Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun and Google engineer Chris Urmson — the brains behind Google’s autonomous vehicle project — explained how the self-driving cars work and showed off videos of successful road tests during a recent keynote at the 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in San Francisco. According to IEEE Spectrum, which has complete coverage of the keynote: Google’s fleet of robotic Toyota Priuses has now logged more than 190,000 miles (about 300,000 kilometers), driving in city traffic, busy highways, and mountainous roads with only occasional human intervention. The project is still far from becoming commercially viable, but Google has set up a demonstration system on its campus, using driverless golf […]
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.
“How Google’s Self-Driving Car Works”
October 18th, 2011 / in big science, research horizons, Research News / by Erwin Gianchandani“Improving Brain-Computer Interfaces”
October 17th, 2011 / in big science, research horizons, Research News / by Erwin GianchandaniA Science Nation story published today describes a public-private partnership funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is attempting to link mind and machine to ultimately improve the living conditions of those with “locked-in syndrome” — a malady in which people with normal cognitive brain activity suffer severe paralysis, often from injuries or an illness such as Lou Gehrig’s disease. From the Science Nation article (see a video after the jump!):
Administration Seeking Input on National Bioeconomy Blueprint
October 17th, 2011 / in big science, policy, research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniLast month, the President announced plans to develop a National Bioeconomy Blueprint, describing government-wide steps “to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment.” And earlier this month, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a Request for Information (RFI), seeking input on how best to develop such a blueprint, including: strategies to meet grand challenges in lean budget times; commercialization and entrepreneurship opportunities to open new markets; research and development investments in areas that will provide the foundation for the bioeconomy; enhancements of workforce training to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers for the bioeconomy jobs of the […]
First Person: “One of My Most Exciting Internship Experiences”
October 16th, 2011 / in resources / by Erwin GianchandaniEditor’s note: As we’ve previously noted in this space (see here and here), the National Science Foundation (NSF) is soliciting applications for its 2012 East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S. Graduate Students (EAPSI). Shwetak Patel — an Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington who was recently named a MacArthur Fellowship — participated in the 2005 EAPSI program, visiting Jun Rekimoto at the Sony Computer Science Laboratories (CSL), while a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech. Here Shwetak describes his experiences — and encourages others in computer science (and related fields) to apply. One of my most exciting internship experiences came in 2005 as a part of the NSF EASPI program. Through […]
Announcing the 2011 Computing Innovation Fellows
October 14th, 2011 / in CIFellows / by Erwin GianchandaniWith support from the National Science Foundation, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) today named 20 talented recent Ph.D.s in computer science and allied fields 2011 Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows). These exceptionally talented researchers — from 18 different Ph.D.-granting colleges and universities — are beginning one- to two-year postdoctoral positions at 17 academic and industrial research institutions nationwide. They join a total of 107 others who have been supported through the CIFellows Project since 2009, as part of a short-term effort to forestall a permanent loss of research talent due to the financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn. The 2011 CIFellows were competitively selected from 177 applicants spanning 76 Ph.D.-granting colleges and […]
Susan Graham to Receive Ken Kennedy Award
October 12th, 2011 / in awards / by Erwin GianchandaniSusan L. Graham — Vice Chair of the CCC Council as well as the Pehong Chen Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Emerita and a Professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley — will receive this year’s ACM-IEEE Computer Society Ken Kennedy Award for her work on “foundational compilation algorithms and programming tools; research and discipline leadership; and exceptional mentoring“: Susan L. Graham of the University of California Berkeley will receive the ACM-IEEE Computer Society Ken Kennedy Award for contributions to computer programming tools that have significantly advanced software development. Graham’s research covers many areas of software, including human-computing interaction, programming systems, and high-performance computing. Her research collaborations have led […]
