2009 Quarter 2

REPORT FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMING

This is a short summary of activities within the ACP during
the months April-June 2009.

The 2009 ACP Executive Committee comprises the following people:

- Barry O'Sullivan - President
- Jimmy H.M. Lee - Secretary
- Thomas Schiex - Treasurer
- Pedro Meseguer - Conference Coordinator

- Christian Bessiere
- John Hooker
- Karen Petrie
- Christian Schulte
- Peter Stuckey
- Michael Trick
- Roland Yap

1. Reminder: No EC Elections this Year

As set out in the new by-laws there will be no new election for EC members in
2009. This is because 2009 is the final year in the transition to an Executive
Committee composed of members soley elected by the membership of the
association. You will recall that under the old bylaws the Program and
Conference Chair of the CP conference became members of the EC in the year
following the conference. This is no longer the case.

In 2010 we will transition to an Executive Committee comprising of seven
elected members. That committee will be as follows (listed in alphabetical
order, with elected terms beside each name):
- John Hooker (2009-2012)
- Pedro Meseguer (2007-2010)
- Barry O'Sullivan (2009-2012)
- Karen Petrie (2009-2010)
- Thomas Schiex (2007-2010)
- Peter Stuckey (2009-2012)
- Roland Yap (2009-2010)

Those whose terms will end include (in alphabetical order)::
- Christian Bessiere
- Jimmy H.M. Lee
- Christian Schulte
- Michael Trick

2. ACP Research Excellence Award 2009

This year a strong field of nominees was received for the ACP Research
Excellence Award. The EC formed a committee, chaired by Barry O'Sullivan,
comprising Pascal Van Hentenryck, Rina Dechter, Peter Stuckey and Jimmy Lee.
The committee recommended that this year's award go to Professor Alan Mackworth
of the University of British Colombia, Canada. We're delighted to report that
Alan will attend CP-2009 to accept the award and deliver an acceptance talk.

3. ACP Doctoral Research Award 2009

This year's committee responsible for selecting the winning candidate for this
award is chaired by Mike Trick. Members from the general community are recruited
to serve as reviewers and make recommendations on the overall winner. This
committee is currently working on selecting a winner from the very strong field
of nominees we have received.

4. New Award: the ACP Outstanding Service Award

The ACP Executive Committee is pleased to announce the introduction of a
new award, the ACP Outstanding Service Award. This award is to be given to
an individual who has made significant contributions to the ACP community
in a service capacity. The inaugural award will be in 2010. Like the two
existing awards, nominations will be sought from the community and a final
selection made by an inclusive committee. Further details will be made
available at the CP General Assembly this year. The establishment of this
award was well received at last year's assembly.

It is the intention of the EC to propose to the community that the Research
Excellence Award be given on a two year cycle, with the Outstanding Service
Award being offered also on a two year basis, in the years that the Research
Excellence Award is not offered. We hope that the community will accept this
proposal at this year's General Assembly.

5. CP Conferences in 2011

The ACP-EC is delighted to announce that CP-2011 will be held in Perugia
in Italy. The Conference Chair will be Stefano Bistarelli. The Programme
Chair for CP-2011 will be announced shortly.

6. CP Conference in 2012

The EC would like to strongly encourage a bid from North America to host
CP 2012. The last time the conference was held in North America was 2007
(Providence, Rhode Island). While the call for bids will not be formally
circulated until later this year, we would encourage any potential bidders
to contact a member of the EC at any time.

7. ACP Summer School 2009

The ACP Summer School 2009 was held at the Cork Constraint Computation
Centre in June 2009, chaired by Barry O'Sullivan. The summer school was well
attended with students. The ACP would like to thank Ken Brown, James Little,
Barry O'Sullivan, Igor Razgon and Helmut Simonis for their tutorials. Details
of the tutorials and the student talks can be found at:

http://www.cs.ucc.ie/~osullb/ACPSS2009

8. ACP Industry Advisory Board

The ACP-EC is working on the establishment of an Industry Advisory
Board. Interested industry-based members of the community are encouraged
to contact Barry O'Sullivan - b.osullivan@4c.ucc.ie - who will be
contacting potential members once this initiative formally begins.
We have not made much progress on this since the last newsletter, but we
will progress the issue before CP.

9. ACP CP Standardisation Initiative

The CP standardisation effort is underway. Narendra Jussien and Jacob
Feldman are leading this initiative. This is intended to be an inclusive
process where the input of the entire community is being sought and
encouraged. Please visit the CP standardisation web-site and contribute
to the debate there - http://www.cpstandards.org

We are hoping that it will be possible to schedule an open meeting for this
initiative at CP this year.