Solid Modeling Association

Operating procedures for the ACM Symposium on Solid Modeling and Applications

The purpose of the Operating Procedures is to provide guidelines for the Organizing Committees (OC) of future ACM Symposia on Solid Modeling. These guidelines are designed to help new OCs benefit from past experience and to ensure that the symposium retains its preeminent position in the international community and continues to fulfill its vital role. This role is to provide researchers, practitioners, and students in solid modeling and in related disciplines with a reliable and prestigious venue for disseminating recent research and application results and for influencing the solid modeling field.

The ACM Solid Modeling Symposium was created by Jarek Rossignac and Josh Turner in 1991. Until 2001, it was held once every two years. Beginning 2001, it will be held annually: in the US during the odd years, and outside the US in even years.

The planning for each symposium commences two years in advance. In the remainder of this document, year_0 refers to the calendar year two years before the symposium will be held, year_1 refers to the next calendar year, and year_2 refers to the calendar year in which the symposium planned for is to be held. For example, planning for the Symposium of 2003 commences at the symposium of 2001. So, year_0 is 2001, year_1 is 2002 and year_2 is 2003.

The procedures described below involve the Executive Committee (EC) and the Organizing Committee (OC), whose responsibilities are clarified below.

The Organizing Committee (OC) comprises two Symposium Co-Chairs and two Program Co-Chairs. These are appointed by the EC with input from previous chairs. Each Symposium Co-Chair and each Program Co-Chair serves during two consecutive symposia (the first year as a Junior Co-Chair, learning from the Senior Co-Chair, the second year serving as a Senior Co-Chair and being a mentor for the next Junior Co-Chair). Additional members in the OC (e.g., Tutorial Chair, Exhibits Chair, etc.) are appointed by the Symposium Co-Chairs.

Responsibilities of the Executive Committee

Year_0, during the symposium: With the help of Co-Chairs from the current and next symposium, select candidates for the Junior Symposium Co-Chair and Junior Program Co-Chair and approach them during the symposium or shortly thereafter.
September 30, year_0: Invite continuing members as appropriate.
October 31, year_0: Appoint the Junior Symposium and Junior Program Co-Chairs.

Responsibilities of the Symposium Co-Chairs

December 1, year_0: Finalize the dates and venue for the symposium. The symposium should be held in May or June and should not conflict with conferences, workshops, or major events in related disciplines (such as shape modeling, computer graphics, CAD, CAGD, computational geometry). The venue should be easily accessible to the Senior Symposium Co-Chair to facilitate negotiations with hotels and supervision of the preparations.
February 1, year_1: Set up the financial plans, obtain the approval by the ACM of the preliminary budget, and set up a bank account. The Senior Co-Chair will assume responsibility for the financial aspects of running the conference in conjunction with the ACM underwriting of the expenses.
March 1, year_1: Obtain consensus from the Program Co-Chairs and the EC members on a call for papers, which should seek to expand the breadth of the Symposium in strategic directions while maintaining its identity and distinctive focus. The call should be posted on the web and linked to from the Solid Modeling Association (SMA) home web site (http://www.SolidModeling.org ) and from the web sites of the previous two symposia. The call should also be sent by Email to the members of the Solid Modeling community and to related lists. Ads should be placed in professional journals (including CAD, CG&A?
February 1, year_2: Appoint keynote speakers and post the key-notes abstracts and speakers’ bios on the Symposium web site.
Before and during the Symposium: Ensure that proceedings, registration procedures, conference logistics, and all necessary facilities at the symposium venue are ready.
November 1, year_2: Close the accounts and settle the budget with the ACM.
During the 4 years after the Symposium: Maintain the symposium web site at least 4 years after the symposium and update it with links to the web sites of future symposia.

Responsibilities of the Program Co-Chairs

January 1 of year_1: Propose a prioritized list of members for the Program Committee (PC) and obtain EC approval. The final committee should include between 20 and 40 members, who are respected practitioners and whose collective area of expertise spans the various areas covered by the symposium. The review process should ensure that each manuscript is reviewed by two PC members (a primary and a secondary reviewer) and by at least one external reviewer. Therefore, the program co-chairs must use statistics from prior symposia to estimate the number of expected submissions in each area and recruit the suitable number of PC members. These statistics and the expertise of each PC member candidate should be documented. Substitute PC members should be listed for each area.
March 1 of year_1: Finalize the composition of the PC with commitments from the invited members and clarifications of their area of expertise.
September 1 of year_1: Organize the review process (templates, timeline, area assignments) and communicate it to the PC members.
November 1 of year_1: Receive the abstract of the submissions, assign each paper to a primary and a secondary reviewer from the PC and request that the primary reviewer contacts one external reviewer for each paper and obtains a commitment by November 14.
November 15 of year 1: Receive the submitted papers and ship them to the PC members and to the external reviewers.
February 5 of year_2: Select the papers for the Symposium and inform the authors about the decision.
February 15 of year_2: Create the Final Program, identify session chairs, and nominate the Best paper Award Jury. Post the program on the web.
February 28 of year_2: Collect the final versions of the selected papers and produce the material for the proceedings, according to ACM’s requirements.

Pioneer of the SMA

Program description and nomination procedures.

Updating of the Operating Procedures

This document will be reviewed and updated, as necessary, by the EC after each Symposium, taking into account the recommendations of the OC.

Approved on June 15, 2000 by

Please email suggestions for amendments to these procedures to the SMA Chair.