Four years ago the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) launched the Postdoc Best Practice Program (Postdoc BP), designed to develop, implement and institutionalize the implementation of best practices for supporting postdocs. The Postdoc BP program was initiated due to a 157% rise[1] in computing postdocs between 2005 and 2010, which demanded attention from the computing community. A Steering Committee, led by Anita Jones (University of Virginia), was assembled to choose a set of institutions or consortia to design and investigate potential best practices for these postdocs. Ultimately, the CCC awarded grants to three institutions/consortia: The University of Washington, led by Brian Curless and David Rispoli; Arizona’s Foundational Model for Postdoctoral Programs […]

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the Thermodynamic Computing workshop that took place in Honolulu between January 3-5. Today a new episode of the Catalyzing Computing podcast is available that features an interview with two of the workshop organizers, Tom Conte (Georgia Tech) and Todd Hylton (UC San Diego). In this interview we discuss their reasons for proposing the workshop, what thermodynamic computing is, and the potential impact that thermodynamic computing could have on future technology. I also sit down with workshop participant Christof Teuscher (Portland State University) to discuss his thoughts on the workshop and his work with new models of computation, including computing with DNA. You can stream or download the […]

In May 2018, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) hosted a workshop on quantum computing, titled Next Steps in Quantum Computing: Computer Science’s Role. The workshop brought together computer scientists – including computer architects, compiler experts, and programming wonks – with physicists and researchers from quantum computers. A workshop report was released in November, 2018. The workshop report is now available in a Japanese translation done by the Yoshi-aki Shimada of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) on their Qmedia website, which focuses on quantum technology. Japan Science and Technology Agency was formed by merging two existing organizations: Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST) and Research Development Corporation of […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) recently released the first episode of the “Catalyzing Computing” podcast, and episode 2 is available now. The podcast is hosted by CCC Program Associate Khari Douglas and features interviews with researchers and policy makers about their background and experiences in the computing community. The podcast will also offer recaps of visioning workshops and other events hosted by the CCC. If you want to learn about some of the computing community’s most influential members or keep tabs on the latest areas of interest then, this is the podcast for you! The second episode of Catalyzing Computing is part 2 of the interview with CCC Council Member […]

This blog post includes contributions from Josh Deutsch (UC Santa Cruz), Mike DeWeese (UC Berkeley), and Lee Altenberg (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa).  In early January, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) hosted a visioning workshop on Thermodynamic Computing in Honolulu, Hawaii in order to establish a community of like-minded visionaries; craft a statement of research needs; and summarize the current state of understanding within this new area of computing. Following the Thermodynamic Computing workshop, the CCC sponsored the related Manoa Mini-Symposium on Physics of Adaptive Computation at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Susanne Still (University of Hawaiʻi) was one of the leaders of the Thermodynamic Computing workshop and organized the mini-symposium, which featured nine […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) recently hosted a visioning workshop on Thermodynamic Computing in Honolulu, Hawaii in order to establish a community of like-minded visionaries; craft a statement of research needs; and summarize the current state of understanding within this new area of computing. The premise behind thermodynamic computing is that striving for thermodynamic efficiency is not only highly desirable in hardware components, but may also be used as an embedded capability in the creation of algorithms. Can dissipated heat be used to trigger adaptation/restructuring of (parts of) the functioning hardware, thus allowing hardware to evolve increasingly efficient computing strategies? Recent theoretical developments in non-equilibrium thermodynamics suggest that it drives […]