The internet is abuzz with stories about a purported proof that the class P is not equal to the class NP.  The author of the proof is Dr. Vinay Deolalikar, a Principal Research Scientist at HP Lab.  Professor Richard Lipton’s blog provides some interesting comments and reflections on this manuscript.

Last week, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced a new report titled “Telling the Stories of the BPC Alliances”. This report describes how the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program has had tremendous success in boosting participation of underserved students in computer science. The BPC program funds 11 alliances involving a diverse set of institutions—large research universities, historically black colleges, states, middle and high schools, and various non-profit organizations. Together, they leverage their faculty and financial resources to encourage more students to pursue computer science degrees, and, ultimately, careers. While national participation in computer science is declining, the number of students pursuing CS […]

In a recent blog post “Reflections on the NNI – Coordination & Partnerships” the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy again cites the CCC: “A partnership model to effectively engage the research community in agenda-setting is the Computing Community Consortium (CCC). With support from the National Science Foundation, the CCC allows the computer science community to establish a vision for the field and quickly mobilize the community to pursue “big ideas.” Could this type of consortium work for the nanotechnology research community?”

The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Research (NCER) is seeking applications responsive to 14 long-term research programs under its Education Research Grant Programs. Some of these programs are particularly relevant for computing researchers. For example, the RFA for NCER’s Education Technology program (RFA CDFA 84.305a) states: To support research on education technology tools that are designed to provide or support instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, or science (including pre-reading, pre-writing, early mathematics, and early science) or to provide professional development for teachers related to instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, or science. The Institute intends to contribute to improvement of reading, writing, mathematics, and science learning by (1) developing […]