A reminder that the deadline for applications to the 2011-12 Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) Project is 5pm EDT on Tuesday, May 31. Graduates awarded the Ph.D. or equivalent in computing or allied fields from U.S. institutions between May 1, 2010, and Aug. 31, 2011, are eligible to apply. All application materials — including confidential letters of recommendation to be provided separately by the letter writers — must be submitted through the CIFellows Project website by the deadline. The original announcement appears below. If you have questions, please e-mail us.

Today, the Computing Community Consortium, a standing committee of the Computing Research Association, is pleased to announce a call for 2011-12 Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows). The CIFellows Project, established in 2009 with support from the National Science Foundation, offers recent Ph.D. graduates in computer science, computer engineering, information science, or a closely related field an exciting opportunity to obtain one- to two-year positions at universities, industrial research laboratories, and other organizations that are pursuing innovation in computing and its positive impact on society. I encourage applications from recently graduated/graduating Ph.D.s by the May 31, 2011, deadline!

The following is a special contribution to this blog from Susan P. Wyche, a 2010 CIFellow working with Steve Harrison at Virginia Tech.  Susan received her Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Tech in 2010; her dissertation advisor was Beki Grinter.  Click here for more details about the CIFellows Project. During his presentation at the CIFellows Research Meeting & Career Mentoring Workshop in December, Microsoft’s Peter Lee shared his motivations for creating the program. Beyond giving recent PhDs an opportunity to remain in academia during a time when obtaining an academic job is more difficult than usual, he saw the program as a way to “create a cadre of highly independent computing researchers.” […]

Despite the bad weather affecting travel across much of the nation, nearly 80 Computing Innovation Fellows have arrived in the Washington, DC, area today for the 2010 CIFellows Project Research Meeting and Career Mentoring Workshop.  Funded by the National Science Foundation and run by the Computing Research Association and Computing Community Consortium, this meeting is intended to provide CIFellows with opportunities to network with one another and to receive career advice from leading experts in the field. The agenda includes: – Talks by NSF/CISE, DARPA, and the Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences about funding opportunities and how to write compelling proposals; – A one-minute madness (during which each of the CIFellows has 60 seconds […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) and the Computing Research Association (CRA), with anticipated funding from the National Science Foundation, are pleased to announce a new call for Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) for the 2010-11 academic year. The CIFellows Project is an opportunity for new Ph.D. graduates in computer science and closely related fields to obtain one- to two-year positions at universities, industrial research laboratories, and other organizations that advance the field of computing and its positive impact on society. The goals of the CIFellows Project are to retain new Ph.D.s in research and teaching during challenging economic times, and to support intellectual renewal and diversity in computing fields at U.S. organizations.

Today, the first sub-award in the Computing Innovation Fellows project was completed! Under the CIFellows project – conceived of and implemented by CCC and CRA, and funded by a $15 million award from NSF – 60 extraordinary new Ph.D. graduates have been paired with 60 outstanding mentors for postdoctoral opportunities that advance the computing field. The CIFellows project was conceived in February as a response to the current economic climate.  The goal is to keep outstanding Ph.D. graduates “in the research and education game” until the climate improves.  It is a huge tribute to NSF, CCC, CRA, the computing research community, and Peter Lee (who directs the project) that we […]