stellar international editorial board charged with identifying and shepherding its editorial content; committed to bringing to the table each month the latest news, practical

applications, industry trends, cutting-edge research; thought-provoking commentary of the highest quality and professional value. Along with a classic and clean redesign, the magazine now hosts six editorial sections (News, Viewpoints, Practice, Contributed Articles, Review Articles, and Research Highlights) along with a new Web component to debut shortly.

Three new periodicals debuted this year: Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems; Transactions on Accessible Computing; and Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage. In addition, the ACM Publications Board approved the proposal for an ACM Transactions on Computational Theory.

Education

The ACM Education Board finished a prolific year filled with projects and initiatives designed to reverse declining enrollments in computing disciplines and increase ACM’s visibility within the worldwide educational community. The Board continues to analyze the dynamics of the enrollment downturn and find creative ways to foster a positive image of computing among young people, working closely with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) in supporting K– 12 computing efforts. They also took major steps in updating

the computing curricula guidelines in computer science, information systems, and information technology as well as established a master’s-level initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of the degree on a global scale.

The CSTA took on several projects over the past year to promote and support the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines at the K– 12 level. The group, along with SIGCSE, organized a “ Road-show” aimed at helping colleges and universities improve their K– 12 outreach efforts. Several other CSTA-led workshops and symposia focused on curriculum and leadership initiatives for educators throughout the U.S. The group also spirits international efforts, this year working with Pacific Rim educators as well as the Israeli Teachers Association.

The NSF awarded a grant to WGBH (the Boston-based PBS station), as lead investigator, and ACM, as co-principal investigator, to reshape the image of computing. The $850,000 two-year project will study the images and perceptions of computing held by high school students, particularly Latina girls and African American boys. The goal is to develop and rigorously test messages that would be effective in shifting negative perceptions and create strategies through these messages

 

ACM Council
PREsiDEnt
Stuart I. Feldman
VicE PREsiDEnt
Wendy hall
sEcREtaRy/tREasuRER
alain chesnais
Past PREsiDEnt
david a. patterson
siG GoVERninG BoaRD chaiR
Joseph a. Konstan
PuBlications BoaRD co-chaiRs
ronald Boisvert, holly rushmeier
mEmBERs-at-laRGE
Michel Beaudouin-Lafon,
chuang Lin, Bruce Maggs,
Barbara ryder, Kevin Scott,
Jeannette Wing, david S. Wise

sGB council REPREsEntatiVEs
Norman Jouppi
robert a. Walker
alexander Wolf

ACM Headquarters
ExEcutiVE DiREctoR/cEo
John r. White
DEPuty ExEcutiVE DiREctoR/coo
patricia M. ryan

2007 ACM Award
Recipients
a.m. tuRinG a WaRD
edmund M. clarke, e. allen emerson,
Joseph Sifakis
acm-infosys founDation a WaRD
in thE comPutinG sciEncEs
daphne Koller

acm/aaai allEn nEWEll a WaRD Leonidas J. guibas GRacE muRRay hoPPER a WaRD vern paxson acm-iEEE cs EcKERt-mauchly a WaRD Mateo valero Karl v. Karlstrom outstanDinG EDucatoR a WaRD randy pausch EuGEnE l. la WlER a WaRD foR humanitaRian contRiButions Within comPutER sciEncE anD infoRmatics randolph Y. Wang outstanDinG contRiBution to acm a WaRD robert a. Walker DistinGuishED sERVicE a WaRD david a. patterson

PaRis KanEllaKis thEoRy
anD PRacticE a WaRD
Bruno Buchberger
siam/acm PRiZE in
comPutational sciEncE anD
EnGinEERinG a WaRD
chi-Wang Shu
soft WaRE systEm a WaRD
david harel, hagi Lachover,
amnon Naamad, amir pnueli,
Michal politi, rivi Sherman,
Mark trakhtenbrot, aron trauring
acm PREsiDEntial a WaRD
Stephen r. Bourne, patricia M. ryan,
Barbara g. ryder, Moshe Y. vardi
DoctoRal DissERtation a WaRD
Sergey Yekhanin
honoRaBlE mEntion
vincent conitzer, Yan Liu