IEEE Annual Election Candidates - Division VIII

WILLIAM D. GROPP
(Nominated by IEEE Division VIII)

Director of the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications, and
Thomas M. Siebel Chair Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Urbana, Illinois, USA
  http://wgropp.cs.illinois.edu

Dr. William Gropp is Director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and holds the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1982. Before coming to UIUC, he was on the faculty at Yale University from 1982-1990 and part of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory from 1990-2007.

He has played a major role in high performance computing, including the development of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard and numerical algorithms and software for massively parallel systems.

Gropp is a Fellow of ACM, AAAS, IEEE, and SIAM and received the Sidney Fernbach Award from the IEEE Computer Society in 2008 and the ACM/IEEE Computer Society Ken Kennedy Award in 2016. Gropp is a  member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Statement

The IEEE faces challenges in prospering as a professional society in the 21st century. These include:

• Membership needs to address global changes in the profession and must adapt to be not only relevant but essential to practitioners, whether they come from academia, government, or industry.
• Open Access publishing, not just for the financial impact, but the change in culture that the open access movement is advocating.
• Community-driven solutions in publishing, reviewing, and organizing challenge the relevance of professional societies.
• As a complex organization, IEEE needs to better support the smaller councils and societies and partner with the larger ones.

IEEE must focus on what it can do, such as be a neutral convener that brings parties together, and avoid what it can’t do, such as compete with academia, government, and industry. It must leverage its assets, especially the connections to its members through its societies and councils. I will focus on improving the connections between IEEE and its members, building on and complementing the strengths of the councils and societies.

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(AF’94-M’00-SM’08-F’10)

Overview of IEEE-Related Services:

Conferences:

• IEEE/ACM International Conference on High Performance Computing (IEEE/ACM SC)
  • IEEE/ACM SC06 Technical Papers Co-Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC09 Technical Program Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC11 Finance Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC13 General Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC17 Vice-Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC19 Plenary Production (Keynote) Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC20 Invited Speakers Vice-Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC21 Awards Vice-Chair
  • IEEE/ACM SC Steering Committee (2011-2015; Chair-2014)
• IEEE Cluster Conference, 2002 and 2006 Technical Program Chair
• IEEE/ACM CCGrid 2012 Technical Program Area Chair

Technical Program Committee Member:

• IEEE/ACM SC 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022
• IEEE/ACM CCGrid 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
• IEEE Cluster 2003, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2016
• IEEE IPDPS (IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium) 2004, 2008, 2014, 2015
• IEEE/ACM PACT (International Conference on Parallel Architecture and Compilation Techniques) 2015, 2016
• IEEE BDSE (IEEE International Conference on Big Data Science and Engineering) 2014

Service to the IEEE Computer Society:

IEEE CS President (2022):

• Focus on future of conferences, open access, engaging membership, greater strategic involvement of the board of governors, and making progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Emphasis on synergies between boards – for example, standards as a way to engage industry members, open access opportunities and issues for conferences as well as journal publications, improving coordination between membership activities (chapters) and technical and conference activities. 
• Budget planning focus on sustainable activities to increase value to members and identify emerging technical areas.
• Greater coordination and cooperation with other IEEE societies and councils.

CS Activities:

• VP, Technical and Conference Activities (2019-2020)
• Board of Governors (2017-2022)
• Corresponding Member, 2020 Conference Publications Committee
• Seymour Cray Award Committee (2004, 2009)
• Sidney Fernbach Award Committee (2009)
• IEEE-CS Fellows Committee (2010-2013, 2015)
• ACM/IEEE-CS Ken Kennedy Award Committee (2017-2019), 2019 Chair
• Chair, 2016 Ad Hoc to improve IEEE-CS/SC conference relations

CECILIA METRA
(Nominated by IEEE Division VIII)

Professor, Deputy-President Engineering School
University of Bologna
Bologna, Italy
https://events.unibo.it/cecilia-metra-2024-ieee-division-viii-delegate-elect-director-elect-candidate

Cecilia Metra is a Professor and the Deputy President of the School of Engineering at the University of Bologna, Italy, where she received the Laurea Degree in Electronic Engineering and the PhD in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. In 2002, she was visiting faculty consultant for Intel Corporation.

She is part of the Italian National Research Center on High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing, and the Italian Research Project on Security and Rights In the CyberSpace.

She is 2022-2023 IEEE Director/Division V Delegate, and she was 2019 IEEE Computer Society President.

She was Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board member for several international Journals, and contributed to numerous international conferences/symposia/workshops.

She published extensively on design-for-testability, reliable, safe, secure and resilient circuits/systems, trustworthy AI, photovoltaic systems, emerging technologies.

Her research has been funded by government and industries, including Intel Corporation, STMicroelectronics, Alstom Transport, and the EU.

She is an IEEE Fellow.

Statement

I have been an active IEEE and Computer Society (CS) volunteer for nearly 30 years, serving in leadership positions such as 2022-2023 IEEE Director (Division V), 2019 CS President, Editor-in-Chief, General/Program Chair of highly renowned international conferences, and member of several IEEE key committees. My involvement has contributed to form a deep understanding and unique vision of the challenges and opportunities facing the IEEE, as reflected by my many successful activities.

If elected, I will continue and strengthen my current involvement in the IEEE to meet all members’ needs, focusing on:

1. Satisfy the diverse needs of members worldwide;
2. Devise innovative organizational and fiscal models, to reduce membership dues' dependency while improving products and services;
3. Promote members’ professional growth, by introducing innovative activities beyond all boundaries on timely technical directions;
4. Preserve technical distinction in all activities;
5. Experiment innovative and immersive meeting/communication media to facilitate interactions.

In conclusion, I will devote all my energy and expertise to ensure the successful fulfilment of IEEE towards its members and professional mission to new heights.

IEEE Accomplishments and Activities
(AF’96-A’99-A’01-M’03-SM’10-F’14)

MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

1. Technical Quality Boost: She co-chairs the “IEEE Metaverse” Future Directions’ initiative. As Computer Society (CS) President, she initiated the CS Golden OA Journal’s and the IEEE Transactions on AI’s creation. As TETC Editor-in-Chief, she succeeded in increasing significantly IF.
2. Industry Engagement: As CS President, she maximized the number of VPs from industry, started the creation of the CS Industry Engagement Committee, fostered standards’ foundation. As TETC EIC, she enhanced the EB’s industrial participation.
3. Cooperation: She boosts cooperation among IEEE constituencies within all Committees she belongs to, including the IEEE AdHoc on Coordinating IEEE’s Response to Digital Reality Technologies.
4. Financial Sustainability (FS): She focuses on FS, as member of the IEEE AdHoc on Innovating Funding Models. When President, the CS ended the year with a 545% reserves’ increase for future growth.
5. Diversity & Inclusiveness (D&I): As CS President, she created Young Women conference participation grants, had prestigious awards entitled to women, started the IEEE CS Global Chapter Summit. As CS NomCom Chair, she maximized women nominations.
6. Innovation: As CS President, she investigated website’s multi-language translation. As CN Editor-in-Chief, she launched content multi-language/audio versions.

SOME IEEE POSITIONS

• Director/Delegate Division V (2022-2023)
• Computer Society President (2019)
• "IEEE Metaverse” Future Directions Initiative Co-Chair (2023)
• European Public Policy Committee (2020-2023) - ICT WG Chair (2021-2022)
• Smart Village Governing Board (2020-present)
• Awards Committee (2022-present)
• Conferences Committee (2021-present)
• Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2022)
• Young Professionals Committee (2021-2022)
• TAB-Products and Services Committee (2020)
• Systems Council Advisory Committee (2020-2022)
• CEDA Board of Governors (2015-2017)
• CS Board of Governors (2013-2017)
• Editor-in-Chief: TETC (2018, 2020), Computing Now (2013-2016)
• Associate Editor-in-Chief: TC (2007-2012)
• International conferences/symposia/workshops’ general/program chair/co-chair (18 times), vice-general/program chair/co-chair (6 times), technical program committee (100+ times), keynote/invited speaker/panelist (50+ times)
• IEEE Fellow
• CS Golden Core, two Meritorious Service Awards, eight Certificates of Appreciation, 2020 Spirit of the CS Award