The following is a guest blog post from CCC Council Member and Cybersecurity Task Force Chair Kevin Fu from the University of Michigan. “From pacemakers to autonomous vehicles, national computing research and education initiatives for embedded security will lay a crucial foundation for the Internet of Everything era,” says Fu. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first major recall of a medical device because of a cybersecurity risk. Nearly half a million pacemakers were recalled for a software update that clinicians will apply during a patient’s in-clinic visit. Our team has spent a decade analyzing security problems and solutions in pacemakers and other medical devices. While […]

The following is a letter to the community from James Kurose, Assistant Director, and Erwin Gianchandani, Deputy Assistant Director, of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE).  Dear CISE Community, Our thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath.  We want to take this opportunity to share important information posted by NSF, which includes a notice announcing NSF’s intent to extend proposal submission and other administrative deadlines for those affected (also included below), as well as a Dear Colleague Letter calling for research to address the challenges related to this storm. For those affected by Harvey, we in CISE want to assure you that we are […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) recently sponsored a Blue Sky Ideas Conference Track at the 15th International Symposium on Spatial & Temporal Databases (SSTD), August  21-23, 2017 in Arlington, VA. The purpose of this conference was to discuss new and exciting research in spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal data management and related technologies with the goal to set future research directions. The goal of this track was to provide stimulating ideas or visions that may open up exciting avenues and/or influence the direction of research within the realm of SSTD, i.e., research in spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal data management. First Place Title: A Unified Framework to Predict Movement Olga Gkountouna, George Mason University Dieter Pfoser, George Mason […]

The organizers from the MForesight and Computing Community Consortium (CCC) workshop on Cyber Security for Manufacturers will be releasing their workshop report at a Launch Event hosted by the House Manufacturing Caucus on September 22 from 2:00-3:30PM ET in the Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, DC. The scale and variety of cyber-threats to manufacturers have grown considerably in recent years, and they now range from rare and sophisticated Stuxnet-style attacks to the relatively frequent ransomware risks. In addition to malware attacks on industrial firms, cyber-attacks on manufacturers can include efforts to corrupt data, steal intellectual property (IP), sabotage equipment, and disable networks. The purposes and effects of attacks vary widely — but all such incidents […]

The US Public Policy Council of the Association for Computing Machinery (USACM) will host a panel discussion, “Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability.” The event will provide a forum for a discussion between stakeholders and leading computer scientists about the growing impact of algorithmic decision making on our society and the technical underpinnings of algorithmic models. Panelists will discuss the principles advanced in USACM’s recent Statement on Algorithmic Transparency and Accountability, issued jointly with the ACM Europe Council Policy Committee (EUACM).  They will also explore opportunities for cooperation between academia, government and industry around these principles. WHEN: Thursday, September 14, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. WHERE: National Press Club, Fourth Estate Room, Washington, DC […]

The following Great Innovative Idea is from Po-Jung Huang and Jun Kameoka. Their paper called Pneumatic Actuated Soft Micromold (PASMO) device for Creating 3D Collagen Microparticles was one of the featured talks at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored Material Robotics (MaRo) Workshop at the 2017 Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) Conference. The Idea Three-dimensional cell culture is the method that can simply the process for in vivo test. Unlike two-dimensional cell culture, three-dimensional cell culture provides sufficient information, like cell-cell communication and cell-matrix interaction to simulate real human tissue. Pneumatic actuated soft micromold (PASMO) provides a method to generate collagen based three-dimensional microenvironment for simulating progression of tumor and extending to cancer model. PASMO device is integrated […]