ACM/UIUC - About

About ACM@UIUC

General Introduction

ACM@UIUC is a student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, a professional society dedicated to advancing human capabilities through information technology. Founded in 1947, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the largest and oldest international scientific and educational computer society in the industry today. Organized only a year after the unveiling of ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic computer, ACM was established by mathematicians and electrical engineers to advance the science and application of information technology. John Mauchly, co-inventor of the ENIAC, was one of ACM's founders. The student chapter at the University of Illinois has been active since 1965 and we have records dating back to the days when former CS department head Duncan Lawrie was an undergrad.

ACM@UIUC is a group of dedicated people who are interested in exploring the possibilities of computers and learning more about how to use and develop them. A closer look reveals that ACM@UIUC is made up of several interacting components: Special Interest Groups, Exec Meetings, General Meetings and social activities. Of course this structure is just a way of looking at the organization. There is significant overlap between these three areas. All ACM activities are open to the entire University community, regardless of computer experience and background.

The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are a unique feature of our ACM student chapter which we borrowed from the national ACM. A SIG is an organization like ACM with a smaller scope. We have approximately 20 active SIGs in ACM@UIUC, each with a unique focus and culture. Some of the SIGs are project based, working on projects for Engineering Open House or just for the sake of experience. Others present workshops to increase campus awareness of computers and the resources the University offers. Each SIG has between 5 and 30 members, and most meet on a weekly basis. Over the past few years, SIGs have been the biggest and most important part of ACM, because they give people hands-on experience with computers and leadership.

ACM@UIUC holds an Exec meeting every Monday, at which the direction on ACM is defined. Everyone is welcome to attend and make suggestions for new ACM groups or events. Decisions about such events and other important ACM matters are also made at these meetings.

General meetings are held once a month, with the intent of bringing in big-name speakers, local campus all-stars, and industry heavy hitters to speak about what they are doing. Speakers and topics in the past have included Eric Bina, co-author of Mosaic; Michael Abrash, PC graphics programming guru; and Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation. General meetings are also a good opportunity for ACM@UIUC's approximately 350 members to come together, eat pizza, drink pop, and talk shop.

While some may think ACM@UIUC is all work and no play, ACM@UIUC dedicates as much time to social activities as any student organization on campus. ACM has to be fun or we wouldn't be doing it. Social events include: biannual picnics, canoe trips, paint balling, wallyball and many other typical student pastimes: roller blading, song writing, frisbee, and of course parties.

Overall, ACM@UIUC is a large organization focused on individual excellence. The ACM attempts to promote personal success through group projects and present a challenge to members unlike those offered in their academic work.

Facilities

1104 Siebel - The ACM Office

The ACM@UIUC office is located in room 1104 of the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science (SC) along the main hallway. ACM's office space includes 3 rooms and limited access to the student projects and embedded real-time systems labs, all thanks to the Computer Science Department.

The ACM Office is open from 9 AM to 5 PM most schooldays, and is manned by members of the Exec Board. Although our official hours are 9 to 5, members (especially the sysadmins) have been known to haunt the office until the wee hours of the morning. Stop in and join the ACM Up All Night Crew.

1106 Siebel - ACM Computer Lab

While there are computers in both 1104 and 1110, 1106 is home to the majority of the ACM Cluster. 1106 is frequently used for SIG dev sessions and tutorials. 1106 is also home to Caffeine, ACM's own networked soda machine [thanks to SIGBot and SIGArch]

1110 Siebel - ACM Electronics and Robotics Lab