The following is a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) from James Kurose, Assistant Director for Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), and Arthur Lupia, Assistant Director for Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of this DCL, which specifically mentions the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) AI Roadmap, is to encourage the submission of EAGERs on understanding the social challenges arising from AI technology and enable scientific contribute to overcoming them.  Dear Colleagues: The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) together with the Partnership on AI (PAI) wish to notify the community of their interest in […]

The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) National Coordination Office (NCO) put out a Request for Information (RFI) on the Federal cybersecurity R&D strategic plan. The updated plan will be used to guide and coordinate federally funded research in cybersecurity, including cybersecurity education and workforce development, and the development of consensus-based standards and best practices in cybersecurity. The most recent version of the strategic plan was released in February 2016. This strategic plan identifies four categories of defensive capabilities (deter, protect, detect, adapt) and six critical dependent areas (scientific foundations, risk management, human aspects, transition to practice, workforce development, and infrastructure for research) as the structure for focusing and coordinating Federal cybersecurity R&D activities. The […]

Last week we blogged about the Visioning Sessions at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Early Career Researcher Symposium (ECR) but this week we will talk about our government sessions and subsequent discussions on day two. The ECR brought together 73 early career researchers and gave them the unique opportunity to meet agency representatives, hear presentations about the current science policy situation, and learn how they can reach out and get involved with the science policy community outside their institutions. Computing Research Association (CRA)’s Director of Government Affairs, Peter Harsha, gave an opening plenary on “Understanding Science Policy,” in which he stressed that even though we are in an administration that […]

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 […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will hold a visioning workshop in Atlanta, GA on March 14-15, 2019 to discuss and articulate research visions for authoring rich media content for new workforce training. The workshop aims to articulate research challenges and needs and to summarize the current state of the practice in this area. This workshop is in response to growing needs in the field and new research programs such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Advancing Cognitive and Physical Capabilities (FW-HTF). Historically, materials such as books and movies were used in addition to hands-on experiences for education and practical training. Increasingly, various other types of computer generated […]