In two articles in Science – the flagship publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – CCC Chair Ed Lazowska is interviewed on career futures in Computer Science.  An example from an extensive Q&A: Q: What’s new and emerging in computer science? If you were in training today, about to choose a thesis area, what subfields would you look at? E.L.: Computer science is a field of limitless opportunity, and limitless impact. We are terrible at predicting the future: We overestimate what can be achieved in 10 years, and we underestimate what can be achieved in 50. Look back 10 or 12 years. Did we foresee the […]

As we enter the second year of the Federal “Big Data Initiative,” the Administration is encouraging multiple stakeholders to develop and participate in Big Data innovation projects across the country. Later this year, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSF, and other agencies plan to convene an event that highlights high-impact collaborations and identifies areas for expanded collaboration between the public and private sectors. The Administration is particularly interested in projects and initiatives that: Advance technologies that support Big Data and data analytics; Educate and expand the Big Data workforce; Develop, demonstrate and evaluate applications of Big Data that improve key outcomes in economic growth, job creation, education, health, […]

The following was submitted by Farnam Jahanian, NSF Assistant Director for CISE. Dear Colleagues, The National Science Foundation CISE Directorate is pleased to announce the formation of a search committee for the Director of the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (ACI, formerly the Office of Cyberinfrastructure). Dr. Alan Blatecky will be finishing his term as ACI Division Director at the end of this summer – we greatly appreciate his expertise and leadership for the coordination and support of NSF’s cyberinfrastructure during his tenure! Announcements for the search for his replacement can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/cise/news/2013-ACI-Annoucement.jsp and on USAJOBS at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/339364500?org=NSF. Please feel free to contact any of the following search committee members to nominate candidates; self-nominations are […]

The Congressional Robotics Caucus held a briefing this morning on the Robotics Roadmap 2.0(PDF), a follow up report to the CCC-led Robotics Roadmap(PDF) published in 2009. Click here to view the CRA Policy Blog summary of the briefing.  

The Computing Community Consortium is seeking community input to better understand the potential needs and payoff for additional investments in mid-scale infrastructure for computing research. NSF spends significantly less on shared research infrastructure for computing research than it does for many other fields. By “shared research infrastructure” we mean experimental hardware and/or software and associated instrumentation that serves a significant portion of the research community (versus a small set of investigators). In other fields, such shared research infrastructure includes equipment such as telescopes, ocean observatories, supercomputers, and field stations. We specifically are interested in “mid-scale” infrastructure investments, defined as investments of over $4 million but under $100 million. GENI, PlanetLab, […]

On Wednesday, March 20, a new Robotics roadmap will be presented to the Congressional Caucus on Robotics. The presentation program will include: • Overview – Henrik Christensen • Manufacturing – Rethink Robotics – Rodney Brooks • Logistics – KIVA Systems/Amazon – Pete Wurman • Healthcare – Eksos Bionics – Nathan Harding The new Robotics roadmap, organized by the Robotics Virtual Organization, includes updates to the sections on manufacturing, healthcare/medical robotics, and services. In addition it has two new sections on defense and space applications in recognition of the important role that space and defense robotics has both to R&D but also as early adopters. The new report is a follow-up […]