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 the House of Representatives science committee to obtain reviewer comments on five social science research projects it is funding. The refusal is the latest twist in an increasingly edgy battle between the agency and Republicans in Congress over the agency’s grants-making process and, in particular, its support for the social and behavioral sciences.   In a letter […]

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 much to look at — just a rundown of the product that includes a look at its development history, instructions of how to create your own pages and technical information about the World Wide Web — but it laid the groundwork for an estimated 630 million Web sites to come in the next 20 years, […]

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 is encouraging multiple stakeholders—including Federal agencies, private industry, academia, state and local government, non-profits, and foundations—to  develop and participate in Big Data innovation projects across the country. The Administration is particularly interested in projects and initiatives that: Advance technologies that support Big Data and data analytics; Educate and expand the Big Data workforce; Develop, demonstrate, and […]

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 K-12 schools throughout the United States as well – US students are learning digital literacy – how to use a computer, write documents, etc., but students are not learning computer science – how to be creators of the technology. The European Report lays out the issues in a clear, succinct way and provides suggestions on […]

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 well as investments in a cross-cutting portfolio that aligns closely with national priorities and societal challenges.” – Farnam Jahanian, CISE AD You can read Farnam Jahanian’s letter to the CISE community about the FY14 Budget here.

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 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 research in effecting progress in other sciences — the two pillars of the Institute’s research agenda. For more information about the Symposium and to register, please […]