A Lancaster Visiting Professor has been appointed as the CEO of the World’s largest computing association.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has named Professor Vicki Hanson to the position of executive director and CEO.

Professor Hanson, who is Distinguished Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States, and is Visiting Professor at the University of Dundee as well as at Lancaster, becomes the first woman to lead the association. She had previously been the Association’s President.

Professor Hanson is a Visiting Professor at Lancaster University’s Data Science Institute.

Professor Nigel Davies, Co-Director of the Data Science Institute, said: “The growth in the availability and use of data means that this is a very exciting time to be a Computer Scientist. We congratulate Vicki on her appointment as CEO of the world’s largest association for computing professionals.”

Professor Adrian Friday, Head of Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications, said: “We were naturally very pleased to welcome Vicki as a visiting professor at Lancaster, and we’re absolutely delighted by her appointment as ACM’s CEO.

“Computing is absolutely central role in everyday life, and we’ve seen only too well how computing and the Internet can so easily be misused in recent years. ACM has a critical role in ensuring that the field moves forward as an inclusive, ethical and responsible discipline, and I am confident that this appointment is an excellent step in this regard.”

Professor Hanson’s research is in the area of human-centred computing and draws heavily on computer science, applied psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology.

Her long-term aim is creating information technology that is easily used and useful to all, regardless of perceptual, motor or cognitive abilities.