The following is a special contribution to this blog by CCC Chair Mark D. Hill of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Josep Torrellas of University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and co-author of the report discussed below.  All too many of us have experienced how academia’s reward structure seems to favor small projects led by one principal investigator in the jurisdiction of a sub-discipline within a larger discipline. Moreover, the current stability of universities tends to slow the formation of new departments for new disciplines. In contrast, the problems and opportunities that our society faces in education, commerce, science, and government do not respect academia’s boundaries and can require expertise and progress from many aspects […]

CCC Executive Council member Daniel Lopresti from Lehigh University and CCC Council member Sampath Kannan from the University of Pennsylvania provided contributions to this post. There is a conundrum between statistical access to data and privacy. The computing community has been working on this problem for years and came up with differential privacy as a solution, which is being implemented in the 2020 census, as described in this Computing Community Consortium (CCC) white paper on Privacy-Preserving Data Analysis for the Federal Statistical Agencies, and this recent NY Times article.  The CCC is now working on similar issues in fairness with a workshop on Fair Representations and Fair Interactive Learning. See the […]

Contributions to this post were provided by CCC Executive Council member, Daniel Lopresti from Lehigh University.  The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD) Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) just released a Task Force Guide on “Connecting and Securing Communities: A Guide for Federal Agencies Supporting Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment of Technology for Smart Cities and Communities.” The purpose of this document is to guide and coordinate ongoing Federal activities that enhance the efforts of smart cities and communities and private sector partners. It describes recommended practices and approaches for research, development, coordination, and engagement by Federal agencies in support of U.S. cities and communities expanding their […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has recently released a workshop report from the May 2018 workshop Next Steps in Quantum Computing: Computer Science’s Role. The report highlights how computer scientists can contribute to advances in quantum computing and identifies key trends and research needs in five areas: algorithms, devices, architecture, programming models and toolchains, and verification. Some research needs identified in the report include: The need for new Quantum Computing algorithms that can make use of the limited qubit counts and precisions available in the foreseeable future. The need for research regarding how best to implement and optimize programming, mapping, and resource management for QC systems through the functionality in […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is committed to facilitating a new era of transportation innovation and safety and ensuring that our country remains a leader in automation. It is acting as a convener and facilitator, partnering with a broad coalition of industry, academic, states and local, safety advocacy, and transportation stakeholders to support the safe development, testing, and deployment of automated vehicle technology. Recently, the DOT put out a request for public comment on the document, Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0 (AV 3.0). This document builds upon Automated Driving Systems: A Vision for Safety 2.0 and expands the scope to all surface on-road transportation systems, and was developed through the input […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) just released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) on Machine Common Sense (MCS) with a December 18, 2018, response date. DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of machine common sense to enable Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications to understand new situations, monitor the reasonableness of their actions, communicate more effectively with people, and transfer learning to new domains. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Machine common sense has long been a critical—but missing—component of AI. Recent advances in machine learning have resulted in exciting new capabilities, but machine reasoning remains narrow and highly specialized. Developers must carefully train or […]