Melanie Mitchell, Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council member and Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, was recently featured in a Scientific American article, ‘The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think with Analogies’. The article focused on explaining the importance of getting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to recognize and use analogies and included an interview on the topic from Quanta.  If and how AI can reach the same level of intelligence and independence as humans is an interdisciplinary problem that has plagued the field for many decades. Mitchell believes the key to success is getting these machines to think with analogies. The greatest advances in AI have focused on training to succeed […]

Earlier this week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, released their Climate Change 2021- The Physical Science Basis Report. The report is sobering. We know that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways, but this recent report warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. It shows how catastrophic the outlook will be if we don’t act now.  The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has released a new whitepaper on Computing Research for the Climate Crisis, coauthored by Nadya […]

The following is a letter to the community from Margaret Martonosi (Assistant Director) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE). Dear NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Community: NSF CISE has opened TWO Division Director searches, for the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) and the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS). Applications are due Oct 6, 2021, and the positions will start roughly June 2022 to allow transitional lead time. Here are the link to the postings: CCF Division Director Search https://usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/606590400 IIS Division Director Search https://usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/606590200 Additional information: Through IR/D, you can continue to conduct research and advise students. The position […]

On May 28th 2021, President Joe Biden released his $6 trillion request for the FY 2022 Federal Budget. A series of blogs analyzing the new budget was posted on the Computing Research Association’s Policy Blog. The budget reflects the new administration’s commitment to science with a 9% increase for Federal investments in government research and development including the following: nearly 20% increase for the National Science Foundation and the creation of a new Directorate of Technology Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) that would focus on technology development and transitioning federally funded research to the marketplace.  7% increase for funding to NASA 6% increase for DOE’s Office of Science  45% increase in […]

As part of efforts to improve scientific integrity, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Scientific Integrity Task Force are organizing a series of three virtual listening sessions on July 28-30 to hear from individual members of the public who produce, communicate, and use scientific and technical information. To help the Task Force understand how to strengthen the integrity of Federal Science, please sign-up to make a brief oral comment sharing your thoughts. Each of three virtual listening sessions will be organized around a particular theme as described below: Session 1: Communications – Effective policies and practices to improve the communication of scientific and technological information, […]

This past spring, the Computing Research Association (CRA) and its Computing Community Consortium (CCC) announced funding for a cohort of Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) for 2021, with strong support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The program sponsors two-year postdoctoral research positions in computing, as well as career development and cohort building activities, to provide a career-enhancing bridge experience for recent Ph.D. graduates. The program aims to address the continued disruption in hiring practices at academic institutions due to COVID-19. This effort was inspired by the CRA/CCC’s NSF-funded Computing Innovation Fellows Programs with cohorts starting 2009, 2010, and 2011, CRA’s Best Practices Memo on Computer Science Postdocs, and the Computing […]