Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual program designed to engage students of all ages in computer science.  It is observed each year, in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).  This year, CSEdWeek is December 8-14, 2014. What started as a grassroots movement and then inaugurated by Congress in 2009, CSEdWeek has quickly grown and is now on the International Stage.  There are many ways to participate and to bring computing to others, through the code.org online tutorials written for students of all levels to hosting students in your research lab, visiting a high school class to share your stories with students, or by […]

Last week the National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Agriculture and NASA announced $31.5 million in new awards to spur the development and use of robots that work cooperatively with people (known as co-robots). The awards mark the third round of funding made through the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), a multi-agency program launched in September 2012 as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Initiative, with NSF as the lead federal agency. The 52 new research awards, ranging from $300,000 to $1.8 million over one to four years, advance fundamental understanding of robotic sensing, motion, computer vision, machine learning and human-computer interaction. The awards […]

The following is a Computing Research Policy Blog post by Peter Harsha, CRA Director of Government Affairs.  As part of its mission to develop a next generation of leaders in the computing research community, the Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium (CCC) announces the third offering of the CCC Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI), intended to educate computing researchers on how science policy in the U.S. is formulated and how our government works. We seek nominations for participants. LiSPI will be centered around a two day workshop to be held April 27-28, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Full details of LiSPI are available at: http://cra.org/ccc/spi.) LiSPI will feature presentations and discussions […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Tracy Kimbrel, National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Director for Computing and Communication Foundations.  The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer Science and Engineering (CISE) recently announced a new program solicitation, Algorithms in the Field (AitF), which aims to promote collaboration between theory researchers and those in more applied areas. The program originated from interest and excitement among the theory community and researchers in many applied fields during a well-attended workshop held in May 2011. Bridging the gap between theory and practice in the design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation of algorithms can lead to new fields as well as broader cutting-edge applications. […]

  In honor of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA) sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing titled Privacy and Security in a Connected Age on October 30.  This briefing was hosted by the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, including the Caucus Co-Chairs Congressman Michael McCaul and Congressman James Langevin. Dr. C Suzanne Iacono, acting Assistant Director for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate at NSF and moderator of the panel, opened the session by saying, “If we want a future with more individual choice and freedom, a future that we want to live in…we need to create large scale systems that […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Keith Marzullo, division director for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS).    Starting in 2008, the National Science Foundation (NSF) established a program called Cyber-Physical Systems, or CPS for short. What are CPS, and why did we establish this program? To answer these questions, I’d like you to imagine a world in which our physical environment interacts seamlessly and intelligently with us. Where our homes and offices respond to our needs while conserving our use of resources such as energy and water. Where we have access to autonomous vehicles that provide transportation while reducing congestion, fuel […]