Congress recently passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan bill which includes $550 billion in new federal spending on infrastructure over five years. President Biden is scheduled to sign the bill into law today (November 13th).   While designed as a traditional infrastructure bill, an analysis of the legislation by the Computing Research Policy Blog found several sections that are of note to the research community and the computing research community specifically: A five-year, $100 million a year SMART grant program at the Department of Transportation (DOT); several intelligent transportation and smart communities pilot programs at DOT; a new ARPA program (ARPA-Infrastructure) at DOT; Division F, a large subsection […]

The White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) is launching a series of listening sessions and events to involve the American public in the development of a Bill of Rights for an Automated Society. With the growing influence of data-driven technologies, the series is part of a national endeavor to ensure that emerging socio-technical systems are safe and just. In addition to the RFI on current or planned uses of AI-enabled biometric technologies, OSTP will hold two public listening sessions and six public discussion forums seeking input from key stakeholders. Listening Sessions on Public and Private Sector Uses of AI-Enabled Biometrics Listening Session One: Thursday, November  18th, 4:00 p.m. […]

Join us on Thursday, December 2, 2021, at 12pm EST for a special virtual event marking the 30th anniversary of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program. For three decades, the NITRD program has coordinated federal investment at the frontiers of computing, networking, data, and software, leading to many of the breakthrough information technologies that define our lives today, like the modern Internet as well as 4G, LTE, and 5G wireless networks, expanding access to broadband connectivity, information, and other resources; vehicle-to-vehicle communication, enhancing driver safety and reducing traffic congestion; and machine learning and predictive modeling, advancing understanding of human diseases like COVID-19 leading to therapeutics. Advance […]

The following is a recent message to the community from Lynne E. Parker, Director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office and Assistant Director of Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Dear Colleagues, I’m happy to report that OSTP released a blueprint for a National Strategic Computing Reserve.  This concept is modeled after the highly successful COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, which advanced COVID-19 research during the early days of the pandemic. Report direct link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/National-Strategic-Computing-Reserve-Blueprint-Oct2021.pdf NSTC site which includes the new report: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc/ OSTP tweet link: https://twitter.com/WHOSTP/status/1445440967264321536 Feel free to share the news with your interested colleagues. Best regards, Lynne

The following is a guest blog post from Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council member Kathleen Fisher (Tufts University). Going to DARPA as a Program Manager (PM) is a great opportunity to make a difference by creating and managing a program much bigger in scope than what an individual faculty member can do at a university. Other PMs are talented and innovative thinkers who come from a broad range of backgrounds. Exposure to them and to the range of problems DARPA is reckoning with can be eye-opening. In the following paragraphs, I describe my experiences serving as a PM to convey a sense of what the job is like and why […]

Contributions to this post were provided by the Computing Research Association’s Senior Policy Analyst Brian Mosley. Yesterday, President Biden announced 30 of America’s most distinguished leaders in science and technology as members of his President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). PCAST is the premier science advisory committee within the Executive Office of the President and is the sole body of advisors charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. Established by Executive Order, it is an independent Federal Advisory Committee composed of distinguished individuals from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations with a range of perspectives and scientific expertises.   The […]