In a Communications of the ACM blog post, Mark Guzdial raises some probing “Research Questions About MOOCs.” He points to recent articles that explore the impact of MOOCs, such as “Will MOOCs destroy academia?” by Moshe Vardi and “In the Year of Disruptive Education” by Paul Hyman, both published in CACM, and then offered his perspective as a computing education researcher: What will be the impact of MOOCs on diversity in computing? Computing (encompassing computer science, information systems, information technology, computer engineering, and software engineering) is predominantly white or Asian and male.  The percentage of women in computing continues to decline.  Only 11.7% of Bachelor’s degrees in CS went to women in 2011. … Are […]

The following is a special contribution to the CCC blog from Will Barkis, Project Lead, Mozilla Ignite. Mozilla, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, US Ignite, KC Digital Drive and the Kauffman Foundation would like to invite you to “Hacking the Gigabit City” on March 22-24 in the Google Fiber Space in Kansas City. Gigabit networks might just be to the 21st century what railroads, electricity, highways and telephones were to the 20th.  That future is here in Kansas City, home of broadband and barbecue.  Following previous events in San Francisco and Chattanooga, we invite you to Kansas City to come hack the gig. At “Hacking the Gigabit City”, we’ll […]

Congratulations to CCC Council member Anita Jones for being named the recipient of the 2012 Philip Hauge Ableson Award. The Ableson award is the highest award conferred by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Jones was actively involved in supporting the Computing Research Association’s proposal to create the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), and has served on the CCC Council since its inception. She is currently University Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia. Jones was selected for the honor by AAAS “for her outstanding scientific-technical achievements; her contributions as a mentor, inspiration, and role model for other scientists and engineers; and her lifetime of exemplary public service to government, professional […]

Check out CCC council member Lance Fortnow’s blog, “Computational Complexity.” Today’s post focuses on postdocs in computer science. Anita Jones is troubled by the growing number of postdocs in computer science, she uses “troubling” twice in the first paragraph of her CACM Viewpoint. But is it really a troubling trend or just a natural outgrowth of a maturing field?   Theoretical computer science leads computer science in having and even embracing a postdoc culture. Nearly every graduating PhD in theoretical computer science that remains in academia takes a postdoc position before taking an tenure-track job. If anything I hear theorists lamenting a drop in theory postdocs this year with the end […]

The White House is currently accepting applications for the second round of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program. The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate during six-to-12 month “tours-of-duty” that aim to save lives, save taxpayer money and fuel job creation. Applications will be accepted through March 17, 2013. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) expects to host three of the nine new Presidential Innovation Fellow Projects.   Two of the fellows will work on Cyber-Physical Systems. Cyber-Physical Systems refers to the convergence of networking and information technology with engineered physical systems to create a new generation of […]

In “The Explosive Growth of Postdocs in Computer Science,” a VIEWPOINT article in Communications of the ACM, CCC Council member Anita Jones analyzes trends that have accompanied the increase of CS postdocs in recent years. “The dramatic increase in postdocs changes the overall balance in the number of participants of different kinds in the academic research enterprise, that is the number of tenure-track faculty, graduate students, research faculty, teaching faculty, and postdocs. What effect does that have on other members of the enterprise?   When a recently graduated Ph.D. moves to a new research project, that person brings fresh ideas and even different assumptions about research. It is possible that a rapidly flowing […]