President Barack Obama has selected Mary Shaw, University Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, as one of the recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Our Nation’s highest honor for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology. Shaw, a computer science faculty member since 1971, is a leader in software engineering research whose work on software architecture helped establish it as a recognized discipline. Selecting an appropriate architecture is now recognized as a critical step in the engineering of complex software systems. She also is an educational innovator who has developed computer science curricula from the introductory to the doctoral level. The […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Vice Chair Beth Mynatt has received a 2014 Mobility Star Award, which salutes excellence and advancements in mobility. The award recognizes five mobile technology leaders who have made a substantial impact in the past year creating and advancing adoption or innovative use of mobile technology, and that have helped grow Atlanta’s mobile presence. Mynatt is the Executive Director of the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), a College of Computing Professor at Georgia Tech, and the Director of the Everyday Computing Lab. For more information click here.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has three new announcements today related to the BRAIN Initiative and NSF’s Understanding the Brain activities:   NSF 14-611  Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NSF-NCS) This solicitation describes the first phase of a new NSF program to support transformative and integrative research that will accelerate understanding of neural and cognitive systems. INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards will support projects that develop foundational advances that are deeply connected to a broad scope of important research questions in cognitive and neural systems, and have significant potential for transformative advances in one or more of the FY 2015 thematic areas. CORE+ EXTENSIONS will provide additional support to projects selected for […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its first wave of investments totaling $46 million to support the goals of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. President Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative in April 2013 as a new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders. The initiative is a joint program with funding through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). This first wave of investments through NIH will fund more than 100 investigators so they can develop new tools and technologies to understand neural circuit […]

Dr. James F. Kurose, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), was named the next Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at NSF, effective January 2015.  Dr. Kurose will assume the position that Dr. Farnam Jahanian successfully held for three years before leaving NSF to become the Vice President for Research at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Dr. Kurose is currently a member of the Computing Research Association (CRA) Board of Directors. For Dr. Kurose’s complete bio click here. The official NSF announcement is available here.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) announced nine research awards to 10 universities totaling nearly $4 million to develop Secure, Trustworthy, Assured, and Resilient Semiconductors and Systems (STARSS). The STARSS program is part of a $75 million cyber security effort by the NSF, aimed at making chips immune from being exploited by hackers who take advantage of hidden Trojan horses that are intentionally or unintentionally inserted into chips by intellectual property (IP).  The goal is to also make it easier to spot counterfeit chips, chips that have been tampered with, and used chips being passed off as new. For more information about this program and the nine […]