The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) announced in October a new solicitation, entitled US Ignite, that is a big step forward in the US Ignite Administration initiative. From the solicitation: The primary goal of US Ignite is to break a fundamental deadlock: there is insufficient investment in gigabit applications that can take advantage of advanced network infrastructure because such infrastructure is rare and dispersed. And conversely, there is a lack of broad availability of advanced broadband infrastructure for open experimentation and innovation because there are few advanced applications and services to justify it. US Ignite aims to break this deadlock by providing incentives for […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer Science and Engineering (CISE) in partnership with Intel announced a joint funding opportunity called Visual and Experiential Computing (VEC), aimed at fostering novel, transformative, and multidisciplinary approaches that promote research in VEC technologies. The advancement of sensing technology, multi-camera and light field imaging systems, networks of sensors, advanced visual analytics and cloud computing will challenge the longstanding paradigms of capturing, creating, analyzing and utilizing visual information. Advances in VEC will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, and usability that will far exceed the simple information systems of today. VEC technology will transform the way people interact with visual information through, for example, the realization of new mobile and […]

Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) posted an article about Algorithms in the Field (AitF) a new program in the Directorate for Computer Science and Engineering (CISE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). AitF aims to promote collaboration between theory researchers and those in more applied areas. The program synopsis reads as follows: Algorithms in the Field encourages closer collaboration between two groups of researchers: (i) theoretical computer science researchers, who focus on the design and analysis of provably efficient and provably accurate algorithms for various computational models; and (ii) applied researchers including a combination of systems and domain experts (very broadly construed – including but not limited to researchers in computer architecture, […]

Contributions to this post were made by Gregory Hager, Chair of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) and Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. Early pioneers of computing such as Alan Turing, John Von Neuman and Herb Simon were fascinated by the possibility of computing opening a window into our understanding of the brain, and how understanding the brain might advance computing. A half century later, computing has made extraordinary progress, but much of the inner workings of the brain remain a mystery. Can we re-ignite the early promise of synergy between research on the human brain and computer science to the benefit of both fields? This […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored another track in its Blue Sky Ideas Conference Track series at the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE), November 16-22, 2014 in Hong Kong. FSE is an internationally renowned forum for researchers, practitioners, and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences, and challenges in software engineering. The goal of this track was to emphasize visionary ideas, long term challenges, and opportunities in software engineering research that are outside of current mainstream topics of the field. This year’s winning papers were: First Prize Methodology and Culture: Drivers of Mediocrity in Software Engineering? Marian Petre and Daniela Damian (Open University, UK; University of Victoria, […]

Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual program designed to engage students of all ages in computer science.  It is observed each year, in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).  This year, CSEdWeek is December 8-14, 2014. What started as a grassroots movement and then inaugurated by Congress in 2009, CSEdWeek has quickly grown and is now on the International Stage.  There are many ways to participate and to bring computing to others, through the code.org online tutorials written for students of all levels to hosting students in your research lab, visiting a high school class to share your stories with students, or by […]