Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

What ACM is

The Association for Computing Machinery, usually shortened to ACM, describes itself as the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals^[1]. As of 2024 it reported nearly 110,000 student and professional members^[1].

Origins and name

ACM was founded on 15 September 1947 under the name Eastern Association for Computing Machinery, and was renamed the Association for Computing Machinery the following year^[1]. The founding meeting took place at Columbia University in New York^[1]. The original name carried a regional adjective; once that was dropped, the society's name no longer tied it to one part of the world. It has, however, stayed in the same city: ACM is headquartered at 1601 Broadway, in Times Square, New York City^[1].

How it is organized

Membership is organized through three kinds of chapters: Special Interest Groups, Professional Chapters and Student Chapters^[1]. In numbers, that means over 180 local professional chapters, 38 Special Interest Groups and over 680 student chapters^[1]. As of 2022, professional and SIG chapters were spread across 56 countries and student chapters across 41 countries^[1].

The three forms do different work. A Special Interest Group gathers people around one area of computing, while professional chapters and student chapters are organized by place and by campus. Keeping all three lets the society run activities that follow a subject and activities that follow a region at the same time, and it lets the same member take part in both.

What membership offers

ACM says it supports the professional growth of members through life-long learning, career development and professional networking^[1]. That places the society's work beyond one-off events: the stated aim is to stay useful to a member across a working life, from study through later career stages, rather than only at the point of entry.

The Turing Award

Among the recognitions associated with ACM is the A.M. Turing Award, named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of computing^[1]. The name therefore points back to work on what computation is and what it can and cannot do, which is the ground the field the society represents rests on.

Place in the field

The society defines itself by three constituencies at once — educators, researchers and professionals — and by a structure that reaches both countries and campuses: professional and SIG chapters in 56 countries, student chapters in 41 countries, and more than 680 student chapters in all^[1]. Read together, the numbers describe an organization built mainly out of member groups rather than a single central office: the headquarters in New York sits at the center of a network of local and subject-based chapters, and it is through those chapters that most members meet one another.

That the founding meeting was held at a university, and that student chapters today outnumber the other two kinds of chapter by a wide margin, says something about how the society has defined its public: not only working professionals, but people still learning the subject^[1].