■ Joseph A. Konstan earned an A.B. Konstan is currently Chair of ACM’s SIG
magna cum laude with highest honors in Governing Board. In this role (and as part
Computer Science from Harvard College of ACM’s Executive Committee) he has
in 1987; he earned an M.S. (1990) and taken on challenges related to ACM-W
Ph.D. (1993) in Computer Science from and the support of women in computing
the University of California, Berkeley, with and to the internationalization of ACM.
a dissertation on user interface toolkit Previously, he served as President of ACM
software architecture, focusing on event SIGCHI, as vice-Chair of both the SGB
handling, layout management, and data and the Membership Services Board, and
change propagation. He immediately on the Executive Committee of ACM SIG-joined the faculty of Computer Science at Multimedia. He was general chair of UIST
the University of Minnesota, where he was 2003 and ACM Recommender Systems
most recently promoted to Full Professor 2007; program co-chair for ACM Multi-in 2005. He has served the University media 2000; doctoral symposium chair for
in several roles, including as Director of three ACM conferences; and a volunteer in
Graduate Studies for Software Engineer- many roles for a variety of conferences.
ing, DGS for Computer Science, and as
the University’s representative to (and
vice-chair of) the Federal Demonstration
Partnership (where he works to reduce
administrative burden related to research
grants).
Dr. Konstan is an ACM Distinguished
Scientist, and has served as an ACM Distinguished Lecturer. He has authored over
85 peer-reviewed papers, articles, and
book chapters, and holds six U.S. patents.
His recent work spans three research
challenges: Recommender Systems—the
design and development of systems that
personalize content based on user preferences; Online Community—designing
the structure and implementation of online
communities to better elicit user contributions; and E-Public Health—specifically a
current clinical trial of an online “
experience” designed to reduce HIV risk-taking
in high-risk men.
STATEMENT
■ I am honored by this nomination. Since Third, better inreach and outreach.
first volunteering in 1994, I have enjoyed We must improve our ways of informing
working with talented and dedicated ACM members of the activities and content that
volunteers and staff. Since entering lead- interest each of you. And we need to do
ership five years ago, I’ve seen up-close a better job reaching out to conference
many of the tremendous things we’re attendees, chapter meeting attendees, and
doing for the field and our members. online visitors to help them find ACM
From the Digital Library and Portal to activities and content of interest, including
our Professional Development Center, we membership in ACM and its SIGs.
provide great online resources for com- And finally, I feel ACM has a role in
puting professionals. guiding our field as we struggle with the
Through CSTA and the Education Board relationship between “computer science”
and Council, we’re nurturing a motivated and broader “computing.” I look forward
and capable pipeline of students. Our SIG to these challenges, and to working
conferences are the technical and profes- together on them.
sional networking highlight for thousands.
And our transactions, journals, and magazines are the best in the business.
At the same time, we must improve.
We’re investing in India and China—
working with local leaders to understand
how to support the advancement of the
science and practice of computing. We’ve
redesigned Communications of the ACM
to make it more relevant to our membership, more timely, and more representative
of the best work in all of computing.
I’d like to pursue four other important
issues. First, our local activities program.
While ACM has many chapters worldwide,
our support for local activities and local
volunteers needs enhancement: increased
access to technical programs, better
online tools to help local leaders manage
membership and communications, and
local volunteer development and support.
Second, better support outside North
America. While our SIGs and staff have
done an excellent job bringing our
conferences around the world, we too
often operate as an “American presence”
in “foreign lands.” We must gain the
expertise, the tools, and the worldwide
volunteer leadership to help us operate in
locally appropriate ways while maintaining
ACM’s high technical quality standards.