Program for ICALP/LICS 2015

ICALP/LICS 2015 is approaching fast and the very final version of the program for this event is available here.

A look at the program indicates the very broad coverage of TCS provided by the event. Apart from the presentation of 204 contributed papers (143 for ICALP and 61 for LICS), we will be treated to the following plenary invited talks:

Ken-ichi Kawarabayashi (NII, Japan)
Title: Digraphs Structures: Minors and Algorithms

Daniel Kifer (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Title: Privacy and the Price of Data

Valerie King (University of Victoria, Canada)
Title: Dynamic Graphs: Time, Space, and Communication

Thomas Moscibroda (Microsoft Research and Tsinghua University, China)
Title: Incentive Networks

Anca Muscholl (Université Bordeaux, France)
Title: Automated Synthesis of Distributed Controllers

Peter O'Hearn (Facebook and University College London, UK)
Title: From Categorical Logic to Facebook Engineering

Luke Ong (University of Oxford, UK)
Title: Higher-Order Model Checking: An Overview

ICALP/LICS will also feature the following three tutorials:

Piotr Indyk (MIT, USA)
Title: Fast Algorithms for Structured Sparsity

Andrew Pitts (University of Cambridge, UK)
Title: Names and Symmetry in Computer Science

Geoffrey Smith (Florida International University, USA)
Title: Recent Developments in Quantitative Information Flow

as well as a "masterclass" on Algorithms and Complexity for Japanese Puzzles by
Ryuhei Uehara (JAIST, Japan).

The joint award session  will feature presentations by Xi Chen (Presburger Award recipient), Christos Papdimitriou (EATCS Award recipient) and Igor Walukiewicz (LICS Test-of-Time award recipient). Christos will also reflect on 40 years of theoretical computer science during a special anniversary event devoted to the 40th birthday of the journal Theoretical Computer Science.

Note that ICALP 2015 and LICS 2015 are truly co-located events. The two conferences will take place in the same week and at the same location. There is only one registration fee and conference participants will be able to attend whatever session they fancy at either conference.

I look forward to this festival of TCS and hope to have enough energy to report on some of the events on this blog. (I am still looking for guest bloggers!)

Call for guest posts from ICALP 2015/LICS 2015

If you are going to ICALP 2015/LICS 2015 and you are willing to contribute guests posts on that conference on this blog, drop me a line.

It would be good to have reports on the three tracks of ICALP, on LICS, on the invited talks/tutorials and on the award-related events, as well as on the conference as a whole.

In case you are interested, the guests posts on ICALP 2014 contributed by Clément Canonne and Andrew Winslow are here.

PhD positions in Computer Science at IMT Lucca (Italy)

This is the time of the year when IMT Lucca announces a number of fully funded PhD scholarships. IMT Lucca is one of the institutions in Italy that is closest to my heart and where I have had the pleasure to spend some time in the past interacting with PhD students and faculty. It provides an excellent environment for PhD students in a truly splendid setting. I strongly recommend it, if you are considering a PhD in several areas of computer science and control theory. Watch the video below, which will whet your appetite, and then read on.



The Institute for Advanced Studies IMT Lucca - Italy invites applications for fully-funded PhD scholarships in Computer Science tenable from 1st November 2015.

IMT Lucca is a truly international research university within the Italian public higher education system that focuses on cutting-edge research in key areas such as Computer Sciences, Systems Engineering, Complex Networks, Economics and Cultural Heritage. The three-year doctoral program, which is taught entirely in English, is articulated in four discipline-specific curricula that share an interdisciplinary scientific background.

Computer Science doctoral studies at IMT are coordinated by Rocco De Nicola and promote research on the theory and applications of informatics such as concurrency, performance, programming languages, security, dependability, software engineering, and computational biology. The overarching goal is to develop languages, models, algorithms, verification techniques, engineering methodologies, and software tools for reasoning about distributed systems.

The doctoral students will be working within the SysMA research unit of IMT Lucca (http://sysma.lab.imtlucca.it/); some of the research lines are pursued in collaboration with two institutes of the Italian Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, namely ISTI (http://www.isti.cnr.it) and IIT (http://www.iit.cnr.it).

PhD students receive a stipend of about €13,600 EUR gross (around €12,400 EUR after taxes) per year, as established by Italian law. In addition, they are offered free meals and on-campus housing in the historical center of the beautiful Tuscan city of Lucca. Students also get the opportunity to spend research periods abroad, with the possibility of receiving additional financing through the Erasmus+ program.

The deadline for application is June 29th, 2015 at 18:00 Italian time.

The call is open to all candidates who are expected to obtain the required degree by October 31st, 2015; however, they must still apply by the above deadline. Further details, along with the online application form, can be found at: http://phd.imtlucca.it

ICALP 2015: Accepted papers and best paper awards

The PCs for the three tracks of ICALP 2015 have selected the best papers and best student papers. The best paper awards will go to the following articles:

• Aaron Bernstein and Clifford Stein. Fully Dynamic Matching in Bipartite Graphs. (Track A)
• Jarkko Kari and Michal Szabados. An Algebraic Geometric Approach to Nivat's Conjecture. (Track B)
• Yiannis Giannakopoulos and Elias Koutsoupias. Selling two goods optimally. (Track C)
     

The best student papers will instead go to

• Huacheng Yu. An Improved Combinatorial Algorithm for Boolean Matrix Multiplication. (Track A)
• Radu Curticapean. Block interpolation: A framework for tight exponential-time counting complexity. (Track A)
• Georg Zetzsche. An approach to computing downward closures. (Track B)

As you can see Track A selected two best student papers, whereas Track C did not select any. Let me remark that Radu Curticapean already received the best student paper award at ICALP 2013.

The full list of accepted papers for each of the tracks of ICALP 2015 is here. 

EATCS honours three outstanding PhD theses with the first EATCS Distinguished Dissertation Awards

The EATCS is proud to announce that, after examining the nominations received from our research community,  the EATCS Distinguished Dissertation Award Committee 2015, consisting of Javier Esparza, Fedor Fomin,  Luke Ong and Giuseppe Persiano (chair), has selected the following three theses for the EATCS Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2015:

• Karl Bringmann: "Sampling from Discrete Distributions and Computing Fréchet Distances"
• Michał Skrzypczak: "Descriptive set theoretic methods in automata theory"
• Mary Wootters: "Any errors in this dissertation are probably fixable: topics in probability and error-correcting codes"

Each of the awards carries a monetary prize of 1000 Euros, provided by the EATCS. Each of the award-receiving dissertations will be published on line by the EATCS at http://www.eatcs.org/index.php/dissertation-award.

Karl Bringmann's thesis consists of two parts: one dealing with ``Sampling from Discrete Distributions'' and one dealing with ``Computing Fréchet Distances.'' Sampling from a discrete probability distribution is a fundamental and classically studied problem. Bringmann's thesis contributes a deeper understanding of the amount of memory needed for sampling from  a discrete  probability distribution. The provided bound is tight for systematic data structures and  for non-systematic data structures, the thesis shows that, quite surprisingly, with only 1 redundant bit it is possible to reply to queries in expected constant-time. In the second part  of the thesis, Bringmann relates the computational complexity of computing the Frechet distance of two curves (a classical notion from Computational Geometry) with a variant, SETH', of the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis. Specifically, if SETH' holds, then the Frechet distance of two curves cannot be computed in time strongly subquadratic.

Skrzypczak’s thesis is about the use of descriptive set theory as a framework for investigating the omega-regular tree languages or equivalently the languages defined by formulas of Monadic Second Order logic with several successors. The thesis makes progress on long-standing open problems in the theory of automata: the characterizations of regular languages of infinite trees that are definable in weak monadic second-order logic and the Rabin-Mostowski index problem. For both problems, Skrzypczak's thesis provides solutions for notable special cases.

Wootters' thesis approaches coding-theoretic problems from an analytic point of view, rather than an algebraic point of view and develops new tools for studying codes, makes several contributions and settles a few important open problems. Specifically, Wootters' thesis advances the understanding of two important topics in Coding Theory: List Decoding and Local Seconding. Regarding List Decoding, the thesis shows that random linear codes, over constant-sized alphabets, are optimally list-decodable (this answers a question asked by Elias over twenty years ago) and that there exist Reed-Solomon codes which are list-decodable beyond the Johnson bound (this answers a question asked by Guruswami and Sudan over 15 years ago). Regarding Local Decoding, the thesis gives a family of high-rate codes with local correctability that admits a sublinear-time decoding algorithm.

ICTAC goes to Cali, Colombia

The organizing committee of ICTAC 2015 has asked me to help them distribute the following CfP of the event. The International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing (ICTAC) is going to Colombia this year. The list of invited speakers is superb and Colombia has been a good source of young talent in TCS in recent years. Consider supporting this event by submitting a paper to it.

**********************************************************************

               CALL FOR PAPERS -- ICTAC 2015
                 12th International Colloquium on 
                 Theoretical Aspects of Computing
               29-31 October 2015, Cali, Colombia
                      ** http://www.ictac2015.co **

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: JUNE 5, 2015.
**********************************************************************


ICTAC 2015 will take place at the campus of Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia during October 29-31, 2015.  The ICTAC conference series aims at bringing together practitioners and researchers to exchange ideas and experiences addressing challenges in theoretical aspects of computing as well as in exploiting theory through methods and tools for system development.  ICTAC also aims to promote cooperation between participants and institutions from developing and industrial countries in research and education.


THEMES AND TOPICS OF PAPERS
Topics of interest include theories of computation and programming, foundations of software engineering and formal techniques in software design and verification, as well as  tools that support formal techniques for software modeling, system design and verification.


The topical areas of the conference include, but are not limited to
*     Automata theory and formal languages;
*     Principles and semantics of programming languages;
*     Theories of concurrency, mobility and reconfiguration;
*     Logics and their applications;
*     Software architectures, their models, refinement and verification;
*     Relationship between software requirements, models and code;
*     Program static and dynamic analysis and verification;
*     Software specification, refinement, verification and testing;
*     Model checking and theorem proving;
*     Models of object and component systems;
*     Coordination and feature interaction;
*     Integration of theories, formal methods and tools for engineering computing systems;
*     Service-oriented architectures: models and development methods;
*     Models of concurrency, security, and mobility;
*     Theory of distributed, grid and cloud computing;
*     Real-time, embedded, hybrid and cyber-physical systems;
*     Type and category theory in computer science.


INVITED SPEAKERS 
* Jean-Raymond Abrial
* Volker Diekert
* César Muñoz
* Catuscia Palamidessi
* Davide Sangiorgi
* Moshe Vardi
* Glynn Winskel


ASSOCIATED EVENTS
* ICTAC Summer School on Formal Methods (October 25-27)
* DCM 2015: 11th International Workshop on Developments in Computational Models (October 28)


PAPER SUBMISSION
== Important Dates 
* Abstract submission: Monday, June 1, 2015.
* Paper submission:   Friday, June 5, 2015.
* Author notification:  Monday, July 20, 2015.
* Camera ready:  Monday, August 3, 2015.

CONCUR 2015 Deadline approaching

The deadline for CONCUR 2015 is approaching fast:

• Submission of Abstracts: April 13th, 2015;
• Submission of Papers: April 20th, 2015 (firm).

Note that you can submit your abstracts at any time before April 20. 

The usage of pdflatex and the LIPIcs style file are mandatory: no changes to font size, page geometry, etc. are permitted. Authors are invited to submit a draft of at most 13 pages including references. Submissions not in the correct format or submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Ode to the Automata Tutor

I am slowly emerging from teaching a first year course on topics in Discrete Mathematics to about 250 students at Reykjavik University. (I have one more lecture to deliver after Easter and then the not-so-small matter of over 200 exam papers to grade :-() This is the second discrete mathematics course the students take and it is the second spring semester in a row that I teach it.

As part of the course, I am supposed to cover  the basics of grammars, finite automata and regular expressions. This is a first year course, so I do not cover much of the theory related to these formalisms and their connections. Mostly I expect the students to be able to design grammars, finite automata and regular expressions for some relatively simple languages.

In both editions of my course, which has been followed by about 500 students overall, I have used the AutomataTutor to support my teaching of material related to finite automata and to grade student assignments automatically.

For what it is worth, I strongly encourage my readers to try the tool and to use it in their undergraduate courses. In my experience, the students love to learn DFA and NFA programming using the Automata Tutor and to work on assignments that employ it. The automatic feedback and grading provided by the Automata Tutor are almost magical. (See this paper for a description of how the tool does both.) This is how the construction of finite automata that recognize regular languages should be taught in a modern way! I wish I had similar tools for all the topics I need to cover in that course.

From my perspective (and from that of my TAs), automatic grading is a real bonus. I love to teach, but I really hate to grade a large number of student assignments. Students can be very creative in their solutions and grading them is a very time consuming, haphazard and inconsistent process for any human. The algorithms embodied in the Automata Tutor produce consistent results at the press of a button and the students receive a grade straight away as well as excellent hints on how to improve incorrect solutions.

Thanks to Rajeev Alur, Loris D'Antoni, Sumit Gulwani, Dileep Kini, Mahesh Viswanathan and their co-workers, teaching basic finite-automata theory to hordes of first-year students can now (largely :-)) be done without tears. To boot, the folks at Automata Tutor have always been ready to provide technical help, when that was needed.

I'll keep using the Automata Tutor in my courses and I hope that you will do so too. That is the best way to thank our colleagues for the work they have done and are still doing on that tool.

February 2015 issue of the Bulletin of the EATCS on line

Thanks to the work of Kazuo Iwama, editor in chief of the bulletin, and of his collaborators, the February 2015 issue of the Bulletin of the EATCS is now available on line. You can download the whole issue in PDF from here, if you prefer. As a service to the TCS community, the bulletin continues being open access because of the support of the members of the EATCS, whom I thank wholeheartedly.

Amongst other things, this issue contains contributions by David Eppstein on K-Best Enumeration, Vikraman Arvind on Robust Oracle Machines revisited, Gaudi Taubenfeld on A Closer Look at Concurrent Data Structures and Algorithms (pages 59-82 of the whole issue), Jukka Suomela on Local Coordination and Symmetry Breaking ((pages 83-110 of the whole issue), Andreas Blass on Negative Probability and by Juraj Hromkovic who kicks off the new-look Education Column with a piece entitled Homo Informaticus.

I welcome Stefan Schmid as new editor of the Distributed Computing Column and thank Panagiota Fatourou for her sterling editorial work over many years.

Enjoy it. 

Video made by the female CS student association at Reykjavik University

I learnt a few things about some of the students taking the first-year course I am teaching right now by watching this well-made video.

EATCS Fellows class of 2015 named

The EATCS has recognized five of its members for their outstanding contributions to theoretical computer science by naming them as recipients of an EATCS fellowship.

The EATCS Fellows for 2015 are:

• Artur Czumaj (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) for "contributions to analysis and design of algorithms, especially to understanding the role of randomization in computer science";
• Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini (Università di Torino, Italy) for "distinguished and seminal achievements in formal methods and foundations of programming languages, introducing or developing new type systems for the lambda-calculus as well as for the pi-calculus and related calculi";
• Thomas A. Henzinger (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) for "fundamental contributions to formal verification and synthesis of computer and biological systems";
• Dexter Kozen (Cornell University, USA) for "pioneering and seminal work in fields as diverse as  complexity theory, logics of programs, algebra, computer algebra and probabilistic semantics";
• Moshe Y. Vardi (Rice University, USA) for "fundamental and lasting contributions to the development of logic in computer science and exceptional services to the community of theoretical computer science."

The aforementioned members of the EATCS were selected by the EATCS Fellow Selection Committee, after examining the nominations received from our research community. The EATCS Fellow Selection Committee for 2015 consisted of

• Rocco De Nicola (IMT Lucca, Italy),
• Paul Goldberg (Oxford, UK),
• Anca Muscholl (Bordeaux, France),
• Dorothea Wagner (Karlsruhe, Germany; chair) and
• Roger Wattenhofer (ETH Zurich, CH).

The EATCS Fellows Program was established by the association  in 2014 to recognize outstanding EATCS members for their scientific achievements in the field of Theoretical Computer Science.

The EATCS is very proud to have the above-mentioned members of the organization among its fellows.

The list of EATCS Fellows is available at  http://www.eatcs.org/index.php/eatcs-fellows.

Presburger Award 2015 to Xi Chen (Columbia University)

The European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) has awarded the 2015 Presburger Award to  Xi Chen (Columbia University, New York, USA). Congratulations to Chen!

Xi Chen, born in 1982, has made fundamental contributions in a variety of areas within theoretical computer science. His work in algorithmic game theory and computational economics includes the answer to the long standing question about the computational complexity of Nash equilibria for two-player games, showing PPAD-completeness. For classes of markets and types of utility functions widely used in economics, he settled the complexity of market equilibria, again showing PPAD-completeness. His work on complexity theory includes a complete dichotomy theorem for partition function computation, showing it to be either polynomial or #P-complete, as well as for counting constraint satisfaction problems with complex weights, general concepts that include e.g. counting graph homomorphisms. His work on algorithms includes a proof that isomorphism of strongly regular graphs, a well-known hard case for the graph isomorphism problem, can be tested in time exponential in n^1/5 - the first significant progress in more than a decade.

The  Presburger Award is given to a young scientist (in exceptional cases to several young scientists)  for outstanding contributions in theoretical computer science, documented by a published paper or a series of published papers. The list of the previous recipients of the Presburger Award is available at

http://eatcs.org/index.php/presburger

The Presburger Award carries a prize money of 1000 Euros and will be delivered at ICALP 2015, which will take place in Kyoto (Japan) from the 6th till the 10th of July 2015 in co-location with LICS 2015.

The 2015 Presburger Award Committee consisted of Zoltan Esik (University of Szeged, Hungary), Claire Mathieu (ENS Paris, France) and Peter Widmayer (ETH Zurich, CH; chair).

Research Positions in Algorithms and Networks at Reykjavik University

Applications are invited for two research positions at the School of Computer Science (SCS), Reykjavik University, funded by a grant from the Icelandic Research Fund, under the direction of Prof. Magnus M. Halldorsson.  The positions can be either at any level: Ph.D. student, post-doctoral, or at faculty level. The application deadline is March 15, 2015.

The foci of the research group can be divided into three interrelated areas: algorithms for wireless networks; distributed graph algorithms; and approximation algorithms on graphs and networks.

Applicants should have a strong research profile (or potential) and a solid background in the analysis of algorithms. A general understanding of networking and/or distributed computing is expected. Self-motivation, open mind and team spirit are all helpful ingredients.

For more information and application procedures, see full announcement at
http://www.ru.is/~mmh/jobs-feb2015.htm
For informal inquires, contact Magnus M. Halldorsson, mmh@ru.is.

Call for Nominations: EiC for ACM Transactions on Computational Logic

Call for Nominations
Editor-In-Chief
ACM Transactions on Computational Logic

The term of the current Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the journal ACM Transactions on Computational Logic (TOCL) is coming to an end, and the ACM Publications Board has set up a nominating committee to assist the Board in selecting the next EiC. TOCL was established in 2000 and has been experiencing steady growth, with 74 submissions received in 2014.

Nominations, including self nominations, are invited for a three-year term as TOCL EiC, beginning on July 1, 2015. The EiC appointment may be renewed at most once. This is an entirely voluntary position, but ACM will provide appropriate administrative support.

For further details, see

http://tocl.acm.org/announcements/Call-for-Nominations.pdf

EATCS Award 2015 to Christos Papadimitriou

I am pleased to announce that the EATCS Awards Committee consisting of Fedor Fomin, Kim G. Larsen and Vladimiro Sassone (chair) has selected  Christos Papadimitriou (UC Berkeley, USA; WWW: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~christos/; Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christos_Papadimitriou) as the recipient of the EATCS Award 2015. Congratulations to Christos!

The award, which is given to acknowledge extensive and widely recognized contributions to theoretical computer science over a life long scientific career, will be presented to Christos at ICALP 2015, which will be held in Kyoto, Japan, in the period 6-10 July 2015. The list of previous recipients of the EATCS Award is here. An official laudatio for the award is forthcoming. What follows is a short preliminary laudatio penned for this blog post.

Christos Papadimitriou’s body of work is of amazing breadth and depth, and has had a profound and lasting influence on many areas of Computer Science.

In an era of great specialization, Christos Papadimitriou stands out as a present-day Renaissance man. He is an intellectual who, citing the title of one of his essays, is not afraid of asking "big queries" and  applies the “computational lens” to shed light on important problems in several areas of scientific enquiry, ranging from economics to the theory of evolution. While doing what he might himself call “extroverted Computer Science”, he has contributed truly seminal work to a large number of fields within our subject, including algorithmics, complexity theory, computational game theory, database theory, internet and sensor nets, optimization and robotics.

Christos Papadimitriou is also one of the very best expositors and teachers within our field. He has written classic textbooks on the theory of computation, combinatorial optimization, database concurrency control, computational complexity and algorithms. In so doing, he has helped to inspire several generations of computer scientists.

If that wasn't enough, Christos Papadimitriou is a tireless expositor and is able to explain the beauty of our discipline to a general educated public. He is not afraid to cross boundaries, and to use literary forms such as novels (see "Turing: A Novel About Computation", http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/turing-novel-about-computation) and comics (see the graphic novel "Logicomix", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logicomix) to offer accessible expositions of the science of computing and its origins.

To sum up, Christos Papadimitriou is one of those rare scientists who combines a large, influential and varied body of scientific results with the gifts of an inspiring teacher and of a great communicator.

Associate/Full Professor Position at Oxford in Algotithms or Complexity

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford is planning to make an appointment at associate/full professor level with effect from 1 September 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. Applicants should hold a PhD in computer science or a related subject and have experience in any area related to algorithms or complexity.  

The details are here. 

Please help spread the word.

Three postdoc positions in Computer Science at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila

I  have been asked to advertise three postdoc positions in Computer Science that are available at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L'Aquila, Italy. The  deadline for application is the 2nd of February. I trust that these positions might be of interest to some of the readers of this blog. 

The Gran Sasso Science Institute currently hosts a little under 20 PhD students in Computer Science and there will be about ten more joining the institute in November 2015. The PhD students from there with whom I have had the pleasure to interact are highly motivated and have good potential. The successful applicants will have a good chance to get some of them involved in their own research. 

L'Aquila lies in my home region, Abruzzo, and  is surrounded by beautiful mountains, national parks and many historical sites. 

The Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI - http://www.gssi.infn.it/), a recently established international PhD school and a Center for advanced studies in L'Aquila (ITALY) offers 12 postdoctoral research positions. Three of these positions are dedicated to Computer Science and more specifically to themes that are strongly connected to the pillars of the PhD program in Computer Science (http://cs.gssi.infn.it), namely:

 * Foundations of social and computer networks
 * Software systems and services
 * Specifications and analysis of concurrent reactive systems

Apart from pursuing their own research agenda, the successful candidates will have the opportunity to take part in the supervision of the roughly 20 PhD students in Computer Science and to cooperate with members of the research group and of the Scientific Board (http://cs.gssi.infn.it/phd-program/information/), as well as with the frequent guests of the institute.

The deadline for application is:

*February 2, 2015 at 6:00 pm (Rome time)*

The annual gross salary is EURO 40K and lunch tickets are provided for working days. The positions are for two years. Candidates must have earned their doctoral degree not earlier than  January 1, 2008.

Selected candidates are expected to start their appointments not later than *September**1st, 2015. *

For information see http://www.gssi.infn.it/postdoc/ and http://www.gssi.infn.it/postdoc//doc01856420141216105324.pdf

.

For any further information feel free to contact Rocco De Nicola (rocco.denicola@imtlucca.it rocco.denicola@imtlucca.it

>), the coordinator of the PhD program in Computer Science, or any other member of the research group or of the Scientific Board http://cs.gssi.infn.it/phd-program/information/

ACM Fellows 2014

The ACM Fellows vintage 2014 have been named. The list includes several colleagues whose work has advanced TCS, including Samson Abramsky (who is recognized for his contributions to domains in logical form, game semantics, categorical quantum mechanics, and contextual semantics),  Leslie Lamport (who received the Turing Award before being named ACM Fellow), Michael Mitzenmacher and Omer Reingold amongst many others. Congratulations to all the ACM Fellows!

As a fellow Italian academic working abroad,  I am happy to see Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli honoured for his contributions to electronic design automation.

PC chairs for ICALP 2016

I am happy to inform you that the PC chairs for ICALP 2016 will be

• Track A: Yuval Rabani (Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel)
• Track B: Davide Sangiorgi (University of Bologna, Italy)
• Track C: Michael Mitzenmacher (Harvard University, USA)

Many thanks to these colleagues for their willingness to serve as PC chairs for the conference, which will be held in Rome.

REMINDER: The deadline for nominations for several EATCS Awards is approaching!

This is to remind you that the deadline for nominations for the following awards is the 31st of December 2014:

• EATCS Award: http://eatcs.org/index.php/eatcs-award
• EATCS Distinguished Dissertation Award: http://www.eatcs.org/index.php/dissertation-award
• EATCS Fellows: http://www.eatcs.org/index.php/eatcs-fellows
• Presburger Award: http://eatcs.org/index.php/presburger

I strongly encourage members of the TCS community to nominate eligible colleagues for these accolades. Writing a good letter of nominations takes a little work, but  this is time well spent as it puts some of the many outstanding members of our community and their research areas in the spotlight, and provides role models for the younger members of the TCS community.

The deadline for nominations for the Gödel Prize (http://eatcs.org/index.php/goedel-prize) is January 31, 2015.

The award committees for the above-mentioned prizes and honours look forward to receiving your nominations!