You gotta love having geeks in the White House!  In this short video, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explains the National Wireless Initiative, which includes a significant research component.  Watch the video here.  Learn more about the National Wireless Initiative here.

The CRA website has an interesting white paper on the role of postdocs in computer science.  The paper is relatively short and very readable.  Right under the white paper is an area for readers to post their thoughts and reactions.  The authors of the white paper plan to write a follow-on report that synthesizes the views of the computing community, so please share your thoughts by March 15.

The NSF’s CISE Directorate and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) are co-sponsoring what promises to be a terrific workshop on Building a Smarter Health and Wellness Future outside Washington, DC, next Tuesday & Wednesday.  This invitation-only event will review how new technological developments — including high-speed and mobile applications, connected devices, social networks, etc. — can provide unique and unprecedented opportunities for addressing the health and wellness challenges of our aging society.  A specific objective will be to identify priorities for an international research and policy agenda in this space, all the while stimulating collaboration and innovation on a global scale.  Over 120 attendees are expected. A […]

About 60 leading researchers, program managers, and others gathered in Washington, DC, last Thursday and Friday to discuss new fundamental CSE research opportunities that will meet important enabling needs as the nation and world seek long-term sustainable technologies and behaviors. This two-day meeting, co-sponsored by NSF’s CISE Directorate and the Computing Community Consortium, sought to go beyond routine uses of information technology to identify high-risk, high-reward research directions in sustainability that may not yet have received adequate attention or funding. The workshop comprised three sessions with plenary talks followed by breakout discussions and report-backs, as well as a fourth session that served as an integration/wrap-up period.  The NSF’s Tim Killeen […]

Professor Maja J. Matarić, a computer scientist at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, has been awarded the the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). Professor Mataric was recognized for her outstanding efforts in mentoring at all levels — K-12 students, students at USC, and young faculty colleagues. It is exciting to see mentoring acknowledged and rewarded at this level! Congratulations Maja! Read the White House announcement here.

The National Academy of Engineering has announced the newly-elected Members of the Class of 2011.  The nine new Members of Section 5 (Computer Science & Engineering) are: Susan Dumais, Microsoft Research Daphne Koller, Stanford University Hank Levy, University of Washington Jitendra Malik, UC Berkeley Nick McKeown, Stanford University Don Norman, Northwestern University Ari Requischa, University of Southern California Fred Schneider, Cornell University Mihalis Yannakakis, Columbia University In addition, Jonathan Rose (University of Toronto) was elected as a Foreign Associate. Quoting from the NAE:  “Members are elected to NAE by their peers (current NAE members). Election to membership is one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer.  Members have distinguished […]