CCC Blog

Take Our Quick Survey

Shar Steed — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:50:24 +0000

We invite you to take a few minutes to complete a brief survey by the Computing Research Association (CRA). Your feedback is important to us and helps improve our communications. The survey deadline is Monday, July 1. If you have already completed the CRA survey, you do not need to fill it out again. This survey [...]

Presentations from the Symposium on Visions of the Theory of Computing

Ann Drobnis — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:12:11 +0000

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored the Simons Institute Symposium on Visions of the Theory of Computing. The three-day symposium brought together distinguished speakers and participants from the Bay Area and all over the world to celebrate both the excitement of fundamental research on the Theory of Computing, and the accomplishments and promise of computational [...]

Computing Community Consortium Announces New Council Members and Executive Committee

Shar Steed — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:44:51 +0000

The Computing Research Association (CRA), in consultation with the National Science Foundation (NSF), has appointed five new members to the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council: Daniela Rus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mark Hill, University of Wisconsin – Madison Ross Whitaker, University of Utah Tal Rabin, IBM Limor Fix, Intel Beginning July 1, the new members [...]

Moving to the Cloud Saves Energy

Ann Drobnis — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:51:53 +0000

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Northwestern University have conducted a study and found that moving common applications to the cloud can save significant amounts of energy. The study is summarized in this report. According to Scientific Computing, “The report looks at three common business applications – email, customer relationship management software, or CRM, and [...]

Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowships includes former CRA Computing Innovation Fellow

Ann Drobnis — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:26:22 +0000

Yesterday, Microsoft announced their Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowships and former Computing Innovation Fellow, Katrina Ligett is one of only seven recipients. As Microsoft says, The time for new faculty members to take risks in research is early in their careers. However, early-career realities often get in the way. As any tenure-track academic knows, the first [...]

Cameron Wilson -> Code.org

Ed Lazowska — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:36:06 +0000

Cameron Wilson, long-time Director of Public Policy for ACM, has been given a special assignment for 12 months to work at Code.org as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Government Relations. Code.org was founded by Seattle tech entrepreneur Hadi Partovi to create, launch, and lead a new initiative for scaling K-12 computer science education. A [...]

CCC Sponsors Challenges and Visions Track at AAMAS 2013

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:08:51 +0000

The following is a special contribution to the blog from Jeff Rosenchein, Head of The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In this entry, Jeff highlights the CCC sponsored Challenges and Visions track at the twelfth international conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS [...]

NSF and NICT of Japan Announce Partnership in Next-Generation Networking

Shar Steed — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:31:51 +0000

Yesterday the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), facilitating a partnership on research in networking technology and systems enabling future Internet/new-generation networks. The NSF issued a press release on the event: This MOU follows the third Director General-level meeting [...]

The $33 Trillion Technology Payoff … All computer science, all the time …

Ed Lazowska — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:36:41 +0000

Steve Lohr reports in the New York Times: “A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm … not only selects a dozen ‘disruptive’ technologies from a candidate list of 100, but also measures their economic impact. “By 2025, the 12 technologies … have the potential to deliver economic [...]

Big Data through the Years

Ann Drobnis — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:02:00 +0000

Earlier this month, Gil Press of Forbes wrote A Very Short History Of Big Data. The history in this article begins in 1944, but jumps every few years until 2008, when it seems Big Data hit the big time. The impact of efforts by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in that time frame were noted [...]

Check out our new website!

Shar Steed — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:51:20 +0000

The CCC is excited to announce the launch of our updated website www.cra.org/ccc. The new site has a fresh new look and was designed with your needs in mind. The user-friendly navigation provides easy access to the blog, research highlights and CCC events. And there are plenty of ways for you to contribute: Submit a [...]

Register for US Ignite’s Application Summit

Shar Steed — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:58:58 +0000

US Ignite’s Application Summit, June 24-26, in Chicago, IL is the premier event designed for developers, industry, communities, government, foundations and universities interested in next-generation technologies and gives them a place to gather, learn, and showcase their work using advanced networks to change the way we work, live, learn and play. Register For US Ignite’s Application [...]

I-Corps Sites Program Proposals Due July 1

Shar Steed — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:42:01 +0000

Transitioning Research into the Marketplace: NSF Funding Opportunity for Academic Institutions Engaged in Entrepreneurship The National Science Foundation has developed a suite of funding opportunities, the Innovation Corps Programs (I-Corps), to help transition academic research outcomes into the marketplace. One of these programs, the NSF Innovation Corps Sites Program (I-Corps Sites), expands our nation’s innovation [...]

National Science Foundation says No

Ann Drobnis — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:22:13 +0000

Science’s Jeffrey Mervis is reporting that The National Science Foundation (NSF) is saying No to the Chair of the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Lamar Smith’s request for the reviewer comment from the peer review process for specific awards: The National Science Foundation (NSF) today rebuffed a request from the chairman of [...]

White House “We the Geeks” Hangout on Grand Challenges

Shar Steed — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:02:50 +0000

Tomorrow, May 16, at 2:00 p.m. EDT, watch the first ‘We the Geeks” Hangout on WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House Google+ page. On May 16th, the White House is kicking off “We the Geeks,” a new series of Google+ Hangouts to highlight the future of science, technology, and innovation here in the United States. Topics such as [...]

Fulbright Israel Post-Doctoral Fellowships for American Researchers in All Disciplines

Shar Steed — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:21:18 +0000

The United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF), the Fulbright commission for Israel, offers 8 fellowships to American post-doctoral researchers in support of work to be carried out at Israeli universities during the course of the 2014/2015-2015/2016 academic years. The Fulbright award totals $40,000, $20,000 per academic year. Fulbright funding supplements basic post-doctoral stipends provided by Israeli host institutions. This [...]

NBC News Features New Robotics Era

Shar Steed — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:59:30 +0000

Today, a feature story in the technology section of NBC News, Dawn of the bot? New era nears, experts say, brings additional attention to the exciting future of robotics. Science fiction is quickly taking a back seat to science fact. Just look at a new report by the country’s leading roboticists. By 2030, it says, robots [...]

Three Computer Scientists Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Shar Steed — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:13:27 +0000

The CCC congratulates three computer scientists recently elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences: Naomi Halas, Juris Hartmanis, and Éva Tardos. Last week, 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries were elected to the organization in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Halas is the Stanley [...]

New Activities of the Federal Big Data Initiative

Shar Steed — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:36:48 +0000

In recent weeks, several new activities of the Federal Big Data Initiative have been launched with the goal of addressing the challenges and opportunities of Big Data. The initial launch last year featured more than $200 million in new commitments from six Federal departments and agencies. Now in its second year, Federal agencies continue to launch programs [...]

CCC Sponsors Computational Sustainability Award at CHI 2013

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:05:15 +0000

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored a sustainability award at CHI 2013, ACM’s premiere conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The conference was held in Paris, France April 27-May 2, at the Palais de Congrès de Paris. The best sustainability paper award promotes work at the intersection of computing and sustainability, on principles and [...]

Very First Webpage shared today on it’s 20th Anniversary!

Ann Drobnis — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:43:45 +0000

Twenty years ago today (April 30, 2013), physicists at CERN opened the World Wide Web to everyone with a simple web page. The actual page is long gone, but CERN has recreated it here in honor of the 20th anniversary. The Washington Post Tech Section highlighted the Anniversary by saying: The Web site itself isn’t [...]

The Atlantic on research ecology

Ed Lazowska — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:45:06 +0000

An interesting article in The Atlantic by computer scientist Ben Schneiderman on “an ecological model of research and development.” Donald Stokes (Pasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, 1997) stresses work that is motivated by both considerations for use and fundamental understanding … Stokes and many other analysts provide a rigorous foundation for those [...]

MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2013

Kenneth Hines — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:42:57 +0000

Each year MIT’s magazine, MIT Technology Review, publishes a list 10 of breakthrough technologies that are most likely to change the world by fixing intractable problems. These technologies are defined as “an advance that gives people powerful new ways to use technology.” View the 10 breakthrough technologies of 2013 below: Deep Learning With massive amounts [...]

Big Data Congressional Hearing

Shar Steed — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:05:29 +0000

On April 24, 2013, Farnam Jahanian, Assistant Director for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate at the National Science Foundation testified on Next Generation Computing and Big Data Analytics at a joint hearing of the Technology and Research Subcommittees of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. According to his written [...]

Seven Computer Scientists Named Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Shar Steed — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:35:09 +0000

Seven computer scientists were recently named members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a prestigious 233-year-old national honorary society of leaders from academia, business, public affairs and the humanities. The new members from computer science include: Anant Agarwal (MIT), David Dill (Stanford), Susan Eggers (Washington), Jitendra Malik (Berkeley), Peter Norvig (Google), Jen Rexford [...]

In Memoriam: David Notkin

Shar Steed — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:29:56 +0000

The CCC is sad to announce that David Notkin passed away this morning. He will be greatly missed as a contributor and friend by the CRA and CCC family. David Notkin was a world leader in software engineering, and an extraordinary mentor, who served more than 7 years on the CRA Board. He recently received CRA’s 2013 [...]

Wireless Health 2013 Calling for Papers, Abstracts and Research Demonstrations

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:16:52 +0000

The Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance is hosting it’s fourth annual Wireless Health conference on November 1-3, 2013 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The mission of the conference is to “provide the highest-quality academic health and industrial research forum to develop an international community that will accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies for improving health and [...]

CCC Sponsoring Challenges and Visions Track at Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2013 Conference

Kenneth Hines — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:47:15 +0000

The CCC is sponsoring another in its series of “Challenges and Visions” tracks as a Robotics Challenges and Vision workshop at the 9th Robotics: Science and Systems conference June 24 – 28, 2013, Technische Universität Berlin. The Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) conference has been a venue for presentation of breakthrough results in robotics since its [...]

White House Kicking off a Series of Big Data Workshops

Ann Drobnis — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:46:19 +0000

The White House will be hosting a Big Data Workshop on May 3, 2013. The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the NITRD Big Data Senior Steering Group. As we enter the second year of the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative (launched on March 29, 2012), the Obama Administration [...]

Informatics Education Report in Europe – they get it!

Ann Drobnis — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:36:20 +0000

A joint report of Informatics Europe and the ACM Europe Working Group on Informatics Education was recently released. The report highlights what is currently being done well and what needs to be changed. Namely, the European schools are generally teaching digital literacy, but not informatics. This is inline with what is currently going on in [...]

Reminder: Call for White Papers on Mid-Scale Infrastructure Investments for Computing Research

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:07:45 +0000

As we’ve previously blogged, The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is turning to the Computing Research community for their input on the needs and potential payoff for further investment in mid-scale infrastructure, investments over $4 million but under $100 million. Examples include GENI, PlanetLab, Orbit, FutureGrid, and Emulab, all of which have transformed computing. The CCC [...]

CISE AD Issues Letter to the Community on FY14 Budget

Ann Drobnis — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:29:44 +0000

Yesterday, the President submitted his FY14 budget request to Congress. This request included an 8.4% increase over 2012 levels for NSF, with a 9.8% increase in funding over 2012 for the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Directorate. “The CISE FY 2014 Request is shaped by investments in core research, education and infrastructure programs as [...]

Freeman Hrabowski at TED: 4 pillars of college success in science

Shar Steed — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:04:46 +0000

Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County delivered an inspirational TED talk on the importance of STEM education. Click here to view the TED talk video: the four pilars of college success in science. During his 20-year run as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Freeman Hrabowski has transformed a [...]

Symposium on Visions on the Theory of Computing

Ann Drobnis — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:23:54 +0000

In conjunction with the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, we are pleased to announce that registration is now open for a Symposium on Visions on the Theory of Computing. The Symposium will be held May 29-31 at the Simons Institute in Berkeley, California. This three-day symposium will bring together distinguished speakers and participants [...]

Best Reviews & Notable Books and Articles of 2012

Shar Steed — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:49:15 +0000

Computing Reviews (an ACM/ThinkLoud publication) has released the 2012 Best Reviews & Notable Books and Articles in Computer Science. The Best Review of 2012 is the review of The Universal Computer by George Hacken. Read the 18 nominated reviews here: http://www.computingreviews.com/recommend/bestof/bestreviews_2012.cfm In addition to Best Reviews, they have also compiled a list of notable books and [...]

Supercomputers are Sustainable

Ann Drobnis — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:04:27 +0000

Last week, there were great advancements in Supercomputing as two new facilities were officially opened to the research community. This week, supercomputers are making headlines for a totally different reason: The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Supercomputing Center in Wyoming has taken top prize in the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards. The facility won first place [...]

New York Times Article Highlights ‘Gentle’ Robots

Shar Steed — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:06:52 +0000

A recent article in the New York Times describes the newer generation of robots that are able to interact with and learn from humans. In the past, factories separated industrial robots from humans to in order to prevent potential injuries. But now, gentler industrial robots, designed to work and play well with others, are coming out [...]

New Book Explores the P-NP Problem

Shar Steed — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:39:01 +0000

The Golden Ticket: P, NP, and the Search for the Impossible, written by CCC Council and CRA board member, Lance Fortnow is now available. The inspiration for the book came in 2009 when Fortnow published an article on the P-NP problem for Communications of the ACM. With more than 200,000 downloads, the article is one [...]

The National Science Foundation Launches Two Supercomputers

Ann Drobnis — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:47:11 +0000

This week, the National Science Foundation launched two new supercomputers. Here’s what Farnam Jahanian, head of NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering has to say about the launch: Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to inform you that this week two NSF-supported advanced computational infrastructure facilities were formally declared open for use by [...]

“We Are the World” – Science Magazine on Computer Science careers

Ed Lazowska — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:44:49 +0000

In two articles in Science – the flagship publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – CCC Chair Ed Lazowska is interviewed on career futures in Computer Science. An example from an extensive Q&A: Q: What’s new and emerging in computer science? If you were in training today, about to choose a [...]

Supercomputing Highlighted by NSF

Ann Drobnis — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:16:33 +0000

This week marks the dedication of the NSF “Blue Waters” supercomputer at NCSA. Over the past 30 years, driven in large part by the NSF Supercomputer Centers program and its successors, science has been transformed by computation. Scientific breakthroughs are no longer happening only in the field or in the lab – they are happening [...]

“Making the Most of Big Data”

Ed Lazowska — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:08:46 +0000

As we enter the second year of the Federal “Big Data Initiative,” the Administration is encouraging multiple stakeholders to develop and participate in Big Data innovation projects across the country. Later this year, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSF, and other agencies plan to convene an event that highlights high-impact collaborations and identifies [...]

NSF Launches Search Committee for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Division Director

Shar Steed — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:15:29 +0000

The following was submitted by Farnam Jahanian, NSF Assistant Director for CISE. Dear Colleagues, The National Science Foundation CISE Directorate is pleased to announce the formation of a search committee for the Director of the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (ACI, formerly the Office of Cyberinfrastructure). Dr. Alan Blatecky will be finishing his term as ACI Division [...]

Robotics Roadmap 2.0 on the Hill

Shar Steed — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:04:10 +0000

The Congressional Robotics Caucus held a briefing this morning on the Robotics Roadmap 2.0(PDF), a follow up report to the CCC-led Robotics Roadmap(PDF) published in 2009. Click here to view the CRA Policy Blog summary of the briefing.

Call for White Papers on Mid-Scale Infrastructure Investments for Computing Research

Ed Lazowska — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:28:36 +0000

The Computing Community Consortium is seeking community input to better understand the potential needs and payoff for additional investments in mid-scale infrastructure for computing research. NSF spends significantly less on shared research infrastructure for computing research than it does for many other fields. By “shared research infrastructure” we mean experimental hardware and/or software and associated [...]

Pioneers of the Internet and World Wide Web Receive Inaugural QE Prize for Engineering

Kenneth Hines — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:21:23 +0000

Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, Sir Tim Berners Lee, Marc Andreessen, and Louis Pouzin were awarded the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering today at the Royal Academy of Engineering. This new £1million global prize recognizes outstanding advances in engineering that have changed the world and benefited humanity – celebrating the best and also serving to illuminate the [...]

New Robotics Roadmap Presentation to Congress March 20

Shar Steed — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:14:44 +0000

On Wednesday, March 20, a new Robotics roadmap will be presented to the Congressional Caucus on Robotics. The presentation program will include: • Overview – Henrik Christensen • Manufacturing – Rethink Robotics – Rodney Brooks • Logistics – KIVA Systems/Amazon – Pete Wurman • Healthcare – Eksos Bionics – Nathan Harding The new Robotics roadmap, [...]

2012 ACM Turing Award Recipients Announced

Shar Steed — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:54:18 +0000

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has announced Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali, are recipients of the 2012 A.M. Turing Award. Their innovations became the gold standard for enabling secure internet transactions. The Turing award is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing,” and carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel [...]

NSF CISE Directorate Launches Search Committee for CCF Division Director

Shar Steed — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:53:16 +0000

The following was submitted by Farnam Jahanian, NSF Assistant Director for CISE. Dear Colleagues, CISE is pleased to announce the formation of a search committee for the Director of the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF). Dr. Susanne Hambrusch will be finishing her term as CCF Division Director at the end of this summer – we [...]

DARPA Grant to Carnegie Proves Seriousness of Cyber-Security Efforts

Kenneth Hines — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:05:51 +0000

President Barack Obama, during his State of the Union address, discussed education and the revolution of industry, bringing it back to America. President Obama also discussed high school curriculum reform to better prepare students for tech jobs; in an effort to create more classes that focus on STEM, he mentioned rewarding schools which partner with [...]

NSF Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program

Shar Steed — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:38:33 +0000

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) program solicitation. “The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and [...]

CCC Sponsored Workshop on Extreme Scale Design Automation (ESDA)

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:35:26 +0000

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Patrick H. Madden, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Binghamton University. In this blog entry Patrick highlights the CCC-sponsored visioning activity on Extreme Scale Design Automation; the first of a series of three workshops on the topic will be held next week. The CCC-sponsored Workshop for Extreme Scale [...]

Your ideas needed: Coding is to computer science as X is to Y

Ed Lazowska — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:00:15 +0000

Yesterday we posted a link to a terrific new video by code.org extolling the virtues of learning to program. Despite the “learn to code” rhetoric, code.org is really about “computer science is cool” and “let’s make AP computer science universally available.” “Coding” is used as a proxy for this. And indeed, “coding” is a critical [...]

Coding is cool! Code.org urges students to learn to code with resources + terrific new video

Ed Lazowska — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:24:16 +0000

Please bring the Code.org website and GREAT new inspirational video to the attention of all students, teachers, and parents you’re able to reach through your organization’s K-12 outreach efforts! The video features some of the top names from technology and the world at large – from Bill Gates to will.i.am.

New NSF INSPIRE Solicitation Issued

Kenneth Hines — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:32:54 +0000

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a new solicitation – Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) – that aims to address some of the most complicated and pressing scientific problems that lie at the intersection of traditional disciplines. It is intended to encourage investigators to submit bold, exceptional proposals that some may [...]

OSTP mandates free public access to publications

Ed Lazowska — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 05:38:22 +0000

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has directed that the published results of federally funded research (final peer-reviewed manuscripts or final published documents) be freely available to the public within one year of publication, and that researchers better account for and manage the digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research. Nice [...]

Nominations sought for CCC Council

Ed Lazowska — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:50:09 +0000

The Computing Community Consortium is governed by an 18-member Council, with members on 3-year staggered terms. The CCC’s Nominating Committee invites nominations (including self-nominations) for members to serve on the CCC Council for the next three years. Please send nominations, together with the information below, to ccc-nominations@cra.org by 11:59pm ET on Monday, March 11, 2013. [...]

Nominate students for the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award!

Shar Steed — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:56:46 +0000

The Computing Research Association (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award program recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research. Eligible nominees are enrolled as undergraduates in a North American college or university throughout the academic year September 2012 to May 2013. They must be nominated [...]

Research Questions About MOOCs

Shar Steed — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:15:40 +0000

In a Communications of the ACM blog post, Mark Guzdial raises some probing “Research Questions About MOOCs.” He points to recent articles that explore the impact of MOOCs, such as ”Will MOOCs destroy academia?” by Moshe Vardi and ”In the Year of Disruptive Education” by Paul Hyman, both published in CACM, and then offered his perspective as a computing [...]

Testimony on “Applications for Information Technology Research & Development” to House Science Committee Subcommittee on Research

Ed Lazowska — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:04:41 +0000

On February 14, Kelly Gaither (Texas Advanced Computing Center), Kathryn McKinley (Microsoft Research), and Ed Lazowska (University of Washington and Computing Community Consortium) testified to the Subcommittee on Research of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology at a hearing on “Applications for Information Technology Research & Development.” Lazowska sang a familiar refrain: Research [...]

At the AAAS Annual Meeting, How Fundamental Computing Research Touches Everyday Lives

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:52:10 +0000

Last Saturday, Erwin Gianchandani, formerly the director of the Computing Community Consortium and now the deputy director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Computer and Network Systems, organized and moderated a symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) 2013 Annual Meeting in Boston. The 90-minute session – titled How Fundamental [...]

Hack on KC’s 1Gbps Google Fiber: Apply for travel scholarships by Feb 26

Shar Steed — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:07:47 +0000

The following is a special contribution to the CCC blog from Will Barkis, Project Lead, Mozilla Ignite. Mozilla, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, US Ignite, KC Digital Drive and the Kauffman Foundation would like to invite you to “Hacking the Gigabit City” on March 22-24 in the Google Fiber Space in Kansas City. Gigabit [...]

CCC Council Member Anita Jones Receives AAAS’ Highest Honor

Shar Steed — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:38:11 +0000

Congratulations to CCC Council member Anita Jones for being named the recipient of the 2012 Philip Hauge Ableson Award. The Ableson award is the highest award conferred by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Jones was actively involved in supporting the Computing Research Association’s proposal to create the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), and has [...]

Human factors

Ed Lazowska — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:43:39 +0000

Here’s a “must read” article for you HCI types: a New York Times obituary for John E. Karlin, a Bell Labs industrial psychologist who is responsible for 7-digit dialing, the layout of the touch tone pad, the length of the cord on telephones (back when they had cords), and a slew of other “everyday things.” [...]

CCC Sponsored Workshop for Multidisciplinary Research for Online Education (MROE)

Kenneth Hines — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:21:46 +0000

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Douglas H. Fisher, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. In this blog entry, Doug highlights the CCC-sponsored visioning activity on Online Education, which will be held next week. The CCC-sponsored Workshop for Multidisciplinary Research for Online Education (MROE) convenes Monday and Tuesday of [...]

National Academy of Engineering elects new Members

Ed Lazowska — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:02:57 +0000

Election to the National Academy of Engineering – which has roughly 2,000 members across a dozen fields – is one of the highest professional honors accorded to engineers in academia, industry and government. Today, the NAE Class of 2013 was announced – 69 new Members and 11 new Foreign Associates. Elected in Section 5, Computer [...]

Postdocs in Computational Complexity Blog

Shar Steed — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:51:59 +0000

Check out CCC council member Lance Fortnow’s blog, “Computational Complexity.” Today’s post focuses on postdocs in computer science. Anita Jones is troubled by the growing number of postdocs in computer science, she uses “troubling” twice in the first paragraph of her CACM Viewpoint. But is it really a troubling trend or just a natural outgrowth of [...]

Presidential Innovation Fellows Program Accepting Applications

Shar Steed — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:39:43 +0000

The White House is currently accepting applications for the second round of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program. The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate during six-to-12 month “tours-of-duty” that aim to save lives, save taxpayer money and fuel job creation. Applications will be [...]

“The Explosive Growth of Postdocs in Computer Science”

Shar Steed — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:52:50 +0000

In “The Explosive Growth of Postdocs in Computer Science,” a VIEWPOINT article in Communications of the ACM, CCC Council member Anita Jones analyzes trends that have accompanied the increase of CS postdocs in recent years. “The dramatic increase in postdocs changes the overall balance in the number of participants of different kinds in the academic research enterprise, that [...]

CCC Seeking New Council Members

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:01:07 +0000

THE COMPUTING COMMUNITY CONSORTIUM SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS The CCC’s Nominating Committee invites nominations (including self-nominations) for members to serve on the CCC Council for the next three years. Please send nominations, together with the information below, to ccc-nominations@cra.org by 11:59pm EDT on Monday, March 11, 2013. The subcommittee’s recommendations will serve as input [...]

Martha Pollack selected to be University of Michigan Provost

Ed Lazowska — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:27:08 +0000

Martha Pollack, University of Michigan Professor of EECS and past Dean of their School of Information, has been selected as Michigan’s next Provost. This is another sign of the increasing influence of computer scientists in leadership positions at forward-looking universities: Stanford (John Hennessy, President), Harvey Mudd (Maria Klawe, President), MIT (Eric Grimson, Chancellor), now Michigan. [...]

Big Data and Healthcare Infographic

Shar Steed — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:00:54 +0000

Big Data could revolutionize healthcare by replacing up to 80% of what doctors do while still maintaining over 91% accuracy. Please take a look at the infographic below to learn more.

Four Computer Scientists Win Academy Award

Shar Steed — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:10:34 +0000

Four computer scientists have received the film industry’s highest honor, an Academy Award, for their technical achievement in special effects. The researchers – Theodore Kim (UCSB), Nils Thuerey (Scanline VFX), Markus Gross (ETH Zurich), and Doug James (Cornell) - developed a software algorithm called Wavelet Turbulence, and they expect it to have applications beyond entertainment [...]

New AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing

Shar Steed — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:59:23 +0000

In recent years, interest has been growing in the emerging interdisciplinary area of Human Computation, a field that explores principles and applications around giving computing systems programmatic access to human intellect to perform some aspect of computation, whether involving individuals or groups of people (“the crowd”). The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference on Human Computation and [...]

Vint Cerf appointed to National Science Board by President Obama

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:51:00 +0000

On January 16, President Obama announced his intention to appoint Vint Cerf – Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google – to the National Science Board. The 25-member National Science Board is the governance body for the National Science Foundation, and additionally serves as an independent body of advisors to both the President and [...]

PCAST releases new assessment of Networking and Information Technology Research and Development

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:04:25 +0000

In 2010, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) conducted a major review of the Federal government’s $4B multi-agency research and development program in networking and information technology (NITRD) – information here. In 2012, PCAST asked a small Working Group (Susan Graham, Peter Lee, and David Shaw) to review progress since the [...]

Where Do Domestic Ph.D. Students in CS Come From?

Shar Steed — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:57:39 +0000

The CRA’s Education Committee has published a new report in the January 2013 edition of Computing Research News on the Baccalaureate Origins of Domestic Ph.D. Students in Computing Fields. If you would like receive CRN via email, you can sign up here. The article provides an initial examination of the baccalaureate origins of domestic students who have matriculated to Ph.D. programs in computer [...]

Computer Science Postdocs — Best Practices Guide

Shar Steed — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:15:48 +0000

The following is an article published in the January 2013 edition of Computing Research News. If you would like receive CRN via email, you can sign up here. Computer Science Postdocs: Best Practices By Anita Jones, University of Virginia, and Erwin Gianchandani, CRA/CCC (now at NSF) The Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Board of Directors has approved a Best Practices Guide, providing guidance to [...]

The Computing Community Consortium: A Force Multiplier for CRA

Shar Steed — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:00:13 +0000

The following is an article published in the January 2013 edition of Computing Research News. If you would like receive CRN via email, you can sign up here. The Computing Community Consortium: A Force Multiplier for CRA By Ed Lazowska, CCC Chair, University of Washington The Computing Community Consortium, like CRA-W, is a committee of CRA that serves as a [...]

Generating Revenue from MOOCs

Shar Steed — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:00:37 +0000

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) made available by organizations like Coursera, an online education company that offers free college courses, are gaining popularity at lightning speed. An article in the New York Times details the growth and potential profitability of free online education companies. In early 2012, Coursera was founded by two computer science professors, Daphne Koller and Andrew [...]

National Lab to Remove Chinese Devices Due to Security Risks

Shar Steed — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:58:35 +0000

According to an article in CRN Magazine, the Los Alamos National Laboratory has decided to remove networking devices created by a Chinese manufacturer because of security concerns. Even though the parts have been removed, it may not be enough to stop attackers from stealing information. A security assessment focusing on sensitive networks prompted the U.S. [...]

Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Meeting

Shar Steed — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:49:16 +0000

On November 27-29, 2012, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) Principal Investigator Meeting was held. The SaTC program is NSF’s flagship for cybersecurity research. NSF program officers for SaTC, wrote an blog post on the event found here. The purpose of the NSF SaTC meeting was to build the community of PIs, encouraging them to [...]

Reinventing American Manufacturing – The Role of Innovation

Ed Lazowska — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:31:53 +0000

An excellent article by MIT’s Bill Bonvillian, just out in the MIT Press journal Innovations. Bill’s prescription: The U.S. must develop an integrated strategy if it is to reinvent its production capability. It should include the nine steps listed below: Developing advanced technologies that could lead to new manufacturing paradigms Selecting manufacturing paradigms that apply [...]

DARPA Providing Radio Frequency Data Backbone to Match Fiber Optic Capacity

Shar Steed — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:13:23 +0000

DARPA is envisioning a 100-Gigabit per second Radio Frequency communications link between airborne and ground assets. Currently, fiber optic cables provide the core backbone for military and civilian networks, enabling high speed Internet, phone, video and other data transfer. A major challenge to providing 100 Gb/s from an airborne asset to the ground is cloud [...]

Computer Engineers Search for Ways to Keep Microcircuits Cool

Shar Steed — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:52:49 +0000

A recent article in Nature, highlights a major challenge that computer engineers are facing. As the size of microcircuits decreases, their temperature rises. They must now find new and innovative ways to keep cutting edge computer parts cool. Current trends suggest that the next milestone in computing — an exaflop machine performing at 1018 [...]

NSF Seeking Proposals for Interdisciplinary Research in Hazards and Disasters (HazardSEES)

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:47:23 +0000

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a new solicitation – Interdisciplinary Research in Hazards and Disasters, or HazardSEES – that aims to foster the science and engineering necessary to improve our understanding of natural and technological hazards linked to natural phenomena. Proposals responsive to this program (which is one of several recent opportunities posted under [...]

NBC News Segment on Massively Open Online Courses

Shar Steed — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:08:13 +0000

Earlier this week, NBC aired a video segment highlighting how Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are transforming education. Professors at universities like Stanford, Princeton and Columbia are now offering online courses in a wide range of topics for free. View the segment here. On February 11-12, 2013, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will hold a visioning workshop [...]

Upcoming NSF/CISE CAREER Proposal Writing Workshops

Kenneth Hines — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:18:28 +0000

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE) announced that it will hold two one-day CAREER proposal writing workshops in the Spring of 2013. The first workshop will be held on March 15, 2013 at Temple University in Philadelphia. The second workshop will take place at the University of Texas, Arlington on May 17, [...]

MLB Contest Taps Colleges Students for Tech Ideas

Shar Steed — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:25:26 +0000

For the third year, Major League Baseball (MLB) has partnered with Syracuse University’s School of Information Sciences to give students real life experience, and the league new ideas for fan engagement. The annual contest provides students the opportunity to pitch their ideas for real challenges created by the MLB. This year’s challenge was use the [...]

Students – Spend a week with Turing Laureates at the 2013 Heidelberg Laureate Forum

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:49:57 +0000

ACM has joined forces with the newly created Heidelberg Laureate Forum to bring students together with recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, and the Fields Medal. The first Heidelberg Laureate Forum will take place September 22-27 2013 in Heidelberg, Germany. Applications and nominations will be accepted through February 15. Additional information [...]

Leadership in Science Policy Institute nomination deadline: December 14

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:41:06 +0000

Last year, the Computing Community Consortium and CRA’s Government Affairs Committee held the first Leadership in Science Policy Institute. A total of 35 participants attended the institute, which featured a series of presentations from science policy experts, current and former Hill staff, and relevant agency and Administration officials. Topics included the mechanics of the legislative process, [...]

CCC to sponsor challenges and visions track at CIDR 2013

Kenneth Hines — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:34:07 +0000

The CCC is sponsoring another in its series of “Challeges and Visions” tracks at the 6th Biennial Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR) January 6-9, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, CA. As part of its mission to identify major new research opportunities, the CCC sponsors “challenges and visions” sessions at several conferences. The goal [...]

Postdoc “Best Practices”

Ed Lazowska — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:56:59 +0000

The Computing Research Association has adopted a set of “best practices” for postdocs, the result of work done by Anita Jones and Erwin Gianchandani under the auspices of CRA’s Computing Community Consortium. Postdocs have been expanding rapidly in the computing fields. Only by being introspective and proactive can we ensure that these positions contribute to [...]

“Tire Tracks” poster and brochure – “Continuing Innovation in Information Technology”

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:47:47 +0000

In 1995, the Computer Science & Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council published the first “Tire Tracks Diagram” – illustrating the complex interplay among government, academia, and industry that has made America the world leader in information technology. The diagram was included in the “Brooks-Sutherland” report examining the nation’s high performance computing and communications [...]

2012 PCAST Review of NITRD – slides and webcast from public briefing

Ed Lazowska — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:47:01 +0000

In December 2010, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) conducted an extensive review of the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program – the $4B coordinated multi-agency IT R&D program. PCAST has just released a 2012 follow-up to that review, conducted by Susan Graham, Peter Lee, and David [...]

“Recent Developments in Deep Learning”

Shar Steed — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:45:32 +0000

Scientists have seen significant progress in developing software that can perform human activities like seeing, listening and thinking. A New York Times article recently highlighted advances in this type of cutting edge technology, called “deep learning.” Deep learning uses artificial intelligence to create things like speech recognition technology, and machines that can drive cars and [...]

CIFellow Sharoda Paul Featured in the New York Times

Shar Steed — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:34:16 +0000

Sharoda Paul, a former CIFellow, was recently featured in the New York Times article,“Looking to Industry for the Next Digital Disruption.” After her postdoctoral fellowship at a Palo Alto research center as a 2010-11 CIFellow, Sharoda Paul, an expert in social computing, chose a different path than many of her peers. While others considered jobs at big Silicon Valley companies, she decided [...]

NSF Holding First Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace PI Meeting This Week; Tuesday Afternoon Webcast to Discuss Federal Cybersecurity R&D Strategy

Kenneth Hines — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:18:30 +0000

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is holding this week a first-ever Principal Investigators’ meeting for its Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program. From Tuesday through Thursday, nearly 400 academic researchers, industry partners, and Federal agency officials will gather just outside Washington, DC, for discussions about the status of cybersecurity R&D, including recent progress and the large number [...]

“What Will the Future Be Like?”

Ed Lazowska — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:40:06 +0000

This week’s episode of David Pogue’s PBS NOVA Science NOW explores the future that is being created by computer scientists: “The technologies that will transform our lives decades from now are already taking shape in laboratories around the world. David Pogue imagines what the Tech page of The New York Times might look like 10, [...]

Rhodes Scholar Joy Buolamwini

Ed Lazowska — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:33:08 +0000

This year’s CCC Thanksgiving feel-good story features Joy Buolamwini, a 2012 graduate of the Georgia Tech College of Computing who was recently named a 2013 Rhodes Scholar. “Born in Canada to African parents and having lived in Ghana, Barcelona, Memphis and Atlanta, Buolamwini truly considers herself a global citizen … “Rhodes is not the [...]