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 […]

Agencies of the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program are planning to develop a joint National Privacy Research Strategy. On behalf of the agencies, the Cyber Security and Information Assurance Research and Development Senior Steering Group seeks public input on the vital privacy objectives that should be considered for the goals of the strategy. The National Privacy Research Strategy will be used to guide federally-funded privacy research and provide a framework for coordinating research and development in privacy-enhancing technologies. Responders are asked to answer one or more questions in the following areas: Privacy objectives Assessment capabilities Multi-disciplinary approach Privacy architectures All submissions must be 20 pages […]

Popular Science has released their Top Ten of 2014 which honors the brightest young minds reshaping science, engineering, and the world. Computer scientists Prabal Dutta and Roxana Geambasu made the Top Ten! In Dr. Dutta’s lab at the University of Michigan, small wireless sensors keep tabs on energy usage, gathering data that could inform the next generation of smart buildings. They scavenge their own power from their surroundings, such as the slight magnetic field generated by an electrical wire.  Dutta’s other projects include a set of cameras only a few cubic millimeters in size and lapel pins that track how air temperature, humidity, and the distance between speakers affects the spread of flu.  Dutta […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI) Fellowship Program provides U.S. graduate students in science and engineering with an opportunity to spend 8 weeks (10 weeks for Japan) during the summer conducting research at one of seven host locations in East Asia and the Pacific: Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan. The program is a collaboration between NSF and counterpart agencies in each host location. EAPSI is open to graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are enrolled in a research-oriented Masters or Ph.D. program in science or engineering. Applicants must propose a research project in a field of […]

The MacArthur Foundation has named its 2014 class of MacArthur Fellows “Genius Grant”, recognizing 21 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years. The Fellowship comes with no stipulations or reporting requirements, and allows recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions. One of the Fellows is Craig Gentry, a computer scientist with IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, who is fueling a revolution in cryptography and theoretical computer science through his elegant solutions to some of the discipline’s most challenging open problems. To read more about Dr. Gentry as […]