The Computing Research Association (CRA) today released a report — Computing Degree and Enrollment Trends, 2010-2011 — providing summary data from its annual Taulbee survey of Ph.D.-granting departments in computer science and allied fields in the U.S. and Canada. As posted on CRA’s Policy Blog: Enrollments in undergraduate computer science programs rose 9.6 percent in the 2011-12 school year, the fourth straight year of increase…  

Calling all developers! Late this afternoon, the White House and Department of Labor announced the Summer Jobs+ Code Sprint, “challenging the developer community to build apps that reach kids throughout the nation on their browsers, Facebook, Android, iOS, SMS or any other platform.” The Labor Department released an API that opens access to thousands of summer internship, mentorship, and other training opportunities through the Summer Jobs+ Bank — which seeks to provide low-income and disconnected youth access to these opportunities. This is the first ever White House Code Sprint and we’re excited to see what innovative apps you build over the next seven days. There is no ideal app, but keep in mind that our […]

Last February, the Computing Research Association (CRA) — the umbrella organization of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) — launched an effort to engage the computing research community in a conversation about postdoctoral fellows, at a time when survey data were suggesting that a growing number of recent Ph.D.s in the field were pursuing postdoctoral fellowships — a trend that has continued. A white paper, the result of a CRA-commissioned committee, was posted to the web, presenting statistics about academic and industry hiring, and articulating relevant issues about postdoctoral fellows. The CRA sought input from the community, encouraging faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students to discuss the various issues and opine on […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is unveiling a new website today allowing researchers to advertise undergraduate summer research positions and students to find such opportunities. These listings will appear from a link on the CCC’s relatively new Computer Science Research Opportunities & Graduate School (CSGS) website, which has information on summer research opportunities, a Q&A on “why do research,” and links to many recurring summer programs (e.g., NSF REUs, CRA-W, CREUC Canada, among others). The site also has information and advice on applying to graduate school in computing fields (with Q&As with faculty from around the country as well as current Ph.D. students) and a “Day in the Life” Blog where […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is out with a brief overview of the results of its annual Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) for 2010, finding that the numbers of Ph.D.s in the computer sciences increased by 3.5 percent that year, more than in any other discipline. (The total number of doctorates awarded by U.S. academic institutions declined for the first time since 2002 — and NSF notes that reclassification of degrees and discontinuation of data collection in certain areas contributed at least in part to this drop.) According to the NSF InfoBrief:

The third annual Computer Science Education Week — CSEdWeek for short — is just around the corner! Endorsed by Congress as December 4-10, 2011, in recognition of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper’s birthday (Dec. 9th, 1906) and her many contributions to the field of computer science, CSEdWeek is “a call to action to raise awareness of computer science education and computing careers for students, educators, and the public.” There are numerous events and activities planned throughout the nation to illustrate how computer science education is essential to exposing students to critical thinking and problem solving; instilling an understanding of computational thinking for success in the digital era; and preparing students to […]