Today at the biennial Snowbird Conference, Jan Cuny (NSF), Owen Astrachan (Duke University), and Larry Snyder (U. Washington) gave an inspiring talk about a new advanced placement course in computer science that is being developed by a group sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the College Board. The new “AP Computer Science: Principles” course is designed to expose students to computer science as a creative and intellectually rich endeavor that has an impact on society. The Principles course comes in response to the observation that the current offerings at most high schools are not appealing to many students. These courses are either on computing literacy (e.g. using word processors […]
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.
Towards a New AP Course in Computer Science
July 19th, 2010 / in conference reports, pipeline / by Ran Libeskind-HadasFriday’s PCAST meeting: Science envoys, health IT, STEM education
July 18th, 2010 / in policy, research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniThe President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) held its July 2010 meeting at the National Academies in Washington, DC, on Friday. The hearing began with a session on “Science, Technology, and Diplomacy” that featured the three founding members of the Science Envoys program – Bruce Alberts, Elias Zerhouni, and Ahmed Zewail – speaking candidly about their experiences as part of this new diplomatic effort, which places U.S. scientists in foreign nations to promote international relations. The three envoys shared insights they had gleaned while trying to improve diplomatic relations with Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, Qatar, Turkey, and the U.A.E. A prevailing sentiment was the urgent need for a […]
A New Kind of Teacher
July 16th, 2010 / in Uncategorized / by Erwin GianchandaniLast Saturday, the New York Times Magazine published the fourth installment in its “Smarter Than You Think” series, this one titled “Students, Meet your New Teacher, Mr. Robot.” The article highlights the use of robots as teachers of young students. Imbued with boundless patience and ability to recall facts, robots hold promise as effective teachers in high-repetition scenarios such as language class autism therapy. Teams from UCSD, MIT, UConn, etc., are field-testing teaching robots for a variety of uses. The results of these tests have been positive and the future use of robots in the classroom seems likely. The article also discusses the Holy Grail of artificial intelligence — teaching […]
Peter Lee Joins Microsoft Research
July 15th, 2010 / in Uncategorized / by Erwin GianchandaniPeter Lee, a past member of the CCC Council and the PI of the first CIFellows Project, today was named the Managing Director of Microsoft Research Redmond, effective this fall. In joining Microsoft Research, Peter departs DARPA, where he has been the Director of the agency’s Transformational Convergence Technology Office (TCTO) for the past year. There Peter has challenged conventional Department of Defense (DoD) approaches to computer science research by infusing new energy into [DARPA]’s relationships with academia and industry and reinforcing the agency’s unique role at the intersection of research and application. Today, TCTO is re-establishing basic research programs in a broad range of rapidly emerging computing-enabled technology areas […]
Paro: Helping dementia patients
July 15th, 2010 / in research horizons / by Erwin GianchandaniLast week Amy Harmon wrote the third installment of the awesome New York Times Magazine series “Smarter Than You Think.” The article, titled ‘Discovering a Soft Sport for Circuitry – Robot Machines as Companions,’ details the use of artificial intelligent machines as human companions. In particular, the article highlights Paro — a robotic baby harp seal — used in nursing homes as a therapeutic aid for the elderly. Paro uses 14 different sensors, two microprocessors, and a whole slew of AI algorithms to illicit compassionate responses from users and convincingly behave as a real-life animal. The Paro robot is used to help patients suffering with dementia and provide comfort in […]
Technological and Societal Trends
July 8th, 2010 / in Uncategorized / by Ed LazowskaI’m trying to compile a list of major technological and societal trends that influence computing research. Here’s my list. Please post your own suggestions! Recent technological and societal trends Ubiquitous connectivity, and thus true mobility Massive computational capability available to everyone, through the cloud Exponentially increasing data volumes – from ubiquitous sensors, from higher-volume sensors (digital imagers everywhere!), and from the creation of all information in digital form – has led to a torrent of data which must be transferred, stored, and mined: “data to knowledge to action” Social computing – the way people interact has been transformed; the data we have from and about people is transforming All transactions […]
