Knuth Prize call for nominations

Please consider nominating someone for the Knuth prize! The deadline is March 31 and the call is here:

https://www.sigact.org/prizes/knuth.html

New book on Probability

A new book announcement from Mor Harchol-Balter:

Dear Theory Friends, I am excited to announce that I just completed writing a new textbook, titled Introduction to Probability for Computing, published by Cambridge University Press, 2024.  This book is based on my “Probability and Computing” class at CMU.   It should be useful for teaching undergraduates and masters students.  This link includes a pdf for every chapter. 

The book is written in the usual student-friendly Question/Answer format that many of you have come to know from my earlier textbook: Performance Modeling and Design of Computer Systems: Queueing Theory in Action. Thanks for taking a look!

          Mor

Wikipedia edit-a-thon at FOCS

FOCS’23 is hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Monday, Nov 6, 2023.

Let’s get together and create or edit Wikipedia pages for CS Theory entries. Both new and experienced Wiki editors are welcome to participate! 

Read more and sign up at https://sites.google.com/view/tcs-edit-a-thon.

– Divyarthi Mohan, Aviad Rubinstein, Ewin Tang, and Shuchi Chawla (organizers)

PC chair and general chair guidelines for TCS conferences

We have collected several documents here.

The first is a guide for PC chairing written by Julia Chuzhoy and Anupam Gupta based on their experience with STOC, and passed along to other chairs. 

The second is a guide for general chairs / local organizers, written mostly by David Kempe but also thanks to Michael Hoffmann, Valerie King, and Yusu Wang.

We hope such documents will give more insight and transparency into what goes on behind the scenes in our conferences each year.

We do realize that there are technical details in these documents, some of which are obsolete and some of which may not be interesting to the general public, but we think such documents should be more well-known and we hope they will stimulate discussion in our community and give us ideas on how we can improve.

Please let us know if you have any comments!

tipsforpcchairsDownload

localorganization-tcs-confs-v2Download

TCS Insularity Survey Results

You may remember that a task force was convened by CATCS to investigate approaches to modifying aspects of the TCS community, especially our publishing culture, and to enhance connections with other areas of CS and be as welcoming as possible to a broad range of contributions within theory. A survey was given to members of our community, 338 responses were received, and the results were summarized at STOC, 2023. Please see the attached slides from Jelani Nelson’s presentation at STOC, as well as the attached detailed report. Let us know if you have any feedback, thanks!

slidesstocDownload

catcs_survey_reportDownload

TCS Job Market profiles

Are you or your institution looking to hire a theoretician? Check out these job market profiles of TCS candidates. Feel free to share widely within your network. This information can also be found under the “TCS Job Market” tab in the menu above.

Candidates on the TCS job market: fill out this form to get your profile added to the list. We will review responses and add them to the list every 2-3 weeks.

Rotator position at NSF

I posted earlier about a permanent program director position at NSF in CCF/AF. There is also an opening for a rotator position. This is a great opportunity for anyone seeking a short (2-3 year) sabbatical from their academic position, and a wonderful and highly impactful way of serving the community. Please consider applying!

You can find more information at https://beta.nsf.gov/careers/openings/cise/ccf/ccf-2022-79939 for the rotator position. If you have any questions about the position, please feel free to reach out to me or to one of the current AF PDs.

NSF Program Director opening in Algorithmic Foundations

Serving as a program director at the NSF is one of the most impactful ways of serving the TCS community.  The Algorithmic Foundations Program in NSF/CISE/CCF is currently accepting applications for a permanent Program Director position.  Please consider applying!

Apply here by January 12.  Feel free and encouraged to contact the AF group (Tracy Kimbrel, Peter Brass, Funda Ergun) for information.

ACM survey on math requirements for the CS major

The ACM/IEEE-CS/AAAI CS2023 Curricular Task Force is working on updating the undergraduate CS curriculum guidelines for the next decade. They have distributed a survey about the role of math in that curriculum, which is of direct interest to the TCS community. Please consider taking the survey so your opinion is heard!

From the Task Force:

———–

Dear educator,

What math should undergraduate Computer Science students know?

The CS2023 Task Force is collecting (and will share!) input from the community on this very important topic both as a useful “sense of the community” for everyone and, pertinent to our immediate goal, to shape our decennial curricular recommendations.

We invite you to fill out a survey: https://tinyurl.com/7zjbu7pr

As you fill out this survey, we ask you to reflect on:

• Discrete mathematics: student preparedness, topics covered, what’s missing?
• What should come beyond discrete mathematics, if anything?
• What do the new high-growth areas (AI, ML, quantum computing, data science) need by way of mathematical preparation?
• Do most CS jobs need much mathematics, and do current mathematical requirements pose a barrier to some populations of students?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to fill out the survey!

If you believe that other colleagues in your department can contribute, please forward the survey link to them.

Amruth Kumar and Rajendra Raj

On behalf of the of the ACM/IEEE-CS/AAAI CS2023 Curricular Task Force

NOTE: By participating, you agree that we may use your responses for this study; and that this data may be presented in aggregate form (with no personally identifying information) in articles or websites.

——–

NAS Held Prize: Call for nominations

From chair of the committee, Dan Spielman:
Nominations are now being accepted for the National Academy of Sciences’ 2023 Michael and Sheila Held Prize. The Held Prize honors outstanding, innovative, creative, and influential research in the areas of combinatorial and discrete optimization, or related parts of computer science, such as the design and analysis of algorithms and complexity theory. This $100,000 prize is intended to recognize recent work (defined as published within the last eight years). Additional information, including past recipients, eligibility requirements, and more, can be found at http://www.nasonline.org/held 

All nominations must be submitted online. Unless otherwise stated, the following materials must be submitted: 

1. A letter from the nominator describing the candidate’s work and why he or she should be selected for the award. No more than three (3) pages.
2. Curriculum vitae. No more than two (2) pages (similar to CVs included with NSF proposals).
3. Bibliography listing no more than twelve (12) of the nominee’s most significant publications.
4. Suggested citation. A 50-word summary stating why the nominee should be considered for this award. (Citation
   examples)
5. Two letters of support. Support letters must be written by individuals from institutions outside both the
   nominator’s and the nominee’s institution. Up to three letters of support are accepted.

Nominations will be accepted through Monday, October 3, 2022. Please help spread the word that the nomination process is underway.