(This post has been updated; please scroll down for the latest.) Moments ago at the White House, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Deputy Director Tom Kalil, Congressman John Yarmouth (D-Ky.), Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and a bright young 11-year-old from New York City launched Digital Promise — a new national center created by Congress and supported with funds from the Department of Education, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation — to advance technologies to transform learning and education. As part of the announcement, National Science Foundation (NSF) Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Farnam Jahanian, […]

The National Science Foundation’s Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) have issued a joint solicitation for interdisciplinary research and education projects that develop new knowledge at the interface of between computer science and economics & social sciences. From the RFP: An important research interaction has emerged at the interface of computing and economics and social sciences. The synergy between these fields creates a rich opportunity for studying questions that involve interconnected systems with economic and social aspects. This research interaction has already led to the identification of a number of underlying principles and research themes. These include network structures in economic interaction, […]

As we’ve previously reported in this space, the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently issued a series of solicitations as part of its multi-year Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative. Today the NSF’s CISE Directorate announced that it will be holding a pair of webinars later this month and early next month to provide an overview of these solicitations for researchers — with a particular focus on details that are likely to be of interest to the CISE community: The main purpose of [these webinars] is to help the CISE community to take advantage of the interdisciplinary research funding opportunities for FY 12 in [this] emerging area… Details about the webinars — including instructions for […]

Attendees of the 37th International Conference on Very Large Databases (VLDB 2011) — a premier annual international forum for data management and database researchers, vendors, practitioners, application developers, and users — stretched into the hallway outside the meeting room during the first of two Challenges and Visions sessions held in Seattle, WA, in late August. According to Hank Korth, CCC Council member and liaison to the VLDB program committee, “The talks were fantastic [and the follow-on] questions [were] great.” In keeping with tradition for these CCC-funded sessions, the VLDB Challenges and Visions Track emphasized visionary ideas, long-term challenges, and opportunities in data-centric research outside of the current mainstream topics of the field. […]

As we noted in this space yesterday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) published a special report on disaster research last week, as part of National Preparedness Month and the events surrounding the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The report highlights the fundamental research impacting and enabling policymakers and disaster responders to better predict, prepare for, and respond to significant hazards affecting life, property, societal infrastructure, and natural assets. What’s noteworthy is the critical role for computing research in this space — to include communications systems, rescue robotics, predictive modeling, game theory, etc. For example, at a related showcase of 30 research projects on Capitol Hill last week — attended by members of Congress, Federal agencies, and the media […]

As our nation pauses today to remember and reflect upon this tenth anniversary of 9/11, we recall the heroic efforts of ordinary citizens in the aftermath of that horrific day — as well as the lessons that were learned as a result. From a research standpoint, the National Science Foundation noted in a special report on disaster research published last week: …[Scientists] and engineers quickly joined the response.  Those who were experienced with earthquakes, floods and other natural devastation converged on the World Trade Center site to help.  Some searched for victims or studied how buildings collapsed. Others digitally mapped the disaster site. Still others monitored the coordination of responders from across the […]