The Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard University is hosting a one day Symposium: Brain + Machines on Friday, January 22, 2016 to explore the frontiers of neuroscience and computer science. Speakers will address the question “What are the implications of our attempts to reverse engineer the brain?” from different perspectives such as scientific research, mental health, ethical, economic, computer science, and technology. Confirmed Speakers Include: David Cox, Harvard University Nancy Kanwisher, MIT John Leonard, MIT Jeff Lichtman, Harvard University Francesca Rossi, University of Padova Andreas Tolias, Baylor College of Medicine R. Jacob Vogelstein, IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, US government) This symposium is free and open to the public.  Register Here. […]

The Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) will host its annual “Tech Jam” event in March 2016. Information about the dates and location of the event will be announced soon. Department of Transportation (DoT) Smart City Challenge The US Department of Transportation has announced a Smart City Challenge for city leaders across America to integrate emerging technology into their transportation networks and define what it means to be a smart city when it comes to transportation. The city that develops the most innovative plan to harness technology and data to reimagine how people move will receive up to $40 million to implement it. Interested cities should act fast – initial proposals are […]

The time is now for computer science education! With the shifting economy, educators are increasingly recognizing computer science as a new basic requirement. In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that “helping students learn to write computer code” is among his goals for the year ahead. Jim Kurose, the Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) released a letter to the community acknowledging the excitement in the community but also noting to “please stay tuned as the Administration announces new steps in the coming weeks to support efforts to expand access to computer science education across the Nation.” White House Office of Science Technology Policy U.S. Chief Technology […]

This post was contributed by Shashi Shekhar, Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council member and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Minnesota.  National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently issued the awaited INFEWS solicitation 16-524 with a budget of $50M. Proposals are due in late March, 2016. It’s estimated number of awards is between 22 and 40 across four tracks, namely, FEW system modeling, Visualization and Decision Support, Innovative Systems Solutions and Education/Workforce Development. Computing topics show up in all tracks and quite frequently in the second track. Synopsis: Humanity is reliant upon the physical resources and natural systems of the Earth […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is charged with catalyzing and empowering the U.S. computing research community to articulate and advance major research directions for the field. To do so, the CCC needs truly visionary leaders — people with great ideas, sound judgment, and the willingness to work hard to see things to completion. Please help the computing community by nominating such people for the Council. Established in 2006 through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Computing Research Association (CRA) — representing over 220 North American academic departments, industrial research labs, and professional societies with computing research interests, the CCC provides a voice for the national computing […]

In February, the MIT Technology Review published their list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2015. Recently they released their follow up list, detailing how those technologies have advanced since then. Some computing-related highlights include: Car-to-car Communication: Car-to-car communication technology allows cars to broadcast their position, speed, brake status and other data to vehicles nearby them, which can help drives navigate more safely. Soon this technology will be widely available with Mercedes-Benz confirming that its 2017 E-Class models will feature the technology and General Motors will reportedly have the technology in its 2017 Cadillac CTS. Project Loon: Project Loon is a project developed by Google X (now run by Alphabet, Google’s parent company), […]