The New York Times recently reported on how colleges may soon begin to allow massive open online courses (MOOCs) to be eligible for transfer credits, and used as introductory and remedial courses. The American Council on Education, a group for higher education, and Coursera, a MOOC provider, are conducting a project to determine if certain free online courses should be eligible for credit at traditional colleges. Their faculty will evaluate how much students learn from the MOOCs. Students seeking credit for the classes would have to pay a fee to take an identity-verified, proctored exam, and could have transcripts sent to colleges. According to the NYTimes, “The project is […]

On Monday, November 19, at 4:00 PM EST, the National Science Foundation will hold a webinar on its Cyber-Enabled Sustainability Science and Engineering (CyberSEES) Program. The program aims to advance interdisciplinary research in which the science and engineering of sustainability are enabled by new advances in computing, and where computational innovation is grounded in the context of sustainability problems. “CyberSEES is open to a wide range of sustainability challenges and interdisciplinary approaches; and aims to advance computing and information sciences research and infrastructure in tandem with other disciplines. Proposals are expected to forge interdisciplinary collaborations among the computer and information sciences, social and natural sciences, mathematical sciences, engineering, and associated […]

Every year since 2007, The TED Fellows program has recognized young innovators from around the globe for their “insightful, bold ideas that have the potential to influence our world.” Last week, Miriah Meyer, one of our 2009 Computing Innovation Fellows, was selected as one of the 2013 TED Fellows – one of 20 fellows selected out of over 1200 applicants – for her pioneering efforts in interactive visualization: Miriah Meyer (USA) – Science visualization designer American designer who creates interactive visualization systems that help scientists make sense of complex data. Miriah is being given the option to participate in either the TED Conference in Long Beach, CA, or the TEDGlobal in Edinburg, U.K. It’s worth noting that Miriah […]

At last week’s meeting of the Council of the Computing Community Consortium – held at Microsoft Research in Redmond WA – UC Berkeley’s Eric Brewer gave an inspirational presentation about the ability of students to design and build “whole systems.” Simply looking at the slides can’t possibly do justice to Eric’s presentation – especially since Eric agreed to an informal discussion-oriented session.  But the slides are here. The basic theme:  smartphones, 3D printers, Arduino, the “maker” culture, etc., are creating a revolution – a “gadget” and/or “whole system” revolution.  We in academia are behind the 8-ball, and we should catch up.  The result will be more and better students. Eric […]

The New York Times article, “Killing the Computer to Save It,” takes a closer look at how Dr. Peter G. Neumann, a computer scientist who specializes in computer security, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are rethinking how to make computers and networks more secure. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta voiced concerns about “an epidemic of computer malware and rising concerns about cyberwarfare as a threat to global security.” Neumann, who is now 80 years old, and Robert N. Watson, a computer security researcher at Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory, are currently leading a research program funded by DARPA to address these concerns. “The program includes two separate […]

Microsoft is taking steps to position itself as a cutting-edge technology provider by offering services that can analyze big data. That type of technology is being developed by Microsoft Research, Microsoft’s advanced research arm. In Monday’s issue of the New York Times, CCC Council member, Eric Horvitz, who is a distinguished scientist and deputy managing director at Microsoft Research in Redmond, offered his perspective. Since Horvitz joined Microsoft Research 20 years ago, his goal has been “to build predictive software that could continually get smarter.” In the coming months, Horvitz will see that goal realized and shared with the public with the release of updated versions of Excel, which will […]