IEEE recently named its 2021 class of newly elevated Fellows. IEEE Fellow is a distinction reserved for select IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest are deemed fitting of this prestigious grade elevation. One of the newly elevated Fellows is Yolanda Gil (University of Southern California) “for contributions to geoscience and scientific discovery with intelligent workflow systems.” In 2018-2019, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) brought together over 100 members of the research community, led by Gil and Bart Selman (Cornell University and President of AAAI) to come up with a research roadmap for AI. The completed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Roadmap, A 20-Year Community Roadmap for AI Research in the US, was released in […]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) just announced its 2020 Fellows! The honor recognizes diverse accomplishments, including pioneering research, leadership within a given field, teaching and mentoring, fostering collaborations and advancing public understanding of science.  Among the 2020 Fellows is Yolanda Gil from the University of Southern California. Gil, along with Bart Selman (Cornell University), chaired a year long effort by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) to produce a roadmap for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over 100 members of the research community participated in three workshops. One of those workshops was chaired by another new fellow, Daniel S. Weld (University of Washington). The completed AI Roadmap, titled A […]

The following Great Innovative Idea is from Vincent Conitzer, Kimberly J. Jenkins University Distinguished Professor of New Technologies Professor of Computer Science, Professor of Economics, and Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. Conitzer was one of the winners from the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored Blue Sky Ideas Track Competition at AAAI HCOMP 2020. His winning paper is called Using Human Cognitive Limitations to Enable New Systems. Motivation My original interest in this line of thinking came from problems associated with a single person being able to create multiple accounts.  This can allow them to vote on the same content multiple times, making online votes meaningless; indefinitely take advantage of a free trial period, resulting in free trial periods of the […]

Nadya Bliss, Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Executive Council member and Executive Director of the Global Security Initiative (GSI), was recently interviewed by her local CBS affiliate station on tracking how misinformation and disinformation spreads on social media and why, in recent years, it is spreading more rapidly.  “Around events that are changing really rapidly, the information ecosystem is particularly sensitive to all kinds of noise. Whether it’s misinformation without intent or disinformation with intent,” Bliss said. “It’s very difficult for an individual to be able to parse everything and we’re very susceptible. We’re in this moment where we are consistently checking, which makes us more vulnerable. False information tends to spread […]

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) just released a new report that provides Recommendations for Leveraging Cloud Computing Resources for Federally Funded Artificial Intelligence Research and Development. The report provides recommendations on better enabling the use of cloud computing resources for federally funded AI Research and Development (R&D). See a summary of those recommendations below.  Recommendation 1: Launch and support pilot projects to identify and explore the advantages and challenges associated with the use of commercial clouds in conducting federally funded AI research. Recommendation 2: Improve education and training opportunities to help researchers better leverage cloud resources for AI R&D. Recommendation 3: Catalog best […]

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) subcommittee on Future Advanced Computing Ecosystems just released a new report on Pioneering The Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem. It lays out a strategic plan that envisions a future in which an “advanced computing ecosystem provides the foundation for continuing American leadership in science and engineering, economic competitiveness, and national security.” The plan outlines the following strategic objectives:  Utilize the future advanced computing ecosystem as a strategic resource spanning government, academia, nonprofits, and industry.  Establish an innovative, trusted, verified, usable, and sustainable software and data ecosystem.  Support foundational, applied, and translational research and development to drive the future of advanced computing and its applications.  […]