The following is an announcement from the National Science Foundation. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has also been working in this space and recently published a 2020 Quadrennial Paper on Pandemic Informatics: Preparation, Robustness, and Resilience.  The Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO); Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE); Engineering (ENG); Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE); and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are jointly supporting a series of interdisciplinary workshops to engage research communities around the topic of Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention. This topic arises both from fundamental scientific questions and pressing societal needs.  Consequently, NSF is holding a series of virtual workshops that bring together interdisciplinary experts in the biological, engineering, computer, and social and […]

Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) Full Proposal Deadline Date: February 16, 2021 The far-reaching impact and rate of innovation in the computer and information science and engineering fields has been remarkable, generating economic prosperity and enhancing the quality of life for people throughout the world. More than a decade ago, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) established the Expeditions in Computing (Expeditions) program to build on past successes and provide the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information. In planning Expeditions projects, investigators are strongly encouraged to come […]

The following is a guest blog post by the Computing Research Association (CRA) Government Affairs Director, Peter Harsha. It was originally posted on CRA’s Computing Research Policy Blog.  President-elect Joe Biden announced today he intends to nominate Dr. Eric Lander, biologist and former leader of the Human Genome Project, to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and serve as the Presidential Science Advisor. Biden also announced that he was designating the Presidential Science Advisor a cabinet level position for the first time in history, illustrating the importance the new administration will place on the guidance of science in policymaking. Also named today as Deputy Director of OSTP is Dr. Alondra Nelson, who is […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is broadening its commitment to young scientists through a new Information Innovation Office (I2O) PostDoc Fellowship Program focused on postdoctoral researchers in the field of computer science with grants sized to support each fellow for up to two years.  Participation is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (1) who received a PhD degree no earlier than June 2019; or (2) will receive a PhD prior to the start date of this award; and (3) will be appointed to a postdoctoral position at a U.S. institution of higher education during the 2021-22 academic year. This I2O RA is specifically […]

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) subcommittee on Future Advanced Computing Ecosystems just released a new report on Pioneering The Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem. It lays out a strategic plan that envisions a future in which an “advanced computing ecosystem provides the foundation for continuing American leadership in science and engineering, economic competitiveness, and national security.” The plan outlines the following strategic objectives:  Utilize the future advanced computing ecosystem as a strategic resource spanning government, academia, nonprofits, and industry.  Establish an innovative, trusted, verified, usable, and sustainable software and data ecosystem.  Support foundational, applied, and translational research and development to drive the future of advanced computing and its applications.  […]

Recently, the Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium (CCC) released a white paper called Pandemic Informatics: Preparation, Robustness, and Resilience, by Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado Boulder), Madhav Marathe (University of Virginia), Melanie Moses (The University of New Mexico), William D Gropp (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University). It is part of the series of white papers called Quadrennial Papers that explore areas and issues around computing research with potential to address national priorities.  The Pandemic Informatics paper outlines an effective strategy to reduce the national and global burden of pandemics. It includes (i) detect timing and location of occurrence, taking into account the many interdependent driving […]