Carolyn Duffy Marsan writes in Network World that undergraduate enrollments in computer science are rising significantly at some of the nation’s large CS departments.   For example, in comparison to last year,  UIUC,  CMU, and Georgia Tech  report increases in applications of 26%, 14%, and 5%, respectively.  Stanford reports that 20% more students are taking an introductory computer science course this year.

The Free/Open Source Software workshop wrapped up today.  Discussion focused on a number of topics, including: – Translation into other domains of software – Software engineering practice – Collaboration issues in FOSS – Learning and education challenges/opportunities – Evolution of products, projects, practices and processes – Research infrastructures A report from the workshop will be developed in the coming weeks and posted on the CCC Web site. John L. King, CCC Council Liaison

The attendees at the CCC-supported workshop on Free/Open Source Software met today at UC Irvine’s Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences to work in break-out groups on a refined classification scheme for open-source software development.   The group will work tomorrow morning to synthesize the results of today’s efforts into elements that can be reported out. John L. King, CCC Council liaison

Forty-five people met today in Newport Beach, CA for the first day of a three-day workshop supported by the CCC on Free/Open Source Software.  For more background information, see http://www.cra.org/ccc/foss.php  (Note that about five participants who were supposed to come were snowed in by the big storms in the east, and couldn’t make it.) Today’s discussion was structured around four perspectives on FOSS, with moderators, main presenters, and discussants: Users/Producers: Moderator — Greg Madey (Notre Dame University); Main Presenter — Ralph Morelli (Trinity College); Discussants — Stormy Peters (GNOME Foundation), John Wallin (George Mason University). Human-Centered Computing: Moderator — Walt Scacchi (UC Irvine); Main Presenter: Chris Kelty (UCLA); Discussants — […]

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is sponsoring an award for K-12, undergraduate,  graduate students, and recent graduates who have done something remarkable to  address the Grand Challenges our world faces.   The National Academy of Engineering has identified 14 specific NAE Grand Challenge problem areas in Sustainability, Health, Vulnerability, Joy of Living.  Many of these problems potentially have a significant computational component. If you know of a student has already made a special contribution in one of these areas, please nominate them!Nominations may REUSE existing materials such as videos, essays, articles, business plans, posters, presentations, photo essays or can be newly created. Nominations are due 1 March 2010. There are  $15,000 in cash […]

The New York Times reports that President Obama’s proposed budget includes substantial increases for science research, including an 8% increase for the National Science Foundation from last year’s budget, rising to $7.4 billion.  The Department of Education is also targeted for an increased discretionary budget to $49.7 billion from $46.2 billion in 2010.