An incident involving an Indiana University student who was turned away from the polls due to a software glitch has sparked significant conversation about the integrity and accessibility of the voting process. Here are the key computing takeaways from an article written in The Herald-Times.  Networking Issues The main problem lies in our reliance on networked systems to manage voter information. If these systems don’t update quickly, voters might find themselves unable to prove their eligibility. This is particularly challenging for people who move around frequently and have to update their voting information, like students, who often move and might not be registered at their permanent address. Provisional Ballots When […]

CCC is pleased to announce that last week council members Michela Taufer and Chandra Krintz published an article in Inside AI News to discuss their upcoming panel at the 2024 Supercomputing Conference. As members of the Task Force on Sustainability and Climate Resilence, they are excited to be given a platform at the SC24 conference. Here is a sneak peek at one of the questions they would like leaders to consider before this panel discussion in November. How can AI continue to drive innovation while minimizing environmental harm? By now, we can all agree that AI has enormous potential, but we must ask ourselves whether the growing environmental cost of […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) would like to encourage you to consider responding to the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Request for Information (RFI) on a National Plan for Cyber-Physical Systems Resilence.  The NITRD National Coordination Office seeks public input for the creation of a National Plan for Cyber-Physical Systems Resilience Research. According to the request, the goal of the plan is to shape a whole-of-government research and development (R&D) plan related to cyber-physical resilience across systems that may be local, regional, or national in scope. Interested individuals are invited to submit comments on or before 11:59 p.m. ET on October 26, 2024 via email. To find […]

In July 2024, the Computing Research Association Working Group on Socially Responsible Computing Subcommittee on Best Practices for Conference released a whitepaper to guide conference organizers in developing responsible computing policies by outlining key areas where attention seems necessary. This comes at a time when many, but not all, computing research conferences are increasingly incorporating ethical and societal considerations into their submission guidelines.  Here are some ways conferences can help promote responsible research and publication practices. Include guidelines on avoiding research-related harm. Guide responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities in submissions. When appropriate for human-centered research, require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or equivalent review. Promote reproducibility by requesting public release of […]

In this installment of CCC’s Weekly Computing News, we are sharing the interesting news of a new initiative at New York University’s (NYU) engineering department to make semiconductor design education more accessible. Democratizing chip design with Chips4All NYU Tandon School of Engineering is launching an exciting initiative called Chips4All. This program aligns with the goals of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and aims to strengthen NYU’s role in chip design.  Through Chips4All, doctoral and master’s students in various STEM fields, regardless of their engineering backgrounds, will learn how to design Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). These specialized chips are vital for advancements in areas like biomedical devices, cryptography, and computational […]

In this installment of CCC’s Weekly Computing News, we are looking deeper into the SkAI research center led by Northwestern University. This comes after a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Simons Foundation, creating more opportunities to advance research and exploration of the universe. SkAI launched to further explore the universe Have you ever wondered what it would take to discover the undiscoverable mysteries of the universe? Exploring the unknown requires overcoming huge challenges in analyzing huge datasets composed of different data types, structures or sources, while designing astronomical tools and surveys to measure the data.  That’s where SkAI comes in. The research center […]