The following is a special contribution to this blog by CCC Executive Council Member Mark Hill and workshop organizer Wade Shen of MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Recently DARPA ISAT organized a workshop on the future of Computer Aided Design tools called “Rethinking CAD”. The purpose of this workshop was to bring together industrial and academic experts from manufacturing and mechanical design fields to understand the limitations of current tools for exploration of design trade spaces for geometry, materials and microstructure in light of recent developments in 3D printing and additive manufacturing.  Here, we summarize the state of today’s technologies and the results of the DARPA ISAT workshop (full slides are available here). […]

Last month, 24 teams from around the country convened in Washington, D.C. to showcase their work in Cyber-Physical Systems at the Smart America Expo.  The demonstrations showcased ways that the these projects and others in the realm of the Internet of Things can improve transportation, emergency services, health care, security, energy conservation, manufacturing and more. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been a strong supporter of these projects, through the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program, investing more than $200 million over the last five years.  For more information and videos about some of the NSF-funded projects that were a part of the Smart America showcase, see this Huffington Post article titled “Dispatches […]

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is releasing its third segment in the Computing Research in Action Series.   This segment features the Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) research lab, led by Professor Shwetak Patel, at the University of Washington. The UbiComp lab, which consists of an interdisciplinary team of students (CS, EE, CE, ME), focuses on solving interesting and socially meaningful problems using a mix of hardware and software applications. The UbiComp lab focuses on four areas of ubiquitous computing: Novel interaction techniques: With the growing number of computers around us embedded into the environment, there is a need to interact with these computers beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse. Sustainability  sensing: Using computer science, machine learning and signal processing […]

Each year MIT’s magazine, MIT Technology Review, publishes a list 10 of breakthrough technologies that are most likely to change the world by fixing intractable problems. These technologies are defined as “an advance that gives people powerful new ways to use technology.” View the 10 breakthrough technologies of 2013 below: Deep Learning  With massive amounts of computational power, machines can now recognize objects and translate speech in real time. Artificial intelligence is finally getting smart.   Ultra-Efficient Solar Power  Doubling the efficiency of solar devices would completely change the economics of renewable energy. Here is a design that just might make it possible.   Big Data from Cheap Phones  Collecting […]

The Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance is hosting it’s fourth annual Wireless Health conference on November 1-3, 2013 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The mission of the conference is to “provide the highest-quality academic health and industrial research forum to develop an international community that will accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies for improving health and lowering costs.” To support it’s mission, the organizers have issued a Call for Papers, Abstracts and Research demonstrations. From the call for submissions: To Submit a Paper for Review: The committee solicits original contributions in Health Technology, Engineering and Computer Science disciplines with applications in clinical practice and innovative applications of wireless health principles and […]

As we’ve previously blogged, The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is turning to the Computing Research community for their input on the needs and potential payoff for further investment in mid-scale infrastructure, investments over $4 million but under $100 million. Examples include GENI, PlanetLab, Orbit, FutureGrid, and Emulab, all of which have transformed computing. The CCC is looking to answer the following question. What sort of investment in mid-scale infrastructure can you envision that would drive computing forward? It is our intention to host a workshop where the white papers would be presented, and approach NSF and other funding agencies to act on the (pending) demand for mid-scale infrastructure research funding. White […]