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.