National Science Foundation (NSF) Assistant Director for the Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) James Kurose has issued the following letter to the community to request input on federal datasets with potential to advance data science.  Dear Colleague: Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) requests input on possible datasets held by federal departments, agencies, and offices that would be useful in furthering research in data science, including machine learning. Over the past few years, Project Open Data (https://project-open-data.cio.gov/) has sought to identify and share best practices, examples, and software code to assist federal agencies with […]

The next WATCH talk, called Security Challenges in the Landscape of Emerging Digital Financial Services is Thursday, January 19th, from Noon-1pm EST. The presenter is Patrick Traynor is the John and Mary Lou Dasburg Preeminent Chair in Engineering and an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the security of mobile systems, with a concentration on telecommunications infrastructure and mobile devices. His research has uncovered critical vulnerabilities in cellular networks, made the first characterization of mobile malware in provider networks and offers a robust approach to detecting and combatting Caller-ID scams. He is also interested in Internet security and the systems challenges […]

The following is a guest blog post from Aaron Dubrow, Public Affairs Specialist for the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Gera Jochum, Communications Specialist for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate at the NSF. Today, the White House hosted its first Summit on Computer Science for All to celebrate progress and announce new commitments for the initiative. As the lead Federal agency responsible for building the research knowledge base for Computer Science (CS) education, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced more than $25 million in awards since the initiative was launched just seven months ago. These new awards accelerate NSF’s ongoing efforts […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by Tracy Kimbrel, Program Director in the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) at the National Science Foundation.   The NSF-wide Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. I encourage the CISE community to inform its eligible graduate students and graduating seniors about this program and to urge them to apply. US citizens and permanent residents who are planning to enter graduate school in an NSF-supported discipline next fall, or in the first two years of […]

National Science Foundation (NSF) Assistant Director for the Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) James Kurose has issued the following letter to the community to announce NSF’s  and CISE ‘s role in the new Advanced Wireless Research Initiative.  Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to let you know about NSF’s and CISE’s leadership role in a new White House Initiative being announced today (see http://go.wh.gov/M838be)  — the Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, which will feature more than $400 million over the next seven years to support fundamental wireless research and experimentation.  The centerpiece of this investment will be more than $85 million for the design, development, deployment, and operations of four city-scale platforms for advanced wireless […]

The next WATCH talk, called Cryptocurrencies: the ideas behind the hype is Thursday, July 21st, from Noon-1pm EDT. The presenter will be Arvind Narayanan, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Princeton. He leads a research team investigating the security, anonymity, and stability of cryptocurrencies as well as novel applications of block chains. He co-created an online course and textbook on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies. He also leads the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project to uncover how companies collect and use our personal information. His doctoral research showed the fundamental limits of anonymization, for which he received the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Award. Abstract Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have been polarizing. […]