The National Science Foundation (NSF) yesterday released a report on its support for cloud computing, describing the outcomes of “investments in cloud computing research, recommendations for research focus and program improvements, and other related recommendations.” Emphasizing the role of cloud computing — “a vital area of national importance that requires further research and development” — the report highlights some of the 125 cloud computing research awards issued by NSF’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate between 2009 and 2011, spanning areas of architecture, algorithms, big data, security and privacy, green computing, and so on. Among these are the set of awards enabled by a partnership between NSF and Microsoft over […]

Late last month, Children’s Hospital Boston announced the launch of the CLARITY Challenge — Children’s Leadership Award for the Reliable Interpretation and appropriate Transmission of Your genomic information — a “competition intended to advance standards for genomic analysis and interpretation and the reporting of clear, actionable results to clinicians and patients.” The winning research team will be announced in October and receive a $25,000 prize. According to the contest website: We are on the threshold of a revolution in patient care. With important insights emerging daily about the genetic basis of disease, and the cost of sequencing an individual’s genome plummeting from over $3 million to $5,000 in only the past decade, the […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Eric Horvitz, Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research and member of the CCC Council, and Peter Lee, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Redmond. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Microsoft Research last September, we organized a day of reflection at the Redmond lab where we asked participants to look back and then forward to the next 20 years of computer science, with the goal of providing advice to young scientists. Today we are making available an overview view of highlights from the day of reflection, and also videos from one-on-one interviews. Check out the overview piece after the jump…

The Bipartisan Policy Center released a report last Friday — Transforming Health Care: The Role of Health IT — emphasizing the critically important role that health information technology plays “in supporting new models of care and payment designed to achieve health care’s triple aim” of improving health, improving the experience of care for patients and families, and reducing the cost of care. In the report — whose contributors include leading health care experts from around the country — the Bipartisan Policy Center concludes, “despite the introduction of IT to nearly every other aspect of modern life, the U.S. health care system remains largely paper-based.” The report identifies six common attributes regarding health […]

USA TODAY is out this week with an interesting article featuring the work of MacArthur Foundation Fellow Constance Steinkuehler, an Assistant Professor in the Educational Communications & Technology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — who’s on assignment for 18 months as a Senior Policy Analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to study video games that improve health, education, civic engagement and the environment, among other areas. According to the USA TODAY piece: If you’re training for a new job someday soon with a video game controller in your hands, thank Constance Steinkuehler.   This summer, when your kids’ favorite science museum boasts a new augmented-reality […]

Back in October, we told you about the ninth International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge — a joint effort by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Science magazine to celebrate the grand tradition of visualization, specifically for communicating science, engineering, and technology for education and journalistic purposes. For the first time ever, this year’s Challenge allowed participants to submit entries online, and the public was allowed to vote for its favorite images as “People’s Choice” winners. Today, NSF and Science have announced the competition’s winners. See the winners of the Interactive Games category — and a video — after the jump: