Science Funding Again Headed for Uncertain Wrap-Up

By Peter Harsha Full Article

Despite what appear to be generous funding levels for FY 2009 approved by congressional appropriators for federal science agencies, most in the science advocacy community are bracing for another year in which science funding falls victim to bigger political concerns.

CS Majors Ten Years After Graduation

By Jay Vegso Full Article

There are few good sources of information about what happens to undergraduates after they receive their degrees. One is the National Center for Education Statistics‘ Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B). The most recent B&B report provides snapshots of work and life experiences in 1994, 1997 and 2003 for those who received undergraduate degrees in 1992-93. It divides majors into those that are "academic" or "career-oriented", with computer science (CS) included in the latter (along with business, education, health, and engineering).

Research, Teaching and Service: Dynamic Balance

Musings from the Chair

By Dan Reed, CRA Board Chair Full Article

You are a newly minted Ph.D. recipient who landed a faculty position at a research university. The fall semester is just beginning, and you are simultaneously excited and a bit apprehensive. University life is unchanged and also surprisingly new—writing research proposals, teaching classes and serving on faculty committees. Your friends and new colleagues are giving you sometimes conflicting advice on time management and priorities. What really matters? How do you choose? How do you find your own path?

Best Practices in Promotion and Tenure of Interdisciplinary Faculty

By Martha E. Pollack and Marc Snir Full Article

Interdisciplinary research and education is an increasingly important feature of the academic landscape. The fields of computing and information science and engineering are no exception: CISE researchers collaborate with electrical engineers in the design of low-power chips; with linguists in the development of natural-language processing systems; with education experts on the use of digital technologies in formal and informal education; with biologists in the exploration of the genetic code; with economists in the formation of theories of on-line commerce; and with statisticians in the discovery of new ways to extract information from rich sets of data—to name just a few examples. Some of these efforts have even led to the establishment of new disciplines, such as bioinformatics and data mining. While “core” areas of computation, such as operating systems, programming languages, networking, and others, will continue to produce key advances, there is an emergent agreement among computer and information scientists that close interactions with other disciplines are essential to the health and advancement of our field.