This weekend, The New York Times had an article titled 10 Courses With a Twist by Laura Pappano.  Pappano describes that institutions of higher education are changing their models and putting more emphasis on teaching, making the learning experience not just be for the sake of the course, but applicable to life. Students still file into lecture halls and classrooms, but once they’re seated, it’s clear that these courses are different. They mess with the old models. And they give students an experience that might change how they think, what they care about or even how they spend their lives. Topping the list is Introduction to Computer Science  (CS50) at Harvard, taught by Dr. David Malan.  Malan […]

The next WATCH Talk is scheduled for April 17 at noon EST. Deborah Frincke will discuss Education and Training within the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS). Dr. Frincke  is the NSA/CSS Associate Director for Education and Training, leads the National Cryptologic School (NCS)  titled as the NCS Commandant, and manages a worldwide multiservice military and civilian, corporate-level learning organization to deliver education, training and career development to members of the NSA/CSS workforce.   Abstract Education and Training within the National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a complex, global, mission-driven effort, incorporating essentially every aspect of learning that an employee might require. Whether civilian or military, encompassing a short tour or multiple […]

The use of computer science is making significant contributions on improving the treatment of cancer. A recent New York Times article, highlighted how oncologists are using computer science to increase the scalability of personalized cancer treatments. Thirty years ago, sequencing a piece of DNA took years, now computer software can do the same job in seconds. “The idea is simple. Oncologists will get a tumor biopsy and have its genome sequenced. They will identify the mutations in the cancer cells, and they will draw up a list of drugs to treat each patient’s particular mix of mutations.” Although it’s possible to create personalized treatments, it is not yet scalable. There […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Gera Jochum.  Jochum is the Communications Specialist for the Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The National Science Foundation (NSF) released its first issue of the third volume of CS Bits & Bytes today. The issue focuses on the Raspberry Pi platform, which was created as a cheap, accessible and programmable computer that has been used around the world to demonstrate how computers work.  The use of Raspberry Pi units to build a cluster called Meteor by Rick Wagner of the San Diego Supercomputing Center is featured.  Wagner says, The low cost of the […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Ian Stevenson. Stevenson was a 2011-2013 Computing Innovation Fellow (CIFellow) at the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Psychology. In 1939 Nobel Prize winner E.D. Adrian started off one of his famous papers by saying, “Although it is easy to demonstrate the electrical activity of the brain we are still some way from understanding the full meaning of our records.” 75 years later this could still be the lede of just about any paper in neuroscience. A key challenge of “understanding the […]

Farnam Jahanian, Assistant Director for the Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been selected as the new Vice President for Research at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), beginning September 1. Prior to joining NSF in 2011, Jahanian took leave from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he is the Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He served as chair for Computer Science and Engineering from 2007 to 2011 and as director of the Software Systems Laboratory from 1997 to 2000. Farnam brings to CMU a wealth of expertise and leadership skills, not only in supporting and […]