The next WATCH Talk is this Thursday, January 15, 12:00-1:00pm EDT. Salil Vadhan will discuss Differential Privacy: Theoretical and Practical Challenges. Dr. Salil Vadhan is the Vicky Joseph Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Director of the Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society. His research area is theoretical computer science, specifically computational complexity, cryptography, and differential privacy. Abstract   Differential Privacy is framework for enabling the analysis of privacy-sensitive datasets while ensuring that individual-specific information is not revealed.  The concept was developed in a body of work in theoretical computer science starting about a decade ago.   […]

Ever wondered what was going on in the data science community with relation to biomedical research? Ever wish to share your own knowledge about the field? No need to worry any longer! The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a new data science blog which “is the beginning of a more coordinated and push-oriented communication strategy.” The purpose is to distribute information to the data science community “to foster an ecosystem that enables biomedical research to be conducted as a digital enterprise that enhances health, lengthens life, and reduces illness and disability.” The Associate Director for Data Science (ADDS) Phil E. Bourne, contributed the blog’s first post with his 2014 review of […]

The following is a Computing Research Policy Blog post by Brian Mosley, CRA Policy Analyst.  Just wanted to put up a quick post that due to extra availability we are extending the deadline for nominations and applications to the 2015 Leadership in Science Policy Institute workshop (aka: LiSPI) to January 23rd. We have also pushed back notifying selectees to February 2nd. If you know of someone who meets the qualifications and you would like to nominate them, or if you were nominated but missed the deadline to get in your application, now is your chance. For some more background, check out the LiSPI webpage and our original post on this year’s […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a new solicitation for the Exploiting Parallelism and Scalability (XPS) program.  The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) 2012 White Paper “21st Century Computer Architecture” was a key driver for the development of this program. The Exploiting Parallelism and Scalability (XPS) program aims to support groundbreaking research leading to a new era of parallel computing. Achieving the needed breakthroughs will require a collaborative effort among researchers representing all areas — from services and applications down to the micro-architecture — and will be built on new concepts, theories, and foundational principles. New approaches to achieve scalable performance and usability need new abstract models and algorithms, new programming models and […]

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is seeking applicants for Postdoctoral Fellowships in Data Curation for the Sciences and Social Sciences. The Data Curation Fellowships will provide recent Ph.D.s with professional development, education, and training opportunities in data curation for the sciences and social sciences. Through these fellowships, CLIR seeks to raise awareness and build capacity for sound data management practice throughout the academy. Each fellowship is a two-year appointment, with a commensurate salary, plus benefits, and yearly travel and research stipends. Eligible applicants must have received a PhD after January 1, 2010 but before beginning the fellowship and be legally permitted to work in the US and/or Canada […]

The Education Committee of the Computing Research Association (CRA-E) have announced the winners of the 2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers Award. This year’s nominees were a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several were authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others had made presentations at major conferences, and some had produced software artifacts that were in widespread use. Many of nominees had been involved in successful summer research or internship programs, many had been teaching assistants, tutors, or mentors, and a number had significant involvement in community volunteer efforts. CRA gratefully acknowledges the support of Microsoft Research and […]