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2010 Class of Computing Innovation Fellows Announced; Program, in its Second Year, Seeks to Retain Recent PhDs in Computing Research

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 14, 2011

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) — a standing committee of the Computing Research Association (CRA) — today announced the 2010 class of Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows; http://cifellows.org). These 47 recent Ph.D. graduates have been competitively awarded one- to two-year postdoctoral positions at U.S. academic institutions and industrial organizations with basic computing research and teaching programs. Made possible by a $15 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to the CRA — the second such grant in as many years — the 2010 CIFellowships are a continuation of an effort begun in 2009 to forestall a permanent loss of research talent likely to occur as a consequence of the financial crisis.

The new cohort of CIFellows is comprised of 47 individuals from 34 different Ph.D-granting colleges and universities within the U.S., and collectively the CIFellows are assigned to mentors at 36 unique host organizations. They were selected from a pool of 218 applicants, spanning 78 different Ph.D.-granting colleges and universities and 105 possible host organizations. Like the 2009 CIFellows that came before them, the 2010 CIFellows will have uniquely independent research experiences that will help them sharpen their skills and enhance their credentials over the next one to two years.

To ensure broad participation and to build bridges between diverse institutions via the CIFellows, no more than two awardees earned their Ph.D.s from the same university, and no more than two awardees were assigned to the same host organization. Diversity of other forms — including research areas and individuals, etc. — were also encouraged. About 36 percent of the 2010 CIFellows are women.

The awarding of a second cohort of CIFellows follows overwhelmingly positive and beneficial experiences for the 2009 CIFellows and their mentors. Of the 60 CIFellows who started in the fall of 2009, 18 have now found other opportunities — including tenure-track faculty positions as well as permanent jobs at industrial research labs — and are not continuing in the Project for a second year. (All the rest are continuing in the CIFellows Project following successful mid-year evaluations.) For the 18 with other opportunities, the postdoctoral experiences were clearly beneficial, markedly enhancing their skills, credentials, and already stellar resumes. For example, one CIFellow demonstrated his capabilities through the development of a novel algorithm later featured in The Los Angeles Times (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/02/business/la-fi-ct-twitter3-2010apr03); the algorithm uses Twitter to gauge real-time interest in movies and accurately predict how they will perform at the box office on opening weekend. In another case, the chair of a faculty search committee wrote, "As the hiring officer for this [tenure-track] position, I can attest that [the CIFellow's] postdoctoral experience ... enhanced [the candidate's] attractiveness to us." In three cases, the CIFellows were offered positions by their host organizations.

As one CIFellow wrote on a recent evaluation, "I view my [CIFellowship] as a bridge between graduate school and an academic career," wrote one CIFellow mid-way through his first year in the program. "With respect to this, I believe my experience so far has been extremely successful. I started working on several exciting projects... I have already submitted three papers to conferences and workshops... and perhaps most importantly, I met and began collaborating with top researchers in my area."

Like the inaugural class, the 2010 CIFellows were selected through an intensive process that considered applicants' research backgrounds and proposed research projects. A Selection Committee reviewed and evaluated each application and recommended a slate of finalists to a Steering Committee. The latter — comprising co-principal investigators (PIs) of the two NSF grants — provided administrative, financial, and technical oversight, and was ultimately responsible for all award decisions. The PI of the 2010 NSF grant, Greg Andrews (University of Arizona), chaired both committees.

Selection Committee members were:

Gregory Abowd, Georgia Institute of Technology
Al Aho, Columbia University
Greg Andrews, University of Arizona (chair)
David Bader, Georgia Institute of Technology
Martin Berzins, University of Utah
Erik Demaine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bill Feiereisen, Intel Corporation
Jim Foley, Georgia Institute of Technology
Stephanie Forrest, University of New Mexico
Chad Jenkins, Brown University
M. Frans Kaashoek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (co-chair)
Henry Kautz, University of Rochester
Hank Korth, Lehigh University
Jim Kurose, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
James Larus, Microsoft Research
Rob Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hector Munoz-Avila, Lehigh University
Robin Murphy, Texas A&M University
Timothy Pinkston, University of Southern California
Sumeet Sandhu, Intel Research
Matthew Taylor, Lafayette College
Valerie Taylor, Texas A&M University
Josep Torrellas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jim Waldo, VMware

Steering Committee members were:

Greg Andrews, University of Arizona (chair)
Andrew Bernat, Computing Research Association
Susan Graham, University of California at Berkeley
Anita Jones, University of Virginia
M. Frans Kaashoek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ed Lazowska, University of Washington
Ran Libeskind-Hadas, Harvey Mudd College
Bobby Schnabel, Indiana University
Bob Sproull, Oracle

The 2010 class of CIFellows and their mentors includes:

CIFellow Ph.D.-granting university Research area Mentor Host organization
Jae-wook Ahn University of Pittsburgh Information systems/information science Ben Shneiderman University of Maryland-College Park
Alvin AuYoung University of California-San Diego Networks/operating systems Niraj Tolia HP Labs
Aruna Balasubramanian University of Massachusetts-Amherst Mobile/ubiquitous/embedded computing David Wetherall University of Washington
Robert Bocchino University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign Programming languages/compilers Jonathan Aldrich Carnegie Mellon University
Lillian Chang Carnegie Mellon University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Joshua Smith Intel Corp.
Yanhua Chen Wayne State University Scientific/medical informatics Peter Song University of Michigan
Marc Chiarini Tufts University Networks/operating systems Margo Seltzer Harvard University
David Choffnes Northwestern University Networks/operating systems Tom Anderson University of Washington
Tamara Clegg Georgia Institute of Technology CS education/educational technology Allison Druin University of Maryland-College Park
Jyotirmoy Deshmukh University of Texas-Austin Software engineering Rajeev Alur University of Pennsylvania
Xiaoning Ding Ohio State University-Main Campus Networks/operating systems Phillip Gibbons Intel Corp.
David Doty Iowa State University Theory/algorithms Erik Winfree California Institute of Technology
Jenny Finkel Stanford University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Michael Collins Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Samuel Gordon University of Maryland-College Park Theoretical Cryptography and Security Tal Malkin Columbia University
Elena Grigorescu Massachusetts Institute of Technology Theory/algorithms Chris Peikert Georgia Institute of Technology
Haryadi Gunawi University of Wisconsin-Madison Networks/operating systems Joseph Hellerstein University of California-Berkeley
David Harmon Columbia University Graphics/visualization Denis Zorin New York University
Timothy Havens University of Missouri-Columbia Databases/information retrieval/data mining Anil Jain Michigan State University
Michael Hay University of Massachusetts-Amherst Databases/information retrieval/data mining Johannes Gehrke Cornell University
Houman Homayoun University of California-Irvine Hardware/architecture Dean Tullsen University of California-San Diego
Shaili Jain Harvard University Social computing/social informatics Joan Feigenbaum Yale University
Saket Joshi Tufts University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Prasad Tadepalli Oregon State University
Thomas Kiehl Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Other -- systems biology, evolutionary computing Matthew Hynd University of Albany
Samantha Kleinberg New York University Scientific/medical informatics George Hripcsak Columbia University
J. Zico Kolter Stanford University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Russ Tedrake Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lukas Kroc Cornell University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Allon Percus Claremont Graduate University
Vijay Kumar Ohio State University-Main Campus Numerical computing/HPC/data-intensive scalable computing Jay Wylie HP Labs
Homin Lee Columbia University Theory/algorithms Adam Klivans University of Texas-Austin
Yuliya Lierler University of Texas-Austin AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Miroslaw Truszczynski University of Kentucky
Xiaojuan Ma Princeton University HCI/CSCW Jodi Forlizzi Carnegie Mellon University
Amon Millner Massachusetts Institute of Technology CS education/educational technology Lynn Stein Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Arifa Nisar Northwestern University Numerical computing/HPC/data-intensive scalable computing Ethan Miller University of California-Santa Cruz
Amit Pande Iowa State University Mobile/ubiquitous/embedded computing Prasant Mohapatra University of California-Davis
Sharoda Paul Pennsylvania State University HCI/CSCW Ed Chi Palo Alto Research Center
Brian Price Brigham Young University AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Scott Cohen Adobe Systems, Inc.
Dustin Reishus University of Southern California Other - self-assembly/self-organization Nikolaus Correll University of Colorado-Boulder
Thomas Schmid University of California-Los Angeles Mobile/ubiquitous/embedded computing Prabal Dutta University of Michigan
Ricky Sethi University of California-Riverside AI/machine learning/robotics/vision Jenn Vaughan University of California-Los Angeles
Saurabh Srivastava University of Maryland-College Park Programming languages/compilers Rastislav Bodik University of California-Berkeley
Muthuramakrishnan Venkitasubramaniam Cornell University Information assurance/security/privacy/cryptography Yevgeniy Dodis New York University
Erin Walker Carnegie Mellon University CS education/educational technology Winslow Burleson Arizona State University
Susan Wyche Georgia Institute of Technology Hardware/architecture Steve Harrison Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Yinglong Xia University of Southern California Numerical computing/HPC/data-intensive scalable computing Anshul Gupta IBM Research
Yang Xiang Kent State University Scientific/medical informatics Kun Huang Ohio State University
Cem Yuksel Texas A&M University Graphics/visualization Doug James Cornell University
Ting Zhu University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Networks/operating systems Don Towsley University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Caroline Ziemkiewicz University of North Carolina-Charlotte Graphics/visualization David Laidlaw Brown University

 

And the 2009 CIFellows who are continuing for a second year include:

CIFellow PhD Institution Field of Research Mentor Host Institution
Zlatan Aksamija University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Computational Neuroscience, etc. Irena Knezevic University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cindy Bethel University of South Florida AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Brian Scassellati Yale
Carleton Bosley New York University Information Assurance / Security / Privacy / Cryptography Antonio Nicolosi Stevens Institute of Technology
Yuriy Brun University of Southern California Software Engineering David Notkin University of Washington
Nicholas Diakopoulos Georgia Tech HCI/CSCW Mor Naaman Rutgers University
Jeremy Fineman MIT Theory / Algorithms Guy Blelloch Carnegie Mellon University
Ronald Garcia Indiana University-Bloomington Programming Languages/Compilers Frank Pfenning Carnegie Mellon University
Ragib Hasan University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Information Assurance / Security / Privacy / Cryptography Randal Burns Johns Hopkins University
Daniel Howe New York University Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Computational Neuroscience, etc. Andy van Dam Brown University
Yuho Jin Texas A&M Hardware / Architecture Timothy Pinkston University of Southern California
Jeffrey Johns University of Massachusetts-Amherst AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Ronald Parr Duke University
Yong Kil UC Davis Graphics/Visualization Marshall Bern Xerox PARC
Dara Kusic Drexel Networks/Operating Systems Daniel Mosse University of Pittsburgh
Edgar Lobaton University of California-Berkeley AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Ron Alterovitz University of North Carolina
Cristian Lumezanu University of Maryland-College Park Networks/Operating Systems Nick Feamster Georgia Tech
Niti Madan University of Utah Hardware / Architecture Pradip Bose IBM
Victoria Manfredi University of Massachusetts-Amherst Networks/Operating Systems Mark Crovella Boston University
Damon McCoy University of Colorado at Boulder Information Assurance / Security / Privacy / Cryptography Stefan Savage University of California-San Diego
Andrew McPherson University of Pennsylvania HCI/CSCW Youngmoo Kim Drexel
Miriah Meyer University of Utah Graphics/Visualization Hanspeter Pfister Harvard
Lilyana Mihalkova University of Texas at Austin AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Lise Getoor University of Maryland
Antonina Mitrofanova New York University Scientific/Medical Informatics2 Andrea Califano Columbia University
Deidra Morrison Northwestern University Social Computing / Social Informatics Juan Gilbert Clemson University
Ifeoma Nwogu SUNY Buffalo AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Christopher Brown University of Rochester
Iris Oved Rutgers University-New Brunswick AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Paul Cohen University of Arizona
Jeff Phillips Duke University Theory / Algorithms Suresh Venkatasubramanian University of Utah
Sally Pias New Mexico State University Scientific/Medical Informatics2 Carlos Simmerling SUNY Stony Brook
Anna Pyayt University of Washington-Seattle Campus Hardware / Architecture Olav Solgaard Stanford University
Leena Razzaq Worcester Polytechnic Institute Computer Science Education / Educational Technology Beverly Woolf University of Massachussetts-Amherst
Guy Rothblum MIT Theory / Algorithms Boaz Barak Princeton University
Sushmita Roy University of New Mexico Scientific/Medical Informatics2 Aviv Regev Broad Institute
Linda Sellie University of Chicago AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Lisa Hellerstein New York University
Stelios Sidiroglou Columbia University Information Assurance / Security / Privacy / Cryptography Martin Rinard MIT
David Soloveichik California Institute of Technology Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Computational Neuroscience, etc. Georg Seelig University of Washington
Veselin Stoyanov Cornell University AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision Jason Eisner Johns Hopkins University
Julia Stoyanovich Columbia University Databases / Information Retrieval / Data Mining Susan Davidson University of Pennsylvania
Cui Tao Brigham Young University Scientific/Medical Informatics2 Christopher Chute Mayo Clinic
Lydia Tapia Texas A&M Scientific/Medical Informatics2 Ron Elber University of Texas at Austin
David Van Horn Brandeis University Programming Languages/Compilers Matthias Felleisen Northeastern University
Virginia Vassilevska Williams Carnegie Mellon University Theory / Algorithms Satish Rao University of California-Berkeley
Stephen Voida Georgia Tech HCI/CSCW Gloria Mark UC Irvine
Weijun Xiao University of Rhode Island Hardware / Architecture David Lilja University of Minnesota
Liangjun Zhang University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Computational Neuroscience, etc. Jean-Claude Latombe Stanford University

 

To learn more about any of the CIFellows: Visit http://cifellows.org/network and view their curriculum vita and research abstracts.

About the CCC: The CCC (http://cra.org/ccc) was established in 2007 under a cooperative agreement between the CRA and the NSF. A standing committee of the CRA, the CCC seeks to mobilize the computing research community to debate long-range challenges and build consensus around specific research visions. The CCC specifically pursues the next big computing ideas that will define the future of the field, attract the very best talent, and catalyze research investment and public support in the long term.

For more information: Contact Dr. Erwin Gianchandani, Director of the Computing Community Consortium & Computing Innovation Fellows Project: erwin [@] cra.org; 202-266-2936.