ACM News for CCF Newsletter: June 2021

TOP STORIES

AWARDS

Scott Aaronson Receives 2020 ACM Prize in Computing

ACM has named Scott Aaronson of the University of Texas at Austin the recipient of the 2020 ACM Prize in Computing for groundbreaking contributions to quantum computing.

Aaronson showed how results from computational complexity theory can provide new insights into the laws of quantum physics, and brought clarity to what quantum computers will, and will not, be able to do. He helped develop the concept of quantum supremacy, which denotes the milestone that is achieved when a quantum device can solve a problem that no classical computer can solve in a reasonable amount of time. His quantum supremacy experiments allow scientists to give convincing evidence that quantum computers provide exponential speedups, without having to first build a full fault-tolerant quantum computer.

Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin.

The ACM Prize in Computing recognizes early-to-mid-career contributions that have fundamental impact and broad implications. The award carries a prize of $250,000, from an endowment provided by Infosys Ltd.
Read the ACM news release.

Michael Franz Receives ACM Thacker Breakthrough Award

ACM has named Michael Franz of the University of California, Irvine the recipient of the 2020 ACM Charles P. “Chuck” Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award. Franz is recognized for the development of just-in-time compilation techniques that enable fast and feature-rich web services on the internet.

Every day, millions of people around the world use online applications such as Gmail and Facebook. These web applications would not have been possible without the groundbreaking compilation technique Franz developed in the mid-1990s.

Franz is a Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he also directs the Secure Systems and Software Laboratory.

The ACM Charles P. “Chuck” Thacker Breakthrough in Computing Award recognizes individuals or groups who have made surprising, disruptive, or leapfrog contributions to computing ideas or technologies. Recipients of the award are expected to give the ACM Breakthrough Lecture at a major ACM conference. The award is accompanied by a $100,000 cash prize, with financial support provided by Microsoft.
Read the ACM news release.

ACM Honors Computing Innovators for Advances in Communications, Theoretical Computer Science, and Software Systems

Shyamnath Gollakota is the recipient of the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award for contributions to the use of wireless signals in creating novel applications, including battery-free communications, health monitoring, gesture recognition, and bio-based wireless sensing.

Margo Seltzer, Michael Allen Olson, and Keith Bostic are the recipients of the ACM Software System Award for Berkeley DB, which was an early exemplar of the NoSQL movement and pioneered the "dual-license" approach to software licensing.

Yossi Azar, Andrei Broder, Anna Karlin, Michael Mitzenmacher, and Eli Upfal are the recipients of the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for the discovery and analysis of balanced allocations, known as the power of two choices, and their extensive applications to practice.

Hector Levesque and Moshe Vardi are the recipients of the ACM - AAAI Allen Newell Award. Levesque is recognized for fundamental contributions to knowledge representation and reasoning, and their broader influence within theoretical computer science, databases, robotics, and the study of Boolean satisfiability. Vardi is cited for contributions to the development of logic as a unifying foundational framework and a tool for modeling computational systems.

Read more.

Ayanna Howard Named 2021-2022 ACM Athena Lecturer

ACM has named Ayanna Howard, dean of The Ohio State University College of Engineering, as the 2021-2022 Athena Lecturer. Howard is recognized for fundamental contributions to the development of accessible human-robotic systems and artificial intelligence, along with forging new paths to broaden participation in computing through entrepreneurial and mentoring efforts. Her contributions span theoretical foundations, experimental evaluation, and practical applications.vHoward is the Dean of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. 

SIAM, ACM Name Karniadakis 2021 Computational Science and Engineering Prize Winner

George Em Karniadakis of Brown University was awarded the 2021 SIAM/ACM Prize in Computational Science and Engineering at SIAM's virtual CSE 2021 conference. Karniadakis was recognized for advancing spectral elements, reduced-order modeling, uncertainty quantification, dissipative particle dynamics, fractional PDEs, and scientific machine learning, while pushing applications to extreme computational scales and mentoring many leaders. A Fellow of SIAM, Karniadakis's work has been cited more than 53,500 times.
Read the SIAM news release.

STUDENT NEWS

ACM Presents Special Awards to Regeneron Science Fair Finalists

ACM presented Special Awards to finalists in the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest high school science research competition, held virtually May 16-21, 2021. Receiving an award of $500 was A Hash Algorithm for Directory Tree, Linzhou Jiang, Chengdu No. 7 High School, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. See the full list of winners here.

Upcoming ACM Student Research Competitions: Submission Deadlines

• ICFP 2021, August 22-27, deadline June 25

• SOSP 2021, October 25-28, deadline July 30

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, host Rashmi Mohan interviews researchers, practitioners, and innovators who are at the intersection of computing research and practice. Recently interviewed were Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab; Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo and an ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient; and Suchi Saria, John C. Malone Associate Professor of Machine Learning and Healthcare at Johns Hopkins University. Thelatest episode features 2013 ACM A.M. Turing Award laureate Leslie Lamport of Microsoft Research.
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:

March 25:  An Industry Perspective on What We Should Be Teaching Our Next Generation of Software Practitioners in the Universities with Paul E. McMahon, author and consultant at PEM Systems

April 13: Democratizing AI: Creating Cognitive AI Assistants with No Coding with Michelle Zhou, Co-founder and CEO of Juji, Inc.

May 20: Horizontal Leadership: Practical Lessons for Driving Company-Wide Strategy and Action with Eve Andersson, Senior Director, Accessibility, at Google.

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: 

·        People in Computing #6: Women in Security and Entrepreneurship

·        Getting Started with HPC

·        Getting Started with Data Science #2