Currently, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hosting a three-day forum:  Wait, What? A Future Technology Forum, focusing on new technologies and how they can change the future, in particular with respect to national security. Three early-career engineers and scientists, chosen from a pool of 54 candidates, were selected to share their ideas to the Forum Participants.  They are: Alexander Bataller, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Los Angeles …who studies dense microplasmas, a recently discovered form of matter… Anupama Lakshmanan, a graduate student in biology and biological engineering at the California Institute of Technology…focuses on adapting immune cells to provide non-invasive diagnosis, continuous monitoring and real-time treatment of […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced a partnership with Intel Corporation  on two new grants for $6 million to research security and privacy solutions of cyber-physical systems (CPS). Cyber-physical systems, such as smart-homes and autonomous vehicles, are part of the rise of the new Internet of Things (IoT). “Advances in the integration of information and communications technologies are transforming the way people interact with engineered systems,” said Jim Kurose, head of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at NSF. “Rigorous interdisciplinary research, such as the projects announced today in partnership with Intel, can help to better understand and mitigate threats to our critical cyber-physical systems and secure the nation’s […]

There will be a special presentation and webinar on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 on Security and Privacy: Mobile Medical Applications by Dr. David Kotz, the Champion International Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College.  The talk will be at the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored by the Smart and Connected Health Program and can be viewed online. Mobile medical applications offer tremendous opportunities to improve quality and access to care, reduce cost, and improve individual wellness and public health. These new technologies, whether in the form of software for smartphones as specialized devices to be worn, carried, or applied as needed, may also pose risks if they are not designed or configured with security and privacy […]

National Science Foundation (NSF) Assistant Director for the Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) James Kurose has issued the following letter to the community describing the Division Director position available: Dear Colleagues, NSF is pleased to announce the search for a Division Director for the Division of Computing and Network Systems (CNS) in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE).  The official announcement for this position can be found on USAJOBS at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/414827000. CNS, one of four divisions in CISE, supports research and education activities on new computing and networking systems and technologies, while ensuring their security and privacy, and on new ways to make use of […]

  The following Great Innovative Idea is from Sergey Levine, Chelsea Finn, Trevor Darrell, and Pieter Abbeel in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) Department at the University of California Berkeley. Their End-to-End Training of Deep Visuomotor Policies paper was one of the winners at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored Blue Sky Ideas Track Competition at the AAAI-RSS Special Workshop on the 50th Anniversary of Shakey: The Role of AI to Harmonize Robots and Humans in Rome, Italy. It was a half day workshop on July 16th during the Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) 2015 Conference. The Innovative Idea Techniques like reinforcement learning and optimal control offer the promise of automating robotic decision making by using […]

Save the date for the next of round of the Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) on November 12-13, 2015. Municipal leaders and innovators will gather at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland for this important event planned by NIST and US Ignite. The Global City Teams Challenge is an initiative designed to advance the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies within a smart city/smart community environment. More than 40 project teams or “action clusters” are currently participating in the GCTC. To see a list of current Action Clusters, click here. An agenda for the November event and a summary of changes that NIST and […]