Five months ago, Peter Lee took a leave of absence as Head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University to begin a stint at DARPA as the Director of the new Transformational Convergence Technology Office (DARPA/TCTO).  TCTO is re-establishing basic research programs in a broad range of rapidly emerging computing-enabled technology areas such as social media, synthetic biology, high-performance computing, and networking, as well as employing a diverse range of innovation strategies including broad community programs, competitions/challenges, and crowd sourcing. Peter spoke on DARPA and TCTO at the University of Washington on February 2.  The talk is inspiring and informative.  Watch the streaming video here.

Tom Friedman has a wonderful op-ed in today’s New York Times.  Read it here.  Then go to the National Lab Day website, here, and register! “What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of ‘Start-Up America.’ “Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs […]

New material has been posted on the website for the Library of Congress symposium hosted by CCC in spring 2009.  Each of the 13 talks now includes slides, a YouTube video, a video download, and (new!) a one-page summary.

Barbie has had over 120 careers!  What do you think her next job should be?  Vote for your favorite, then check back to find out what Barbie will be next. Environmentalist Surgeon Architect News Anchor Computer Engineer Get out the vote! http://www.barbie.com/vote/

Every second year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a ten-year forecast of job growth in all fields of employment.  The most recent forecast, released in November 2009 and covering the period 2008-2018, may be found here (pdf).  Among the highlights: Among the 10 major BLS occupational groups, the “Professional and related” category (which includes computer science occupations) is projected to grow by the largest percentage between now and 2018 — by 16.8%.  (The average growth projected across all occupations is 10.1%.) Focusing in on the “Professional and related” occupations, of the 8 occupational clusters that are included, “Computer and mathematical” occupations are projected to grow by the largest […]

An end-of-year, end-of-decade article in the Xconomy tech blog by CCC’s Ed Lazowska.  Read the complete post here. Forty years ago, in 1969, Neil Armstrong left footprints on the surface of the moon.  It was an extraordinary accomplishment. Also in 1969, with much less fanfare and at much less expense, Len Kleinrock’s programmer Charley Kline sent the first message over ARPANET.  (The message was “lo” – the first two letters of “login.”  Then the system crashed.) With forty years of hindsight, which of these events has had the greater impact?  Unless you’re really big into Tang and Velcro, the answer is clear.  From four computers in 1969, the Internet has […]