ACM’s 2014 General Election – Communications of the ACM

The ACM constitution provides that our Association hold a general election in the even-numbered years for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Members-at-Large. Biographical information and statements of the candidates appear on the following pages (candidates’ names appear in random order).

ACM members have the option of casting their vote via the Web or by postal mail. The election is being conducted by a third party, Helios Labs, on ACM’s behalf, and an email message that contains electronic and mail balloting procedures was sent to members in mid-April (please contact acm-support@heliosvoting.org if you did not receive this message).

In addition to the election of ACM’s officers—President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer—two Members-at-Large will be elected to serve on ACM Council.

Electronic Balloting Procedures. Please refer to the instructions posted at: acm-support@heliosvoting.org.

Paper Ballots. Should you prefer to vote by paper ballot please contact Helios Labs to request a ballot and follow the postal mail ballot procedure (acm-support@heliosvoting.org).

Postal Mail Ballot Procedures. Please return your ballot in the enclosed envelope, which must be signed by you on the outside in the space provided. The signed ballot envelope may be inserted into a separate envelope for mailing if you prefer this method.

All ballots must be received by no later than 16:00 UTC on May 21 2014.

The computerized tabulation of the ballots will be validated by the ACM Election Trustees. Validation by the Trustees will take place May 22 2014.

If you have not done so yet, please take this opportunity to review the candidates and vote via postal mail or the Web for the next slate of ACM officers.

Sincerely,

ACM ELECTION TRUSTEES

Candidates for President (7/1/14–6/30/16)

Alexander L. Wolf
Professor
Department of Computing
Imperial College London
U.K.

Biography

Alexander Wolf holds a Chair in Computing at Imperial College London, U.K. (2006–present). Prior to that he was a Professor at the Univ. of Lugano, Switzerland (2004–2006), Professor and C.V. Schelke Endowed Chair of Engineering at the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder, U.S. (1992–2006), and Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S. (1988–1992).

He earned his master’s (1982) and Ph.D. (1985) degrees from the Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst, U.S., from which he was presented the Dept. of Computer Science Outstanding Achievement in Research Alumni Award.

Wolf works in several areas of experimental and theoretical computer science, including software engineering, distributed systems, and networking (see http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~alw/ for links to his papers). He is best known for seminal contributions to software architecture, software deployment, automated process discovery (the seed of the business intelligence field), distributed publish/subscribe communication, and content-based networking.

Wolf currently serves as Vice President of the ACM. He is a member of the ACM Council and ACM Executive Committee. He is also a member of the ACM Europe Council and Faculty Advisor to the Imperial College London Student Chapter of the ACM. Previously, he served as Secretary-Treasurer of the ACM (2010–2012), Chair of the ACM SIG Governing Board (2008–2010) and Chair of the ACM Software System Award Committee (2009–2011). He served as Vice Chair (1997–2001) and then Chair (2001–2005) of ACM SIGSOFT, Chair of the ACM TOSEM EiC Search Committee (2006), a member of the SGB Executive Committee (2003–2005), and an SGB representative on the ACM Council (2005–2008). He was a member of the editorial boards of ACM TOSEM, the Research Highlights section of Communications, and IEEE TSE, and has chaired and been a member of numerous international program committees.

He is a Fellow of the ACM, Fellow of the IEEE, Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society, holder of a U.K. Royal Society–Wolfson Research Merit Award, winner of two ACM SIGSOFT Research Impact Awards, and is an ACM Distinguished Speaker.

Statement

I have been an active member of ACM my entire career, progressing from student to professional, from conference organizer to journal associate editor, from SIG chair to SIG Governing Board chair, and from Council member to Vice President. I have served in these roles from industry and academia, and from the U.S. and Europe. It is an honor to now be asked to serve as President.

Our organization sits in an odd position today. ACM is recognized as computing’s foremost professional society, with a record membership of over 100,000 and a reach (people who serve on committees, attend conferences, read, write, and review articles, visit the DL, and are touched by its many programs) in the millions. Our finances are strong, and our activities broad and highly effective.

During my time as a volunteer leader I have seen major new investments made in education with the Computer Science Teachers Association and CS EdWeek, in professional development with Queue and Tech Packs, in internationalization with councils in India, China, and Europe, in broadened participation with the ACM-W Council, and in outreach with Communications’ revamp and support for Code.org. Yearly surveys indicate our members are extremely satisfied with ACM’s portfolio of services and programs. And yet…

As an organization we must confront the reality that what ACM contributed to the computing profession for more than 65 years might not sustain it in the future. ACM’s services and programs are founded on three vital pillars: energetic volunteers, dedicated HQ staff, and a sufficient and reliable revenue stream. It is the latter that is of concern and must serve as the primary focus of the next ACM President.

Our revenue today comes mainly from member dues, conferences, and DL subscriptions, all of which are now threatened to some extent. We must recognize the nature of community, community identity, and “belonging” is evolving rapidly in this age of computer-mediated, cost-free, dynamic social networks. Is there a place for dues-based, membership organizations or do we need to redefine and restructure ACM in terms of who it reaches rather than who pays its dues? How can ACM facilitate professional interaction beyond physical meetings, yet replace any lost conference revenue? With regard to the DL, we must recognize that Open Access is reshaping the relationship among authors, readers, reviewers, publishers, and libraries. ACM has embraced OA, but it is clear we are still early in this reshaping process. Uncertainty in the outcome not withstanding, what is the future role of the DL, and would our other services and programs survive without its beneficial revenue?

Finding answers to these critical questions will not be easy. It is essential the next ACM President is someone who can draw together the talents of volunteers and staff, and create a climate in which fresh ideas can be generated and the best ones put to action. With your help and support, I believe I can do that.

Ron Perrott
Visiting Professor
Oxford e-Research Centre
University of Oxford
U.K.

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 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.

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 IT 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.

Candidates for Vice President (7/1/14–6/30/16)

Vicki Hanson
Professor and Chair of Inclusive Technologies
University of Dundee
Dundee, Scotland
U.K.

Distinguished Professor of Computing
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, N.Y.
U.S.

Biography

Vicki Hanson is Professor and Chair of Inclusive Technologies, School of Computing, University of Dundee, U.K. (since 2009), Distinguished Professor of Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology, U.S. (since 2013), and an IBM Research Staff Member Emeritus (since 2009). Prior positions were Research Staff Member and Manager, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center (1986–2008), Research Associate, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT (1980–1986), and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1978–1980). She is a Fellow of the ACM (2004), a Chartered Fellow of the BCS (2009), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2013).

Her research in human-computer interaction focuses on accessibility of technology for people with disabilities and the aging population. For this work, she has been honored with the Anita Borg “Woman of Vision Award for Social Impact” (2013), the ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award (2008), and an IBM Corporate Award for Contributions to Accessibility (2009). She is currently leading work funded by Research Councils U.K.

Hanson serves as ACM Secretary-Treasurer (2012–2014), as a member of the ACM-W Europe Executive Committee (2013–2015), and on the SIG Governing Board Executive Committee (2005–2014). She is an ACM Distinguished Speaker, has served as Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ACM TACCESS (2006–2013), Associate Editor of ACM TWEB (since 2005), and member and Chair of multiple ACM Awards Committees (2006–present). She has served in conference organizing and program committee positions for several ACM conferences including SIGCHI, SIGACCESS, SIGWEB, and SIGPLAN (including ASSETS General Chair 2002; CUU General Chair 2003; OOPSLA Treasurer 1993–1995, 1999, 2005; Hypertext PC Co-Chair 2007; CHI Subcommittee Chair for Papers and Notes 2012, 2013; ECRC 2013; ACM-W Europe womENcourage 2014 Treasurer).

She serves on the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows committee.

Hanson received her B.A. from the University of Colorado (Psychology, 1974) and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (Cognitive Psychology, 1976; 1978).

Statement

I am honored to have been asked to run for ACM Vice President. I have been a member and active ACM volunteer for more than two decades, co-founding a new Transactions, leading a SIG to viability, contributing to many ACM conferences, and serving on the ACM Executive Committee—first as SIG Governing Board Chair and now as ACM Secretary/Treasurer. I also serve as one of the founding members of the ACM-W Europe Executive Committee. My experience in these varied positions has prepared me well for serving you, and ACM, as Vice President.

ACM has never had as much impact as it does now. Volunteers and professional staff serve a growing international community of researchers, practitioners, and students through a wide variety of conferences, publications, webinars, and educational resources. We can be rightly proud of this impact.

Staying impactful requires work. Rapidly changing technical and professional environments are forcing a much-needed review of how we provide value to our members. We must explore new models for our world-leading Digital Library, addressing needs for open access and the inclusion of rich media and open data. Our goal is the creation of a broadly accessible and financially sustainable library that will remain the premier research archive in computing. Practitioners, too, will benefit from this, but we must continue to create new offerings tailored to their specific needs.

Given our expanding global community, we must also develop a strategy that encourages growth in new regions while providing clear benefits to existing members able to participate in a truly international organization. This requires a better understanding of diverse cultural, educational, and professional contexts. Our international conferences and active regional affiliates are a start, and our SIGs and regional affiliates can help us connect with local technical communities.

Finally, we must expand our efforts to promote an inclusive professional community. As a researcher, volunteer, and manager, I have been particularly committed to this goal. Individuals from diverse backgrounds must be encouraged to enter the field and supported as they develop successful computing careers. We need to listen well to all members, those just starting out and those with established careers, to ensure ACM remains the leading professional society in computing.

Eugene H. Spafford
Executive Director
Purdue University CERIAS
W. Lafayette, IN
U.S.

Biography

Eugene H. Spafford received his BA with a double major in Math and CS from SUNY in 1979. He received his MS (1981) and Ph.D. (1986) in Information and Computer Science from Georgia Tech. In 2005, SUNY awarded him an honorary D.Sc. He joined the CS faculty at Purdue University in 1987 after a post-doc at Georgia Tech. He became a full professor in 1997; he also has courtesy appointments in ECE, Communication, and Philosophy. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS). He was named as a Morrill Professor in 2012.

Spafford’s research interests are prevention, detection, and remediation of information system failures and misuse, especially privacy and security. He also has been deeply involved in issues of science and security policy, nationally and internationally.

An ACM member for over 35 years, he is now a Life Member, and was named an ACM Fellow in 1997. He is also a Life Member of Sigma XI, a Distinguished Fellow of the ISSA, and a Fellow of the AAAS, IEEE, and ISC². He received a SANS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. In 2013, he was recognized with the Hal Tipton Lifetime Achievement Award and named to the Cyber Security Hall of Fame.

Spafford is a member of ACM Council and chair of the ACM Public Policy Council (since 1998). He was chair of the Self-Assessment Committee (1990–1996), member of the ACM/IEEE 1989 Curriculum Taskforce, and served on the editorial boards of TISSEC (1999–2004) and TOCE (2007–2010). He has served as one of ACM’s two members of the CRA Board (1998–2007). In 2008, Spafford received the ACM President’s Award for his service to ACM, and in 2009 received the CRA Distinguished Service Award. He has been recognized with ACM SIGCAS’s “Making A Difference” Award (2004) and ACM SIGSAC’s “Outstanding Contribution” award (2006).

Outside of ACM, Spafford has served on many advisory boards in industry and government, including Microsoft, Intel, the USNA, the NSF, the GAO, and has provided Congressional testimony nine times (so far).

Statement

My long experience with ACM has allowed me to become very familiar with the many facets of the organization. My experience as a member of the computing profession has repeatedly shown me the great value of ACM. I strongly believe that ACM is a powerful force for advancing the profession of computing around the world, and for helping to enhance the benefits—and reduce the dangers—that computing presents to society at large, and to our members.

ACM has a long history of advancing and supporting computing research. Our conferences and publications—supported by the SIGs and a great professional staff—are the leaders in promulgating definitive new results. Our technical leadership clearly needs to continue and grow, but the path to do so is largely understood: ACM leadership must continue to provide resources, support, and encouragement to the SIGs and members who constitute that portion of our community.

However, we also see growth of a set of challenges around the use and context of computing: how do we use computing to help advance society, address issues of privacy and civil rights in an “always on” world, increase the participation of women and minorities, secure our networks and machines from both criminals and overzealous governments, and increase educational opportunities? How do we support open communication yet control fraud and abuse? How do we reconcile local culture and laws with a truly global Internet? These are all major questions beyond simply “is it possible” to use computing to make things happen, but questions of “should we do it” and “how do we do it while respecting basic rights?”

I am particularly concerned about questions related to the erosion of personal privacy by both government and industry, actions in support of women and students in computing, and the threats of computer crime and terrorism. I am certain that ACM can enhance its role to better address solutions and advocacy in all of these areas. As the premier global organization of the computing profession, ACM should be the group people inside and outside computing turn to for leadership and advice across this spectrum of issues. We should be in a position not only to respond, but also be leaders on these and related issues.

As Vice President, it would be my honor to continue my service to ACM while addressing these issues with your assistance and support.

Candidates for Secretary-Treasurer (7/1/14–6/30/16)

Erik Altman
Manager, Dynamic Optimization Group
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
York town Heights, N.Y.
U.S.

Biography

Erik Altman is currently chair of ACM’s SIG Governing Board (SGB) and its 36 constituent Special Interest Groups. One of his initiatives as SGB Chair was to create 11 broad groupings of SIGs to ease finding SIGs of interest (acm.org/sigs). He is also working with ACM headquarters to pilot daily newsfeeds for each SIG.

Altman previously served as Awards Chair on the SGB Executive Committee and is past chair of ACM SIGMICRO. Under his watch, SIGMICRO had strong finances, established a Hall-of-Fame, relaunched its newsletter, and completed an Oral History project. He joined ACM in 1992, and has also been a member of SIGARCH, SIGPLAN, and SIGGRAPH. His first paper was in the Genetic Algorithms conference.

As an IBM manager, Altman directs two projects: wait.ibm.com: on performance tooling; and Liquid Metal—Programming heterogeneous systems with FPGAs and GPUs in a Java-like language.

Altman’s previous research focused on binary translation and optimization, compilers, and micro-architecture. He has co-authored more than 45 papers, and holds almost 30 patents and pending patent applications. He was an originator of IBM’s DAISY dynamic binary translation project. He was an architect of the Cell processor in Sony’s Playstation-3, and has worked as a hardware and software engineer at Bauer Associates, Machine Vision, and Tek Microsystems.

Other service: Current Editor-in-Chief IEEE Micro; Program Co-Chair and General Chair: PACT and NPC Conferences; Program Chair: CASES Conference; Co-Founder and three-year General Chair: Workshop on Binary Translation; Co-Founder: FastPath Workshop and IBM P=ac2 Conference; Guest Editor: IEEE Computer, Journal of Instruction Level Parallelism, and IBM Journal of R&D; Chair, ACM Student Research Competition at PACT; Keynotes: 2009 PEPSMA Workshop; 2011 CGO Conference, 2013 Cosmic Workshop. All these conference and workshops have been financially sound, as have aggregate SIG Finances.

Altman received an SB (MIT, 1985), an MS (McGill, 1991), and Ph.D. (EE, McGill, 1995).

Statement

ACM has many strengths, but also areas to improve. As my bio notes, I have held many volunteer positions, and launched initiatives to further such improvements. If elected Secretary-Treasurer, I will continue those efforts and welcome your comments (altmane@acm.org).

I talk to many ACM members and non-members. Alas, many seem unaware of all ACM offers, especially the 60% of ACM’s members who are practitioners; for example, ACM has an excellent set of book offerings around specialized skills. If elected, I will push to expand and publicize it. Also underutilized: ACM’s Distinguished Speakers, who can help keep practitioners and members around the world abreast of the latest ideas. As SGB Chair, I piloted newsfeeds tailored to individual SIGs. If elected, I will work to finish them. ACM can also learn from others, for example, the British Computer Society has strong practitioner offerings.

Other issues confront ACM, such as Open Access and the expectation information will be free. ACM has started good experiments, for example, opening conference papers for one month, authors or SIGs can pay for open access for a paper or proceedings, author webpages can have “Author-Izer” links for free Digital Library downloads. But more work remains.

ACM must fund its good works: books, undergrad and AP curriculum revisions, the Turing Award, Digital Library enhancements (like apps), more inclusive computing around the world, insuring conferences, staff to help members and volunteers, and more. Thus, we must find ACM offerings—conferences, books, news—for which which people will pay modest prices. ACM’s next Secretary-Treasurer will play a key role in those decisions. I hope you will give me that privilege.

Por favor, voten por mí.

S’il vous plaît, votez pour moi.

David A. Wood
Professor
University of Wisconsin, Madison
U.S.

Biography

B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley (1981); Ph.D. in Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley (1990).

Member of Technical Staff (1981–1982), Senior Member of Technical Staff (1982–1983), Synapse Computer Corporation, Milpitas, CA. Asst. Prof. (1990–1995), Assoc. Prof. (1995–1999), Prof. (1999–present), University of Wisconsin, http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~david. Consultant, Synapse Computer Corporation (1983–1985), Plexus Computers (1985–1986), Xerox PARC (1991–1993), Sun Microsystems, Inc. (1995–2009), Microsoft Research (2009–2011), AMD Research (2011–).

Fellow of the ACM (2005) for contributions to shared-memory multiprocessing. Fellow of the IEEE (2004) for contributions to the design and evaluation of shared-memory multiprocessors. University of Wisconsin Vilas Associate (2011). University of Wisconsin H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship (1999). University of Wisconsin Computer Science Department Student’s Choice Professor of the Year (1995). National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991).

ACM Council SGB representative (2013–). ACM SIG Governing Board SIG Development Advisor (2012–2013). ACM SIGArch Chair (2011–), Vice Chair (2007–2011), Maurice Wilkes Award Committee (2008–2010). ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization, Associate Editor (2004–). ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, Area Editor (1997–), Associate Editor (1995–1997). Program chair for International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS). Recent program committees: International Symposium on Computer Architecture (2010, 2011), High Performance Computer Architecture (2009, 2011), Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (2010).

Member: ACM, SIGARCH, SIGOPS, SIGMETRICS, IEEE Computer Society.

Statement

I have been a member of the ACM since 1981, have been actively engaged with ACM SIGARCH since 1990, and have served as Chair or Vice-Chair since 2007. I have also served on the SIG Governing Board (SGB) Executive Committee as SIG Development Advisor (2012–2013) and on the ACM Council as SGB Representative (2013–).

From my perspective, the ACM provides the structure for the SIGs to thrive, and the SIGs provide the structure for our communities to thrive through sponsorship of conferences, student travel grants, awards, and other programs. As SIG Development Advisor I have seen firsthand the challenges of expanding the reach of our community, while combating the tendency to fragment into ever more specialized niches. Striking the proper balance will be key to the long-term success of ACM and the SIGs.

As Secretary/Treasurer, I will seek ways to expand the value that ACM and the SIGs provide to our members, which is what ultimately drives ACM and SIG membership and participation. I believe it is especially important to increase the internationalization of ACM and the SIGs, especially into emerging areas of Asia such as India and China (while not neglecting European and domestic members). I am interested in continuing to explore the creation of International SIG Chapters as one important vehicle for this expansion.

Candidates for Members at Large (Vote for Two) (7/1/14–6/30/16)

Per O. Stenström
Chalmers University of Technology
Goteborg, Sweden

Biography

Per Stenström earned his Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering in 1990 from Lund University, Sweden. Since 1995 he has been a professor of Computer Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.

His research interests are in high-performance computer architecture and he has made major contributions to especially high-performance memory systems. He has authored or co-authored three textbooks and more than 130 publications in international journals and conferences and he holds seven patents.

He regularly serves on program committees of major conferences in the computer architecture field and is an Associate Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing and a Senior Editor of ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization. He has been an editor of IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Processing, the IEEE TCCA Computer Architecture Letters, and others.

He co-founded the HiPEAC Network of Excellence funded by the European Commission. He has also acted as General and Program Chair for a large number of conferences including the ACM/IEEE Int. Symposium on Computer Architecture, the IEEE High-Performance Computer Architecture Symposium, the IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium and the ACM International Conference on Supercomputing.

He is on the Board of Directors of ACM SIGARCH and a member of the ACM Europe Council. He is a Fellow of the ACM (2008) and the IEEE (2007), a member of Academia Europaea (2010), the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (2009) and the Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering (2013).

Statement

I have been an active ACM member for more than two decades and privileged to closely follow the dramatic growth and impact of the computing field on many aspects of our modern society. I have actively provided service to ACM in many capacities including chairmanship of ACM conferences, SIG services, award committees, and presently as member of the ACM Europe Council. No doubt, ACM is the most influential computing association on the globe. If elected, I want to strengthen its role for the future in the following areas.

Technical challenges ahead are now more pressing than ever and need more attention through increased community interaction that cuts across SIGs as well as other technical fields. The challenges in the aftermath of the shift to multicores, for example, involve expertise from many SIGs. The “end-of-Moore’s Law” is another challenge that will force the community to work together across disciplines and regional boundaries to innovate. Therefore, cross-discipline and cross-regional interaction will be more important moving forward. Moreover, ACM must continue to encourage more young people to engage in the fascinating field of computing. After all, to tackle the challenges ahead, the community must grow.

It is also important to further invest and grow on the international level. It is very good news that ACM is now represented in a major way in Europe, India, and China through the councils that have been formed in the past few years. But this is just the beginning. Reaching out to more regions must be a major goal for ACM.

I think my long and varied service to ACM provides me with the experience that is an asset for ACM activities moving forward. I would be very honored and delighted to contribute if I were elected as a Member at Large of the ACM Council.

Cherri M. Pancake
Professor and Intel Faculty Fellow
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
U.S.

Biography

In her first career, Cherri Pancake conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Guatemalan Indian communities, where she applied cross-cultural techniques to study social change. After earning a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Auburn University, she began applying her ethnographic training to the problem of how software systems can better support the task strategies of practicing scientists and engineers. Her now-seminal work identified how the needs of scientists differ from other audiences and how this can be reflected in software and decision support systems. The methods she developed for applying user-centered design to improve software have been reflected in products from companies such as Hewlett Packard, Convex, Intel, IBM, and Tektronix.

Pancake is Director of the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering, an interdisciplinary research center cited as the national leader in usability for science and engineering applications. She has led research grants valued at over $160M from industry, not-for-profits, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, and Interior. She is a Fellow of the ACM and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and has served in advisory roles to a number of companies, consortia, research organizations, and funding agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

A member of the ACM since 1982, Pancake has held many volunteer positions, including chair of the Gordon Bell Prize and Fellows Committees. An organizer of the SC Conference Series for over 20 years, she helped create SIGHPC and now serves as its first elected Chair. In 2012, she became ACM Awards Chair. Pancake is currently on ACM Council (completing the term Vint Cerf vacated when he became ACM President).

Statement

My first involvement as an ACM volunteer was in 1987, when I was Proceedings Editor for the ACM Southeast Regional Conference. That in turn led to other opportunities to meet professionals outside my institution and to contribute in service roles ranging from student competition judge to conference organizer. Participating in ACM, especially at the national and international level, has broadened my perspective immeasurably. It is something I think many more people can—and should—be able to experience.

Recently, ACM has made a concerted effort to become more inclusive. This is good, since any group benefits from the new perspectives provided by people of different cultural, disciplinary, and organizational backgrounds. Yet many of the individual members I have talked with say they do not know how to go about getting involved in ACM activities. It is not easy to learn about the many kinds of opportunities there are, or to identify which ones make a good fit for a person’s background and interests. Nor is it easy to connect with appropriate contacts, whether at the level of chapters, SIGs, regional councils, or ACM headquarters. As a person who has benefited so much from my own ACM work, I think it’s a shame when people give up because they do not know where to start. As a usability engineer, I see this as a problem we should be able to address.

If elected to Council, I propose to work with staff and volunteer leaders on how we can make volunteer opportunities more transparent to ACM’s membership as a whole. By promoting the breadth of opportunities available, the mechanisms for volunteering, and the logical “career paths” for volunteers, I hope many other members will be able to benefit from their ACM activities as much as I do.

Victor Bahl
Principal Researcher
Director of the Mobility & Networking Research
Microsoft Research, Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
U.S.

Biography

Victor Bahl is a principal researcher and director of mobility and networking research in Microsoft. He helps shape Microsoft’s long-term vision in networked systems through research and engagement with governments and industries around the world. Previously he was director of multimedia engineering in Digital Equipment (now Hewlett Packard). His research spans a variety of topics in mobile computing, cloud services, datacenter networking, and wireless systems. He is a respected author with over 22,000 citations, holds 105 patents, and has given 35 keynotes.

Bahl received Digital’s Doctoral Eng. Fellowship Award in 1995 and SIGMOBILE’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001. In 2004, he was Microsoft’s nominee for the Innovator of the Year Award. He received Microsoft’s Individual Perf. Award in 2007, 2010, 2011. He became an ACM Fellow in 2003, an IEEE Fellow in 2008, and an AAAS Fellow in 2010. He received the IEEE Reg. 6 Outstanding Engineer Award in 2010, the FCC Open Internet App. and People’s Choice App Awards in 2011, and was honored as a Distinguished Alumni of UMASS Amherst in 2012. In 2013, he received SIGMOBILE’s Outstanding Contributions Award and the IEEE Reg. 6 Outstanding Leadership and Prof. Service Award. He has served as ACM Distinguished Speaker (2007–2010) and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer (2007–2009).

Bahl co-founded and chaired ACM SIGMOBILE. He founded ACM MobiSys and was founding editor-in-chief of ACM Mobile Computing and Communications Review. He served as general chair of SIGCOMM, MobiCom, DYSPAN, and several IEEE conferences. Since 2002, he has served as the steering committee chair of ACM MobiCom and ACM MobiSys and on editorial and advisory boards of several journals, university centers, and government bodies.

Statement

Having served in many SIG and ACM leadership activities for over 20 years, I know how ACM has changed as we adapted to the needs of our members. Today, once again, we face new challenges and I would like your help to take these on.

The very pillars of our faith in personal privacy were shaken when we learned about NSA surveillance activities. A recent decision that struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rule left us wondering if ACM should have done more. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reports on advancing education and cyber security made us ask had they gone far enough. These events and others are global issues in which ACM has had little say. We are the largest computer science organization. Collectively our members generate trillions of dollars worldwide and among us are some of the smartest intellectuals on the planet. It is our duty and responsibility to get involved and help shape policy and regulations worldwide on such issues and I will help ACM do this.

Another cause important to me is reversing the tide on the diminishing number of women and minorities in computer science. My wife left a lucrative high-tech job to focus on creating interest in computer science among middle-school girls and my teenage daughter educated me on why CS is considered a “boys profession.” Embracing diversity is the key to progress. I want to help ACM-W do more, especially in the K–12 bracket.

Finally, I want to create more opportunities for cross-disciplinary engagements. We will generate great ideas, invent new things, and expand the global economy with forums that encourage the mingling of experts from various SIGs.

I care deeply about our community. If elected, it will be my honor and privilege to serve you.