2010 Quarter 3
REPORT FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMING
This is a short summary of activities within the ACP during the months
July-September 2010.
The 2010 ACP Executive Committee comprises the following people:
- Barry O'Sullivan - President
- Jimmy H.M. Lee - Secretary
- Thomas Schiex - Treasurer
- Pedro Meseguer - Conference Coordinator
- John Hooker
- Karen Petrie
- Peter Stuckey
- Roland Yap
The ACP Executive Committee welcomes feedback and suggestions from
the ACP community. We encourage you to engage with the ACP-EC to
help design new initiatives that promote constraint programming.
ACP.1. ACP Executive Committee Elections 2010
As set out in the ACP by-laws there was an election for four new EC members
in 2010. Pedro Meseguer, Karen Petrie, Thomas Schiex, and Roland Yap were
elected to terms ending in 2010. As set out in the bylaws an Election Committee
was formed chaired by Jimmy Lee, Secretary to the ACP. The others members
were: John Hooker, Barry O’Sullivan, and Peter Stuckey. The voting period was
from August 1st to 31st, 2010. A total of 128 votes were received. The newly
elected EC members are: Yves Deville, Thomas Schiex, Helmut Simonis, and
Roland Yap; their terms run for four years from Jnuary 2011. On behalf of
the ACP, the Executive Committee would like to congratulate those elected, and
thank all the other candidates who took part in the election.
ACP.2. Brief Comment on CP 2010
On behalf of the ACP, the Executive Committee would like to congratulate
the various people responsible for making CP 2010 in St. Andrews such a
success. Special thanks goes to Karen Petrie (Conference Chair), Dave Cohen
(Program Chair), Peter Stuckey (Applications Track Chair), Pedro Meseguer
(Workshop Chair), Thomas Schiex (Tutorial Chair), Peter Nightingale and
Standa Zivny (Doctoral Program Chairs), Ian Miguel (Sponsorship Chair),
and Andrea Rendl (Publicity Chair). We would also like to thank the Local
Organising Committee - full details can be found at:
http://cp2010.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/organisation.php
ACP.3. ACP Distinguished Service 2010 -- Professor Francesca Rossi
The inaugural ACP Distinguished Service Award was made at CP 2010.
The award committee was chaired by the ACP President (Barry O'Sullivan). The
members were Dave Cohen, Ian Gent and Peter Stuckey, Program Chairs of CP
2008, 2009 and 2010, and the ACP Secretary (Jimmy Lee). The committee
recommended that this year's award go to Professor Francesca Rossi. Her
award citation reads: "For contributions to the field of constraint programming
through sustained service supporting the formation of the Association for
Constraint Programming and the promotion of the field." Francesca was nominated
by Christian Bessiere. On behalf of the ACP, the Executive Committee would
like to once again congratulate Francesca on her achievement.
ACP.4. ACP Doctoral Research Award 2010
This year's committee responsible for selecting the winning candidate for this
award was chaired by John Hooker. Members from the general community were
recruited to serve as reviewers and make recommendations on the overall winner.
The other members of this year's committee were Brahim Hnich and Mark Wallace.
The recipient of the award was Guido Tack for his doctoral dissertation
entitled "Constraint propagation: Models, techniques, implementation". Guido
was nominated by Christian Schulte. On behalf of the ACP, the Executive
Committee would like to once again congratulate Guido on his achievement.
ACP.5. ACP General Assembly 2010
During the CP 2010 conference, the annual ACP General Assembly took place.
It was chaird by the current ACP President, Barry O'Sullivan, and was
well attended by the community. The inaugural ACP Outstanding Service Award
was presented to Francesca Rossi.
ACP.6. CP Standardisation Working Group
During CP 2010 Dr. Jacob Feldman chaired an excellent session on the progress
of the CP Standardisation Working Group. On March 25, 2010 the Java Community
Process (JCP) published the "Early Draft Review of the JSR-331: Constraint
Programming API". Jacob reported that the JSR-331 was nominated for most
innovative JSR of the year for JCP Program Awards. Since the conference we
are proud to announce that JSR-331 has won the award for the most innovative
JSR of the year. On behalf of the ACP, the Executive Committee would like to
congratulate Jacob Feldman and Narendra Jussien for this achievement. Awards
like this give wonderful visibility to the CP community.
ACP.7. CP 2011 Conference
The CP 2011 conference will take place in Perugia, Italy. The Program Chair
will be Jimmy Lee. The Conference Chair will be Stefano Bistarelli. During
CP 2010 Stefano gave a presentation about the arrangements and venue for
the conference.
The conference web-site can be found at http://www.dmi.unipg.it/cp2011/
ACP.8. CP 2012 Conference
The CP 2012 conference will be held in Quebec City, Canada. The Conference
Chairs for the conference will be Gilles Pesant and Claude-Guy Quimper, with
an additional Local Chair in Louis Martin Rouseau. The Program Chair will be
announced in the new year.
ACP.9. Expressions of Interest in Hosting CP 2013
The ACP likes to plan CP conferences two years in advance. We are therefore
interested in hearing expressions of interest from those who are considering
hosting the conference in 2013. A formal call for proposals will be issued
early in the new year. In the meantime please consider discussing organising
the conference with the ACP Conference Coordinator, Pedro Meseguer.
ACP.10. Call for Proposals for New ACP Activities
During the ACP General Assembly the Treasurer, Thomas Schiex, reported
that the association is in good financial standing. It was also reported
that CP 2009 declared a surplus. Therefore, the ACP would like to receive
proposals for other activities that the association should support. Please
send your suggestions to secretary@a4cp.org
ACP.11. Call for Proposals to Host the ACP Summer School 2011
Members of the CP community who are interested in organizing the 2011
ACP Summer School should send a proposal to secretary@a4cp.org by
November 30th 2010, containing at least the following information:
* 1. topic of the school
* 2. location
* 3. dates
* 4. organizers
* 5. provisional budget
Since its establishment, the summer school has been a major success with
feedback from student attendees being very positive.