Why Chattanooga is the Right Place for SIGCSE

This is a place that highlights their CS0 classes on a marquis!




And when we walked by the art museum, we discovered that they have a particular affinity for objects! Their art museum has a special exhibit on project-based learning with objects! (Well, sorta. Maybe. Kinda.)

High end restaurant in Chattanooga

On one of our trips to Chattanooga, Sue and I decided to try a high-end restaurant in Chattanooga, St John's, which is partway between the Chattanooga Choo-Choo and the Marriott. The place looks like an old bank or maybe an old hotel. The food was really great. The menu changes regularly, so what we had probably won't be on the menu when you go there in March 2009. I had a tuna appetizer in three different forms, including a sashimi and a tartare. Sue had lamb that was presented beautifully.

Most of the places that we we went to on our visits there were more moderate in price. I wanted to mention this one for the "foodies" who want to know where to get the really amazing food. St. John's is your place for that, and it's really close to all three conference hotels.

Eugene Spafford to speak at SIGCSE 2009!

Dr. Eugene Spafford is to receive the "Abacus Award" from the UPE honor society on Friday, March 6. This is like getting another keynoter for free! Details are at: http://upe.acm.org/Eugene_Spafford_Abacus_Announcement.html

US Airways introduces new lower fares to Chattanooga

It's getting cheaper to fly into Chattanooga! US Air just introduced a new fare structure that reduces the cost of flying to Chattanooga 30-50%.

Program is all but done

Sorry I haven't posted much in the last month! It's been a pretty busy time for all of us on the Program Committee. As you figured out, decisions were made at the end of October in Chattanooga. We accepted 100 papers, as well as panels, special sessions, and workshops. Many thanks to the Program Committee for all that effort, especially Gary and Steve who made the whole Associate Program Chair mechanism work. I have heard from several people about the value that they are finding in their meta-reviews.

The "Birds of a Feather," Posters, and Video program submissions are under review now. Those decisions will be coming out in just a few days.

Meanwhile, all the other aspects of the program are falling into place. We have some wonderful supporters who are defining their supporter sessions. We have quite a slate of presymposium activities. Parallel events are shaping up. The UPE meeting on Friday afternoon will include an award being presented to Eugene Spafford, which will be an event not-to-be-missed.

We've got lots of restaurant recommendations to make now, after hanging out in Chattanooga for another week last month. I'll post pictures and stories of those here. The bottomline is: Come to Chattanooga March 4-7, 2009! It's going to be great!

Scenes of Chattanooga

This week is the SIGCSE 2009 Program Committee meeting in Chattanooga. Before I head back up to go get more photos, I thought I should finish sharing some of my favorites from the last planning meeting in Chattanooga.

Sue and I took a walk across the pedestrian bridge over the Tennessee River when we were there last. Here's a shot of the bluffs, where there is a marvelous American art museum.

And here's a shot of the Tennessee Aquarium, where we'll have our reception, from the same bridge.
As we got closer to the other side, we could see this amazing park across from Chattanooga.

On the right side of this picture, you can see a blue roofed building -- that's the merry-go-round, filled with horses and other animals carved by Chattanooga-area artists.

The fountain in the middle is surrounded by statues of animals. The water in the fountain sprays at irregular times, so people play games, running around the fountain -- sort of Russian roulette with a squirt gun.


Around North Chattanooga, you can find these dance lessons (!) built into the pavement. Think of them as a concrete (literally!) representation of process. Some of them show where both partners stand and how they move, but they're still pretty hard to follow.

Finally, on the way back to the Marriott, we passed by this scene. I saw it across other rooftops, so I'm not really sure where it's at, but it was so cool and not what I expected to see in Chattanooga.


And there you have the theme for this blog. Each visit, I'm surprised and delighted what I'm finding in Chattanooga! I am sure that you will share this experience when you visit in March 2009.

Craig Mundie on what engages students

Our SIGCSE 2009 keynoter, Microsoft's Craig Mundie is on a tour of college campuses right now. In this interview, he talks about what rekindles interest in computer science. Expect more details on this, live, in March!