ACM, from a Student`s Perspective

ACM, IEEE,YES, CSP, IAESTE umm many more societies to name in SEECS. 

Yes as we students, faculty and admin are a part of SEECS likewise different societies also operate in SEECS providing students with opportunities to participate in different competitions (inside and outside the university), conduct different workshops and seminars,  participate and attend different events etc.

As a student at NUST-SEECS of course it has crossed my mind many times which society to join..Well the answer to this question is simple. I wanted to be a  part of ACM. Yes , Association For Computing Machinery. But this did not happen without a reason of course there was a reason behind it. Mainly because I asked my fellows around about different societies and one of the best feedback was for ACM. 

Well i guess i should add ACM is US based international learned society for computing and the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, delivering resources that advance computing as a science and profession. ACM-SEECS Chapter fully aims towards inducing the habits of thinking and research in students by exposing them to new technologies and trends through seminars and workshops. It also facilitates SEECS students in acquiring knowledge that will become the foundation upon which they can build their future.

Enough with the background and history i guess. Now coming to my favorite part what did I gather about ACM that I m so eagerly looking forward to join it.

Firstly, because this society provides the students with a lot of fun events, competitions, workshops and seminars which at the end of the day prove to groom the students. Last year as I was in my sophomore year I had taken part in some of the events and they were quite entertaining providing a break from stressful routine and at the same time informative.

As i asked my fellows, they say  "ACM is quite nice, which along with computing related online and offline events organizes talks and seminars. Like last year they arranged the Thar Fund Raising in collaboration with Sahara Trust. Events like this should be arranged off and on."

" Yes! CSed Week has been eventful. I participated in that and it was hell fun. An hour of coding was awesome and the seminar on augmented reality too and Coffee with ACM hahah that was very interesting , how all teams were trying to win that competition. I loved that quiz competition and i myself got second prize. That closing ceremony was hilarious I enjoyed that a lot and the refreshments were refreshing. We would like to have such events again. " Well this is a nice comment!

One of the former executive of ACM says " ACM is a very cool society though i don't remember what it stands for. Last year i participated in an event called Robo-Wars, my sumo wrestler robot had qualified for final and i was feeling great just before another robot maybe Big Show (wrestler) eliminated my poor robot in the final. Still those were one of the most awesome moments i ever had in SEECS. Whenever i think of a competitor society in SEECS for YES. I always think of ACM." This competition began after with Robotics workshop.

Another says " ACM... umm.. well I can;t talk much about ACM because I have never seen their events being promoted or marketed as other societies do. I haven't taken part in any of the events nor my friends have because either we don't know about the event or either we come to know about it at the 11th hour.. So i guess it should work upon it's marketing strategy. It is a cool society the events I came to know have been cool but unfortunately I came to know about them at the 11th hour." Well , i guess that is true to some extent because this was not a word given by only one, many students said so.

"Design Off - The future starts, one of a good events of ACM. Students participated very enthusiastically since they were asked to draw their perspective about future which i guess was different in its kind.

As the winner of the event says  "When I heard about ACM's Design Off competition, I was pretty excited because this was a rare kind of opputunity as there was no restriction on the subject of drawing; plus there were those awesome X-Men movie tickets as the prize. So in those busy projects and assignments day, I sat down, brainstorming idea after idea until I settled upon drawing a idealistic future NUST HQ building. And guess what, I won! And thanks to ACM, I got to see my favorite movie with my friends in 3d on big screen, and that too free. Awesome. :D"

So ACM throughout its year organizes events for all kind of students looking in the interest for all students that is from a passionate coder to someone into Robotics,  from a designer to a non-designer. Time to time events are organized,  so students can easily manage between their studies and other activities in a good manner

At the end of the day I think, no I believe that ACM is one of the best choices for students to join.

Written By: Sitwat Atiq