The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will have two live chat sessions on July 10 and July 24 about the AAAS Science & Technology (S&T) Policy Fellowship. The AAAS S&T Policy Fellowships are in seven policy areas and aim to provide diverse opportunities for accomplished scientists and engineers to participate in and contribute to the federal policymaking process. Fellows learn firsthand about the intersection of science and policy. Current and alumni fellows and fellowship staff will answer questions about the fellows’ science policy initiatives on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies, the career impact these fellowships can have, and the 2015-16 application process. July 10 at 2 p.m. EDT: You Too […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by by CCC Executive Council Member Mark Hill and workshop organizers Luis Ceze, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, and James Larus, Full Professor and Head of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.  Luis Ceze and Jim Larus organized a DARPA ISAT workshop on Approximate Computing in February, 2014. The goal was to discuss how to obtain 10-100x performance and similar improvements in MIPS/watt out of future hardware by carefully trading off accuracy of a com putation for these other goals. The focus was not the underlying […]

As reported in this blog earlier in the month, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Intel Labs recently announced a new partnership to support novel, transformative, multidisciplinary approaches that address the problem of securing current and emerging cyber-physical systems, the infrastructures they form, and those integrated with them. A key part of this solicitation is the use of an Ideas Lab to identify and develop novel ideas.  A unique feature of an Ideas Lab is the multidisciplinary nature of the selected participants.  The Computing Research Association (CRA), CCC’s parent organization, is working with Knowinnovation to run the Ideas Lab.  The two organizations previously worked together on a successful Ideas […]

Last year, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) & CRA’s Government Affairs Committee held it’s first Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI) to help nurture the next generation of computing research leaders. A total of 35 participants attended the institute, which featured a series of presentations from science policy experts, current and former Hill staff, and relevant agency and Administration officials. Topics covered included the mechanics of the legislative process, serving on advisory committees, and interfacing with Federal agencies. Today we are pleased to announce the second Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI), which will be held April 11-12, 2013 in Washington, DC. Please discuss this opportunity with your colleagues, identify those you believe would […]

Steve Lohr from the New York Times published an article today titled, “The Seeds That Federal Money Can Plant,” which explains the importance of federal funding to scientific research and development. The article highlights Luis Von Ahn‘s online service Duolingo. Duolingo, which has over 100,000 users, allows individuals to learn languages via crowdsourcing and seeks to “…translate the entire web into every major language”. The service, which has attracted $15 million in venture capital, was initially supported by a five-year $120,000 per year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The article mentions findings in a report published earlier this year by the National Research Council (NRC): That pattern has been repeated countless times […]

The following is a contribution to this blog from Robin Murphy, Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University. Back in April, Robin co-organized a visioning workshop about the role of computing in disaster management (including preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery). In this blog entry, Robin describes her participation at a workshop held last week in DC on Connecting Grassroots to Government for Disaster Management.  I participated in the Wilson Center’s workshop on Connecting Grassroots to Government for Disaster Management last week where I briefed 60 physical and 150 remote participants on the NSF/CCC Workshop on Computing for Disaster Management and the subsequent […]