Ratings Redux

On behalf of the CRA Board

By by Eric Grimson, CRA Board Chair Full Article

In the May 2010 issue of Computing Research News, we provided a perspective on our interactions with the National Research Council group tasked with evaluating and ranking doctoral programs. We outlined concerns with the pending ranking system, especially with regard to its plans to evaluate faculty publications and citations using a method we believe to be flawed. As reported in the CRN article, the NRC’s compromise was to remove the citation analysis and to augment the data used in the report with a list of conferences provided by the CRA (see the CRA web site for a link to the list), together with CVs submitted by faculty to the NRC.

NSF Appoints New CISE Head and Senior Staff

By CRA Full Article

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that Farnam Jahanian, professor and chair of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, will become the new head of its Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) directorate on February 1, 2011.

Broader Impacts - Should You Care?

Expanding the Pipeline

By Tracy Camp and Juan Gilbert Full Article

Yes! For many reasons, you should definitely care about broader impacts. First, many CISE researchers report that broader impact efforts bring inspiration, personal satisfaction and new perspectives on their work. What could be more rewarding than seeing significant impact from your efforts? Second, if you receive federal funds for your research, then you should feel a moral obligation to return the taxpayers' investment by participating in efforts that will ultimately benefit society.

Congress Adjourns Without Finishing Work on Funding, Science Program

By Peter Harsha Full Article

As predicted by many in the science advocacy community, Congress adjourned well in advance of the November mid-term elections without having finished work on any spending bills or a reauthorization of federal research and education programs. Without completed 2011 appropriations, federal agencies began the 2011 fiscal year with spending capped at the 2010 fiscal year levels—a situation that will remain until Congress returns to finish the 2011 appropriations process. Complicating matters is the likelihood of significant change in the composition and, perhaps, leadership of Congress, making it difficult to predict exactly how and when Congress will complete appropriations.

Turning Visions into Federal Programs

By Erwin P. Gianchandani and Ed Lazowska, Computing Community Consortium Full Article

Three years into a joint experiment by the National Science Foundation and the Comput-ing Research Association, the Computing Community Consortium continues to mobilize the community to debate long-range research challenges and to build consensus around specific research visions. In addition, consistent with its overall mission, the CCC is articulating these visions to newly cultivated contacts among Federal funding agencies in Washington.

Cross Flow Among the 2010 Computing Innovation Fellows

By Erwin P. Gianchandani Full Article

For a second straight year, this summer the Computing Research Association, with fund-ing from the National Science Foundation, extended offers of one- to two-year postdoctoral fel-lowships to new Ph.D.s, in an attempt to retain recent graduates in computing research and teaching during difficult economic times (see 1,2 for details). A key requirement of the CIFellows Project has been to support intellectual diversity in computing fields at U.S. organizations.