ACM News for CCF Newsletter: December 2020

TOP STORIES

AWARDS

Vivek Sarkar Named 2020 ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award Recipient
ACM and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) have named Vivek Sarkar as the recipient of the 2020 ACM-IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Award. Sarkar was recognized for foundational technical contributions to the area of programmability and productivity in parallel computing, as well as leadership contributions to professional service, mentoring, and teaching. The award will be presented to Sarkar at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC20) virtual awards plenary session on November 16.

A Fellow of ACM and IEEE, Sarkar is Chair of the School of Computer Science and the Stephen Fleming Chair in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. ACM and the IEEE Computer Society co-sponsor the Kennedy Award, which was established in 2009 to recognize substantial contributions to programmability and productivity in computing and significant community service or mentoring contributions. It was named for the late Ken Kennedy, founder of Rice University’s computer science program and a world expert on high performance computing. The Kennedy Award carries a US $5,000 honorarium endowed by IEEE-CS and ACM.
Read the ACM news release.

Gordon Bell Prizes Awarded at SC20 Conference
A nine-member research team from Chinese and American institutions was awarded the 2020 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for introducing Deep Potential Molecular Dynamics (DPMD), a new machine learning-based protocol that can simulate a more than 1 nanosecond-long trajectory of over 100 million atoms per day. They were recognized for their project, “Pushing the limit of molecular dynamics with ab initio accuracy to 100 million atoms with machine learning.”
Read the ACM news release.

The 2020 ACM Gordon Bell Special Prize for High Performance Computing-Based COVID-19 Research was presented to a 12-member team for their project “AI-Driven Multiscale Simulations Illuminate Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Dynamics.” The Prize is being awarded in 2020 and 2021 to recognize outstanding research achievement toward the understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic through the use of high performance computing.
Read the ACM news release.

Both awards were bestowed during the virtual SC20 conference.

STUDENT NEWS

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions: Submission Deadlines

• ICSE 2021,      May 23–29, deadline January 4, 2021

• CHI 2021,      May 8-13, deadline January 11, 2021

Learn more about competitions on the SRC submissions page and SRC guidelines for students.

LEARNING CENTER

ACM ByteCast Interviews

In ACM’s new ACM ByteCast podcast series, hosts Rashmi Mohan and Jessica Bell (both members of the ACM Practitioners Board) interview researchers, practitioners, and innovators who are at the intersection of computing research and practice. Recently interviewed were Theo Schlossnagle, Founder and CTO of Circonus; Robin Murphy, ACM Fellow and recipient of the ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions; and Shwetak Patel, 2018 ACM Prize in Computing recipient and 2011 MacArthur Fellow.
You can listen to recent ByteCasts here.

ACM TechTalks
ACM members and non-members alike are welcome to attend our popular series of free TechTalks by expert industry professionals, distinguished ACM award laureates, and visionary researchers from industry and academia. Recent ACM TechTalks:

September 23: Performance (Really) Matters with Emery Berger, ACM Fellow and Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

October 14: Lessons from COVID-19: Efficiency vs Resilience, with Communications of the ACM Senior Editor Moshe Vardi 

November 2: It's Time Deep Learning Learned from Software Engineering, with Jeremy Howard, Founding Researcher at fast.ai and Distinguished Research Scientist at the University of San Francisco.

December 9: Code Reviews—From Bottleneck to Superpower with software researcher and consultant Mikaela Greiler

ACM SELECTS

Discover the Latest "Selects," Shortlists of Learning Resources Curated by Experts
ACM Selects are themed shortlists curated by subject matter experts for both serious and emerging computing professionals, with the goal of providing new ways to discover relevant resources, either through ACM or authenticated by ACM-affiliated specialists. The Selects since the launch cover: 

·       Getting Started with Cybersecurity

·       Getting Started with Computer Vision

·       Why Algorithmic Fairness?

·       Getting Started with Data Science

·       People in Computing #1

·       People in Computing #2

·       Understanding Machine Learning

·       Getting Started with Software Engineering Best Practices

·       Getting Started with Computer Science

·       Finding Your Voice in Computing

PUBLICATIONS NEWS

New ACM Journal: ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing
ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing (TQC), launched this month, publishes papers and select surveys on topics in quantum computing and quantum information science. The journal targets the quantum computer science community with a focus on the theory and practice of quantum computing. Scope includes models of quantum computing; quantum algorithms and complexity; quantum computing architecture; principles and methods of fault-tolerant quantum computation; design automation for quantum computing; and more.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES

ASPDAC, January 18-21, 2021 (online)
The Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference will feature many virtual sessions on various aspects of design automation. Three keynote addresses will address neuro-inspired learning, microfluidic biochips, and scientific applications of origami technology.