Nominees for President-Elect

Three words: Operations. Alliances. Communications. If you want a picture of the skills and ideas that I would bring to the Society presidency, you will find the most detail at my webpage, http://candidate.dagrier.net, or in my column, The Known World, in Computer.  However, if you want the summary of my approach, you will find it in those three ideas: efficient operations, strategic alliances, and effective communications.

To the operations of the Society, I would bring skills honed for 20 years as a university administrator. The Society operates as a volunteer organization that needs to support the professional practice of 85,000 individuals with diverse goals and aspirations. A successful president needs to honor the contributions of the 85,000 members and their volunteer contributions to the society. The issues that the next president needs to consider include conference support, intellectual property rights, technical education, and plans for the Society’s future. As a vice president, I drafted the plans for special technical committees and have been active on the planning and financial committees.

Alliances are crucial because no organization thrives without cooperating with institutions that have similar goals and aspirations. Our most important alliance is with the IEEE, and we need to build on the relationships that we have established in recent years. However, we would also benefit by strengthening our ties with other organizations in the fields of computer science, information technology, and education.

Finally, to the presidency I would bring the skills of a practiced communicator and one who understands the vital role of the Society. I would be able to help the Society better engage its members, other computer professionals, entrepreneurs, other members of the global economy, and also the general public. My success in communicating the value of an organization is seen in the writing that I have done for Computer Society publications.

Three ideas: strong organizational leadership, careful management of strategic alliances, clear and focused communication. This is what I would bring to the Computer Society as president. You can find more at http://candidate.dagrier.net.

Biography
David Grier’s career in computer science began when he learned to program the Univac 1103 that was in his father’s office. This career has encompassed many roles in the field: industry programmer, professor and researcher, entrepreneur, conference organizer, university administrator, consultant, and author. Grier’s book, When Computers Were Human (Princeton), received a 2006 award for the best book on computing from the Independent Press Association.

Grier’s computer education began with training courses at Univac and Burroughs. He passed through Knuth’s Art of Computer Programming and received a PhD in mathematical statistics from the University of Washington. At George Washington University, Grier has taught computer science, served as assistant dean of engineering and associate dean of international affairs, and is currently an associate professor of international science and technology policy.

Grier is first vice president of the Computer Society and serves on its Board of Governors (2009-), Executive Committee (2009-), and Planning Committee (2010-). He is currently vice president of publications and has  served on such IEEE committees as TAB Periodicals, Periodical Review, and the Publication Services and  Products Board. Grier is a senior member of IEEE. A more detailed biography can be found at http://candidate.dagrier.net.

The Computer Society is facing opportunities and challenges in several areas.
• Membership. Developing new membership benefits is a high priority in view of declining membership. This might include further incentives to attract new student members. Retaining student members as full members is also an issue that needs attention.
• Accreditation. The Computer Society has developed excellent accreditation tools and services for the computing community. I will work toward acceptance and recognition of these accreditation efforts and enlist the help of IEEEUSA in gaining government support for accreditation within the US.
• Literacy. The Computer Society should seize the opportunity to provide educational material that supports the development of increased computer literacy.
• Conferences. Conferences provide the main forum for in-person member contacts and the exchange of technical information. They are a vital component of Computer Society activities. Maintaining the viability of the conference program is therefore a priority.
• Internationalization. I consider it a priority to engage the Computer Society’s international membership more effectively in Society activities. One way of doing this would be to create online communities to discuss issues of interest to all Computer Society members.
• Publications. One of the main incentives for joining the Computer Society has been its publishing program. Members typically can subscribe to IEEE and Society publications at a significantly reduced cost. The CSDL and IEL electronic libraries have, however, made individual subscription incentives of less value to many members, due to institutional subscriptions. I would therefore encourage the development of new publishing initiatives that lead to member retention.
• Open access. Open access has clear benefits for Computer Society members and the community in general, since it results in more freely available information. The challenge is to make open access economically viable.
• IEEE. I would encourage cooperation within the Technical Activities Board and with other major IEEE boards. I also advocate that the Computer Society avail itself of services offered by IEEE when they are advantageous to the Society.

An expanded discussion of these topics is found at http://www3.telus.net/public/jrokne/public.

Biography
Jon Rokne is the second vice president and secretary of the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors, past vice president of the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board, chair of the PSPB’s Nominations and Appointments Committee, and a member of the IEEE Ethics and Members Conduct Committee.

Rokne has completed two terms as vice president of publications for IEEE and two terms as vice president of publications for the IEEE Computer Society. He has also served as a member of PSPB, PSPB Financial Committee, and PSPB Operations Committee, and as chair of a PSPB subcommittee on publications conduct.

A Computer Society Golden Core member, Rokne has served as a member of the Publications Board, chair of the Transactions Operations Committee, and chair of an ad hoc committee for ReadyNotes.

Rokne is a professor and former chair of the computer science department at the University of Calgary. He has published extensively in mathematics, including three jointly authored books. Rokne has also published in the areas of physically- and biologically-based computer simulations of leaves, auroras, ball lightning, social networks, and one jointly authored book, Light Interaction with Plants (Woodhead, 2004). In 2003, he organized the Pacific Graphics conference.

For further information, visit http://www3.telus.net/public/jrokne/public.