acm’s annual report for FY12 DOI:10.1145/2398356.2398362 Alain Chesnais During my two years of service, ACM’s Annual Report I was honored to FY12 was an outstanding year for ACM. be part of some Membership reached an all-time high key initiatives for the 10th consecutive year. We witnessed that will hopefully our global hubs in Europe, India, and China continue to propel take root and flourish. And we elevated thrilled to see membership exceed the ACM as the ACM’s overriding commitment to edu- 100,000 mark this year. Even in these world’s largest cating future generations about the economically tenuous times, ACM re- wonders of computer science to a new alized a 7.7% increase in membership and most level by joining forces with other asso- over last year. Much of this growth is prestigious ciations, corporations, and scientific attributable to our international ini- societies dedicated to the same cause. tiatives, principally China. scientific and The fiscal year culminated in a I am particularly proud of ACM’s computing society. landmark event honoring the life and leadership role in Computing in the legacy of Alan Turing on what would Core, a nonpartisan advocacy coali- have been his 100th birthday. ACM’s tion striving to promote computer Turing Centenary Celebration drew science education as a core academic more than 1,000 participants, includ- subject in K–12 education. The suc- ing over 30 ACM A.M. Turing Award cess of this initiative is key to giving laureates and a host of other world- young people the college- and career- renowned computer scientists and readiness, knowledge, and skills nec- technology pioneers for a historic essary in a technology-focused society. celebration of computer science and It is a remarkable time to be part Turing’s wide-ranging contributions of the computing arena. Thanks to to the field. our legion of devoted volunteers, sup- For me, the event served as an ex- portive industry sponsors, and stead- traordinary way to close my ACM pres- fast members, ACM is able to make a idency. During my two years of service, real difference in setting the course I was honored to be part of some key for educating and encouraging gen- initiatives and projects that will hope- erations to come. It was my great fully continue to propel ACM as the pleasure to serve as your president. world’s largest and most prestigious scientific and computing society. I was Alain Chesnais, acm PRESIDENT JaNUary 2013 | VOL. 56 | NO. 1 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 11 acm’s annual report for FY12 ACM’s Annual Report for FY12 Highlights of ACM Activities: July 1, 2011–June 30, 2012 ACM, the Association for Computing home page or institutional repository and Secondary Education Act to advo- Machinery, is an international scientific for visitors to download the definitive cate for computer science. Indeed, the and educational organization dedicat- version of their articles at no charge. coalition’s membership has grown by ed to advancing the arts, sciences, and Production began on two new jour- more than 50% over the last year. applications of information technology. nals: Transactions on Interactive In- ACM launched a new initiative to telligent Systems and Transactions on address the grand challenges of ex- Publications Economics and Computation. The ACM panding K–12 computer science edu- The centerpiece of ACM Publications Publications Board also approved a cation in the U.S. Google, Microsoft, is the ACM Digital Library (DL) serv- new journal—Transactions on Spatial ACM, CSTA, the National Center for ing as the primary distribution mech- Algorithms and Systems—to debut in Women and Information Technology, anism for all the association’s pub- FY13. and the National Science Foundation lications as well as host to scientific The ACM-W newsletter provides are partnering to lay the groundwork periodicals and a set of conference members an opportunity to share ex- for scaling AP computer science re- proceedings from external organiza- periences, provoke discussion, and form. tions. The DL, now available at 2,650 present research findings related to ACM’s Education Board is direct- institutions in 64 countries, boasts their mission. The newsletter was de- ing the formation of an annual Taul- an estimated 1.5 million users world- signed to appeal to anyone interested bee-like survey for non-Ph.D.-grant- wide. The result of this widespread in promoting women in computing ing institutions in computing. availability led to more than 15 mil- efforts at all stages of their career. The CSTA continues to thrive as a lion full-text downloads in FY12. key component in ACM’s efforts to ACM is committed to continually Education see real computer science count at the increasing the scope of material avail- ACM continues to lead the com- high school level. CSTA membership able via the DL. Last year, over 26,000 puter science education community reached an all-time high of 12,000 full-text articles were added, bringing through the work of the ACM Educa- this year. In addition, CSTA has been total DL holdings to 350,000 articles. tion Board, the ACM Education Coun- an active and important partner in AP ACM’s Guide to Computing Literature cil, ACM SIGCSE, Computer Science computer science reform. is also integrated within the DL. More Teachers Association (CSTA), and Several SIGs hosted innovative than 285,000 works were added to ACM Education Policy committee. educational programs and special the bibliographic database in FY12, ACM remains at the forefront of projects throughout the year. SIG bringing the total Guide coverage to the Computing in the Core (CinC) ad- Bioinformatics organized a special more than two million works. vocacy coalition working to promote program—Women in Bioinformat- ACM is the publisher of 74 peri- computer science as a distinct dis- ics—that was sponsored by the U.S. odicals, including 40 journals and cipline in K–12 U.S. education. This National Science Foundation. SIGCAS transactions, eight magazines, and 26 year CinC engaged both the House and the Committee on Professional newsletters as of year-end FY12. Dur- and Senate committees responsible Ethics (COPE) jointly ran a work- ing the year, ACM added 479 confer- for reauthorization of the Elementary shop on teaching computer ethics. ence and related workshop proceed- And SIGCOMM maintains its educa- ings to its portfolio. tion website (http://education.sig- In addition, a collection of 1,200 ACM is committed comm.org) where members of the e-books was assimilated into the DL community can share education-re- last year, available to all ACM mem- to continually lated resources. bers. Moreover, the ACM Interna- increasing the tional Conference Proceedings Series Professional Development (ICPS) published 150 new volumes, scope of material The Practitioners Board and Pro- the most in any year since the pro- available via the fessional Development Committee gram was launched. directed many new products and Under the guidance and strate- Digital Library. initiatives designed for computing gic planning of ACM’s Publications professionals and managers. ACM’s Board, the ACM Author-Izer Service Learning Center (http://learning. debuted in the Digital Library this acm.org) offers products, services, year. This service enables authors videos, resources, webinars, and to generate and post links on their courses designed especially for prac- 12 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | JANUary 2013 | VOL. 56 | NO. 1 acm’s annual report for FY12 titioners. ACM’s Learning Webinar ACM Council series opened with a program on smart devices and cloud computing, ACM Europe, PRESIDENT followed by a webinar on cybersecu- ACM India, and Alain Chesnais rity. The first two webinars proved a VICE PRESIDENT huge success attracting almost 9,000 ACM China saw Barbara G. Ryder registrants collectively. More webi- significant increases nars are in the works for this thriving SECRETARY/TREASURER new project. in the number Alexander L. Wolf The Board also oversees the devel- of chapters PAST PRESIDENT opment of Tech Packs (http://tech- Wendy Hall pack.acm.org/) and Learning Paths established in FY12. (http://learning.acm.org/path/). SIG GOVERNING BOARD CHAIR There are currently five Tech Packs Vicki Hanson (with a sixth on the way) that are de- PUBLICATIONS BOARD signed to provide a significant learn- CO-CHAIRS ing resource for emerging areas of Ronald Boisvert computing not directly covered by Jack Davidson an ACM SIG, conference, or publica- Students MEMBERS-AT-LARGE tion. Learning Paths offer practical, The 36th Annual ACM International Vinton G. Cerf hands-on educational training tools Collegiate Programming Contest Carlo Ghezzi designed to help IT professionals ex- (ICPC) took place in Warsaw, Poland Anthony Joseph tend their skill sets. with 122 teams competing in the Mathai Joseph ACM Queue, the online magazine World Finals. Earlier rounds of the Kelly Lyons for professionals spirited by the Prac- competition included nearly 30,000 Mary Lou Soffa titioners Board, again surpassed the contestants representing 2,200 uni- Salil Vadhan million-pageview threshold, with over versities from 85 countries. Financial SGB COUNCIL 1.2 million pages viewed over the last and systems support for ICPC is pro- REPRESENTATIVES 12 months. vided by IBM. The top four teams won Joseph A. Konstan gold medals as well as employment or G. Scott Owens Public Policy internship offers from IBM. Douglas Terry The ACM Student Research Com- ACM’s U.S. Public Policy Council (US- REGIONAL COUNCIL CHAIRS ACM) educates policymakers in many petition (SRC), sponsored by Micro- areas of potential legislation, includ- soft Research, continues to offer a ACM Europe ing bills on Internet monitoring, pat- unique forum for undergraduate and Fabrizio Gagliardi ent reform, e-voting, privacy, and secu- graduate students to present their ACM India rity.