Communications of the ACM

conference of parallel computing.

For six years he was Chair of the U. K.’s HPC Strategy Committee.

During this time two international strategic reviews were undertaken and recommendations made for national HPC procurements.

He has led U.K. Research and Technology Delegations to the U.S.

(twice) and to China and Japan.

In the U.K., he was a founding member of the Computing Research Committee, an executive member of the Committee of Heads of Computing, and was twice a member of the U.K. national research assessment exercise in computer science. He was a member of the U.K.’s Informatics Committee, which scoped the highly successful eScience initiative and Director of one of the national eScience Centres that developed a wide portfolio of academic and industrial projects. The Centre deployed the world’s first media grid in conjunction with BBC Research as well as grids for finance, life sciences, and data mining applications.

Biography

Ron Perrott is a Visiting Professor at the Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford, U. K. He previously held positions at the University of Wisconsin, NASA Ames Research Center, CERN Geneva, ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, and Queen’s University.

His main research areas are parallel and distributed computing and cloud computing.

Perrott became an ACM member in 1991 and was elected a Fellow in 1997 for his work on parallel computing. He has been involved in many different ACM activities.

In particular, he has served as a Member and then Chair of the ACM Fellows Committee. He is Editor-in-Chief of the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, which facilitates the dissemination of material through the ACM Digital Library. He was a founding member of the ACM SIGHPC and is a member of its Advisory Board. He is a member of the ACM Heidelberg Committee, which brings together the Turing/Field/ Abel Prize honorees and young computer scientists. He is member of the Steering Committee for SC, a major annual event sponsored by ACM, and has held a number of associated positions over the last

20 years, in particular, Chair of the International Program, which, during his tenure, saw global participation increase by 30%.

For over 25 years he has been active in European research and policy, as well as holding many grants. He chaired Strategy Groups on Grid Computing and Software Services and was a founding member of Euro-Par, the European

Statement

Ron Perrott’s goals are to expand ACM’s reach into new communities and geographic regions, enhance services, enlarge membership, and promote high-quality publications and conferences.

He has been engaged in IT professional societies for more than 30 years, and is therefore well acquainted with the challenges involved in providing first-rate quality services to existing ACM members. He has a keen awareness of the importance of sustaining and developing a society that is appealing to prospective members and encourages existing members’ participation since membership involvement is a key feature of the success of the ACM.

The advent of new technology platforms offers opportunities for enhanced delivery of benefits, the building of stronger programs, furthering career development facilities for members and promoting networking among communities within the ACM brand; thereby consolidating and expanding the partnership between the ACM and the many diverse aspects of the computing profession. The ACM holds an unrivaled position internationally and has an impressive record of achievements. It is now the only truly international and independent society representing the computing profession worldwide. The successful expansion of ACM into India and China offers an ideal model for further expansion into regions such as Australasia and Latin America. ACM’s global reach offers a unique platform from which to influence computing practice and issues of public policy worldwide: it is imperative to maintain and enhance its position.

The Digital Library has
established an important role
for the ACM in the collection and
dissemination of scholarly research
results and in the provision of a
guide to the literature. The DL
must be fostered and promoted
through additional services for
content delivery since it is an
unrivaled repository and archive
for our profession. Publishing
is currently facing significant
challenges relating to, for example,
open access, citation indices,
among others. The ACM must take
a lead in ensuring the profession’s
voice is well represented. SIGs
and conferences constitute an
important strand of ACM activities
and must be encouraged and
adapted appropriately in light of
changing trends and the impact of
new technologies.

Ron Perrott has held career positions in both European and U.S. institutions, giving him a unique insight into and understanding of international requirements in the ACM’s areas of interest and of working effectively within large organizations. He has wide experience in international research and development enhanced through consultancies for strategic I T national development in many countries.

He will use this accumulated knowledge and experience to expand the ACM into new regions and to promote ACM activities.

Ron Perrott, who is already deeply engaged in the ACM, has the time commitment, the interest, the enthusiasm, and the experience to discharge with distinction the duties of President of the ACM.