The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM),the global computing society, has chartered a Baltimore professional chapter led by employees of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. ACM has been providing a platform for the exchange of information and ideas since 1947. At present, ACM engages and assists computing professionals and students from more than 100 countries encompassing all areas of industry, academia, and government.

Computing professionals from universities, research institutes, companies and government agencies of Baltimore can actively participate in this chapter of ACM. Starting its journey on 27^th Jan, 2021, by Dr. Ashutosh Dutta, a senior scientist and 5G chief strategist at APL and seminar chair with the Institute for Assured Autonomy. Dr. Dutta has been an active senior participating member and a Distinguished Speaker of ACM for 25 years.

“We have professionals who come to this region from all over the world, but when I searched for a local ACM chapter, I realized there was a void here. Professionals need a platform for networking and professional development,” Dutta said. He noted that ACM supports collaboration across academia, industry and all sectors, adding, “Our chapter will help community members across the region connect with their peers and learn from and support each other.”

The researchers of John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab started actively contributing in the Baltimore chapter of ACM. “APL actively encourages our staff to participate in professional societies and share their talents and expertise with the community,” Ralph Semmel, director of JHU APL said. “We believe this engagement is central to staff professional development and to the Lab’s goals to share knowledge with the world.”

ACM’s mission is to advance computing as a science and a profession. The association supports professional and student chapters as well as local special interest groups worldwide that unite colleagues in geographical areas and offer the opportunity to access technological advances and network professionally. Coming with the success of hosting a student chapter of ACM, JHU would be helping computing professionals with resources from ACM and provide a networking platform to them.