Computing Community Consortium: New Director Dr. Ann Drobnis

By Ann Drobnis, Director of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC)

I am excited to take on my new role as Director of the Computing Community Consortium and lead the CCC as it emerges from startup mode into sustainability as the arm of CRA that works with the computing research community to create and enable visions for future computing research.  I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the community as we embark on a new chapter for the CCC.

Before I can share my vision for how we will get there, let me tell you a bit about myself.  Most recently, I was an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation working on education and workforce development issues for the CISE Directorate.  I spent most of my time working on the CS10K Project, whose goal is to get academically rigorous computer science courses into 10,000 high schools by 2016.  This is a much needed effort to create the research and workforce pipeline that our field so desperately needs.  Prior to my time at NSF, I taught high school computer science and math at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  I have a passion for broadening participation in computing, as my doctoral research was focused on ways to bring more females into the field. 

We are currently at a critical time in our nation’s history where computing truly is impacting everything we do.   More importantly, computing is only going to become more ubiquitous in all fields.   It is my hope to  advance CCC’s mission by working both within and outside of the computing field to ensure that the role of computing is not simply an afterthought but instead is at the forefront of all interdisciplinary discussions, from health to security to sustainability, as these and other fields look to determine their own future visions.  

I look forward to meeting and working with all of you as we make CCC, CRA, and our field ever more vibrant.