http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/ Advocacy and Policy Analysis for the Computing Research Community en-us 2009-10-21T10:19:57-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000750.html Last night, Congress passed a resolution stating that the week of December 7 is National Computer Science Education Week by a vote of 405 to 0. The resolution language includes reasons that computing is so important to our culture and economy and the need to increase the diversity of people in computing as important factors that a National Computer Science Education Week could help promote. The week of December 7 was chosen to honor Grace Murray Hopper, one of the earliest female pioneers in computing, as her birthday was December 9. The full text of the resolution is available. ACM has more information and community reaction here.... Events MelissaNorr 2009-10-21T10:19:57-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000749.html Ran Libeskind-Hadas, a member of the Computing Community Consortium's Council and a professor at Harvey Mudd College, has an interesting post today on the CCC blog asking, in light of the recent Netflix Prize announcement, whether prizes are a viable mechanism for encouraging research in the computing fields. From Netflix’s perspective, the answer is almost certainly yes. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is quoted telling the New York Times (probably tongue-in-cheek) "You’re getting Ph.D.’s for a dollar an hour."He notes several other examples of prizes that have led to new results and asks:Are there some major problems in computer science that could be incentivized by prizes – financial or otherwise? What are the potential benefits and risks of this approach? We’re eager to hear your thoughts.Add your two cents (or more) in the comments section. (No prize for doing it, though.)... Computing Community Consortium (CCC) PeterHarsha 2009-09-25T15:21:08-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000748.html The House Committee on Science and Technology’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee marked up a bill designed to amend portions of Cyber Security R&D Act of 2005 today. The aptly named Cybersecurity Research and Development Amendments Act of 2009 (PDF) touches on several things that CRA supports including: Requires the development of a cybersecurity R&D strategic plan throughout the federal government Requires the inclusion of social and behavioral research at NSF as part of the cybersecurity research portfolio Specifically includes “identity management” as an area of research that should be supported in a cybersecurity research portfolio Requires NSF to create a postdoctoral fellowship program in cybersecurity Authorizes a cybersecurity scholarship for service program at NSF Requires OSTP to assess the current and future cybersecurity workforce needs of the federal government, including comparison of the skills needed by each fed agency, the supply of talent, and any barriers to recruitment Establishes... Policy MelissaNorr 2009-09-24T12:49:45-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000747.html Delivering remarks at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY, today, President Obama noted the importance of the U.S. remaining an innovation leaders and how his Administration hopes to continue fostering that. Here's a snippet with some remarks relevant to the computing community: One key to strengthening education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in communities like Troy is to harness the full power of the internet. That means faster and more widely available broadband– as well as rules to ensure that we preserve the fairness and openness that led to the flourishing of the internet in the first place. Today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is announcing a set of principles to preserve an open internet in which all Americans can participate and benefit. I am pleased that he is taking this step. It is an important reminder that the role of government is to provide investment that spurs innovation and common-sense ground... Policy PeterHarsha 2009-09-21T13:01:01-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000746.html CRA frequently talks about the need for more basic scientific research but we focus almost exclusively on governmental research investment. We talk about the fall of DARPA and the need for NSF to increase to compensate. We don't spend quite as much time talking about industry investment in basic research. An article in Business Week points out the necessity of industry participation in the research ecosystem and the rich history of corporate laboratories' basic research contributions. It's a very interesting article that weaves together the past and present research ecosystems, today's economic concerns, and suggestions for tackling the problems we see today. The article discusses the two times in US history when the government spurred scientific innovation in a short period of time - the Manhattan Project and the Apollo space mission - and the reasons they were so successful. It states, "Their success can be mapped to five crucial... R&D in the Press MelissaNorr 2009-08-31T12:06:59-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000745.html Policy NathanGandomi 2009-07-31T14:26:42-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000744.html Yesterday the Congressional Robotics Caucus, chaired by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), hosted a briefing on healthcare robotics. Four speakers addressed various aspects of robotics in healthcare. They were: Tandy Trower, Microsoft, who spoke on Healthcare Challenges and Robotic Solutions; Maja Mataric, University of Southern California, who spoke on Socially Assistive Robotics for Personalized Care for Stroke, Autism, and Alzheimer’s Disease; Charles Remsberg, Hocoma, Inc., who spoke on Robots in Rehabilitation Medicine; and Howie Choset, Carnegie Mellon University, who spoke on Same Day Surgery: The Future of Medical Robotic Technology Interventions. Healthcare is clearly a hot topic on the Hill these days and the speakers emphasized that robotic technologies could lower costs, particularly with a growing senior population. All the speakers called for more research in robotics but showed examples of currently deployed healthcare robotic technology and had demonstrations available before and after the presentations. Trower... Policy MelissaNorr 2009-07-24T15:01:10-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000743.html CCC’s Network Science and Engineering (NetSE) Council, led by Ellen Zegura, released a new agenda for networking research at the GENI Engineering Conference this week. The agenda, version 1.0, is available here (pdf) but the Council stresses that this is a “living document” and as such requests feedback and comments from the community at the CCC NetSE web site. The agenda is the result of a process initiated in 2008 at the behest of the CCC, who charged the NetSE Council with developing a comprehensive research agenda that would support the development of better networks. Through a series of workshops and much community input, the NetSE council gathered the input to produce this draft, which includes four overarching recommendations:Recommendation 1: The funding agencies of the United States government must increase investment in research that will lead to a better Internet or risk a marginal future role. Recommendation 2: Funding agencies... Computing Community Consortium (CCC) MelissaNorr 2009-07-24T14:10:55-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000742.html On Thursday, the National Science Foundation (NSF), with co-sponsorship from CRA, presented an open-house luncheon briefing on cyber-physical systems (CPS). Held in the Hart Senate Office Building, the luncheon briefing allowed industry and academic experts to share their insights into an area of IT that has been the subject of increasing attention from Congress since a 2007 report of the President's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology called it out for increased priority. From the press release: “Cyber-physical systems are "smart" technologies that are beginning to transform our lives. Today's research will lead to tomorrow's autonomous, smart vehicles for safe transportation; homes filled with smart appliances; intelligent, earthquake resistant buildings and bridges; robots that assist us at home, at work, and at play; and unobtrusive assistive technology for healthier living. Cyber-physical systems technologies will affect sectors critical to our well-being, security and competitiveness, including aerospace, automotive, chemical production, civil... Events NathanGandomi 2009-07-10T14:21:35-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000741.html Regina Dugan will become the first woman to head the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in its 51-year history, the Department of Defense announced today. Dugan takes the reins from acting director, Robert Leheny, who has been running the agency since Tony Tether stepped down in February 2009. From the official press release: "Regina Dugan is precisely the dynamic leader DARPA needs to open new technology frontiers and transition revolutionary technologies to serve our nation’s interests," said Zachary J. Lemnios, director, Defense Research and Engineering.  "I am delighted she will be leading this agency and look forward to working closely with her."   Prior to this appointment, Dugan held several key positions in industry, most recently as president and chief executive officer of RedXDefense, LLC, which she co-founded in 2005, a company that develops defense against explosive threats.  She has also served in senior executive positions in several additional... People PeterHarsha 2009-07-02T14:18:15-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000740.html The House Science and Technology committee held a hearing last Thursday afternoon to asses the cybersecurity efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The committee reviewed the agencies' current cybersecurity programs, asking the advice of private sector security experts on the role the federal government has in securing the private sector's infrastructure, enhancing the monitoring of federal networks, and more clearly defining cybersercurity metrics. Called to testify were Mr. Greg Wilshusen, the Director of Information Security Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO); Mr. Mark Bregman, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Symantec Corportation; Mr. Scott Charney, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group; and Mr. Jim Harper, the Director of Information Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. In his opening statement, Technology and Innovation Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) asked the witnesses what is... Policy NathanGandomi 2009-06-29T12:00:25-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000739.html Microsoft Research hosted its annual TechFair this Wednesday afternoon to show off some of the organization's newest innovations to the DC policy crowd and the press. Held at the Newseum in Washington D.C., the event gave visitors an opportunity to chat with researchers about projets that addressed challenges in energy sustainability and efficiency, privacy, as well as personal and research productivity. Microsoft Research provided 13 demonstrations that included an interactive omni-directional projector (see right), a system for social grouping of a user's communication, an in-car dialogue system that allows natural language input, and a large scale spamming botnet detector called BotGraph. This new system can uncover correlations among botnet activities by constructing a large scale user graph of major Web-email services and looks for patterns of use among "spam" accounts. Social graphing appeared a number of times during the roadshow. One project used a social network graph in order to... Events NathanGandomi 2009-06-26T14:38:02-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000738.html The House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing Tuesday afternoon to review the response of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to the Cyberspace Policy Review. Events NathanGandomi 2009-06-19T11:34:08-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000737.html Experts Warn of Technology Drain; seek federal intervention Washington, May 21, 2009 – Robotics have the potential within the next decade to become as prevalent as computers in daily American life, but the country lags behind others worldwide in recognizing the importance of this technology. In a report released today, titled “National Robotics Technology Roadmap”, (link forthcoming) a group of 140 experts from industry, federal laboratories, and leading academic institutions assert the United States lags behind other countries in its ability to compete economically unless more investment is made in this technology. To address this issue, the Roadmap urges Congress to increase spending in the FY 2010 budget and calls on the Obama administration to establish a high profile position at the White House to coordinate and integrate robotics policy throughout government. Unfortunately, the United States lags behind other countries in recognizing the importance of robotics technology. While the... Policy PeterHarsha 2009-05-21T14:47:31-05:00 http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000736.html Two events this week on Capitol Hill that CRA will be involved in. First, there will be a Congressional STEM Education Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus briefing on CS education called “Bringing Innovative Computing Curriculum across the Digital Divide” that CRA is co-sponsoring with ACM, CSTA, NCWIT, SWE, IEEE-USA, and Microsoft. The briefing will cover the current state of CS education at the K-12 level and discuss new curriculum and teacher preparation developed by NSF and Microsoft. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at noon in B339 Rayburn. The second event will unveil the first CCC funded initiative in robotics this Thursday, May 21. The Congressional Robotics Caucus is hosting this briefing to showcase the Robotics Roadmap and the potential for growth and roadblocks for the use of robotics in various industries. Speakers at the briefing will include Henrik Christensen who led the CCC robotics effort, Rodney... Events MelissaNorr 2009-05-19T17:15:29-05:00