Computing Community Consortium Blog

The goal of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community to debate longer range, more audacious research challenges; to build consensus around research visions; to evolve the most promising visions toward clearly defined initiatives; and to work with the funding organizations to move challenges and visions toward funding initiatives. The purpose of this blog is to provide a more immediate, online mechanism for dissemination of visioning concepts and community discussion/debate about them.


Dear Colleague Letter: Clean Energy Technology RAISE or EAGER Proposals

May 18th, 2023 / in Announcements, climate / by Maddy Hunter

The following is a joint Dear Colleague Letter from eight Assistant Directors at the National Science Foundation – Susan S. Margulies (Directorate for Engineering), Sean L. Jones (Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Simon Malcomber (Directorate for Biological Sciences), Margaret Martonosi (Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering), Alexandra R. Isern (Directorate for Geosciences), Sylvia M. Butterfield (Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences),  James L. Moore III (Directorate for STEM Education) and Erwin Gianchandani (Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships). With this DCL, the National Science Foundation (NSF) invites interdisciplinary groups of Principal Investigators (PIs) to develop potentially transformative, convergent, fundamental research proposals in the area of clean energy […]

The Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Promote Responsible AI Innovation that Protects Americans’ Rights and Safety

May 16th, 2023 / in AI / by Maddy Hunter

The development and implementation of responsible artificial intelligence systems has come to the forefront of conversations and concerns in government, industry and academia. Last week the Biden-Harris Administration introduced new actions to advance responsible AI. The actions include: New investments to power responsible American AI research and development (R&D). The National Science Foundation is announcing $140 million in funding to launch seven new National AI Research Institutes. This investment will bring the total number of Institutes to 25 across the country, and extend the network of organizations involved into nearly every state. These Institutes catalyze collaborative efforts across institutions of higher education, federal agencies, industry, and others to pursue transformative AI […]

ACM Article Featuring CCC Council Member David Danks on AAAS Session

May 9th, 2023 / in AAAS, AI, Announcements / by Maddy Hunter

Computing Community Consortium (CCC) council member David Danks was recently featured on ACM News for his involvement in a CCC-sponsored scientific session at AAAS 2023 “Maintaining a Rich Breadth for Artificial Intelligence.” The session featured discussions highlighting the importance of incorporating a broad range of multi-discipline research and expertise. Panelists recognized that neural networks and deep learning have driven progress in AI over the year resulting in an imbalance and dominance of these disciplines in AI research. These silos can stunt the development of AI and lead to missed opportunities for growth in the field. Accompanied by panelists Melanie Mitchell and Bo Li, David Danks discussion topic: “Let a Thousand […]

Announcing Call for Blue Sky Papers Track at ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction

May 3rd, 2023 / in Blue Sky / by Maddy Hunter

The 25th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction will be in Paris, France from October 9-13th, 2023. The CCC is pleased to partner with ACM ICMI to continue the Blue Sky Paper track, initialized in 2021 and continued in 2022, that emphasizes innovative, visionary, and high-impact contributions. This track solicits papers relevant to ICMI content that go beyond the usual research paper to present new visions that stimulate the ICMI community to pursue innovative new directions. They may challenge existing assumptions and methodologies or propose new applications or theories. The papers are encouraged to present high-risk controversial ideas. Submitted papers are expected to represent deep reflection, argue rigorously, and present […]

American Academy of Arts and Science New Members

May 1st, 2023 / in AAAS, Announcements, awards / by Maddy Hunter

The American Academy of Arts and Science (AAAS) recently announced 269 new members elected to the academy. Among them are nine new members under the “computer science” category, including several that have worked closely with the Computing Research Association, CRA-Widening Participation, and  Computing Community Consortium in the past.  The Academy is an honorary society that recognizes outstanding individuals across all disciplines, perspectives, and professions. Founded in 1780 the American Academy of Arts and Science brings together cutting-edge researchers to examine new ideas and work together to  “cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” Please […]

CCC at AAAS Panel Recap: “Maintaining a Rich Breadth for Artificial Intelligence” Q&A

April 28th, 2023 / in AAAS, AI, CCC / by Catherine Gill

This blog post is a continuation of yesterday’s summary of the Maintaining a Rich Breadth for Artificial Intelligence panel at the 2023 AAAS meeting. This panel was moderated by Maria Gini (University of Minnesota) and the panel comprised David Danks (University of California – San Diego), Bo Li (University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign), and Melanie Mitchell (Santa Fe Institute)   Following the panel, Dr. Gini opened the discussion up to the audience for Q&A. The first question came from a researcher in the audience:   To what extent do you think homogeneity is an effect of cost in terms of the available hardware? Neural networks are cheap to create and […]