The Computing Research Association

Computing Research News

January 2015 Vol. 27/No.1 ∫ Download PDF Version - 10 MB ∫

Federal Budget Report and Congressional Outlook for 2015

By Peter Harsha and Brian Mosley Full Article

Congress decided to be more Kris Kringle than Scrooge with science research budgets in its end-of-the-year budget wrap-up, delivering some surprising, but mostly small, increases to science agencies’ efforts. It was particularly good, relatively speaking, for the computing fields. While certainly not great, it was much better than simply flat funding or, worse, budget cuts like those endured by many other programs within the funding bills. And it certainly starts 2015 on a good note.

An Early Greeting from CISE

By Jim Kurose, Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Full Article

These are exciting and important times for our field. It’s a time of great advances within the core of computing, as well as unprecedented opportunities for research at the interfaces between computing, cyberinfrastructure, and many other disciplines. Within our core, we are seeing myriad advances in the increasingly intelligent computing systems that have become so inextricably woven into our lives; in the scale, functionality, effectiveness, security and resiliency of these systems; and in their underlying theoretical foundations. At the interfaces, computing plays a central role in recent national initiatives such as the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative, the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), US Ignite, and more. Taken together, our research and education investments are central to addressing national priorities, including health and well-being, environmental sustainability, public safety, advanced manufacturing, transportation, clean energy, and education and workforce development.

CRA Board Update

By CRA Staff Full Article

CRA has four new board members: David Culler (UC Berkeley), Eric de Sturler (Virginia Tech), David Ebert (Purdue), and Lise Getoor (UC Santa Cruz). Culler replaces Jim Kurose, who stepped down to become CISE AD, de Sturler replaces Robert Schreiber as the SIAM representative, Ebert replaces David Bader as the IEEE-CS representative, and Getoor replaces Henry Kautz as the AAAI representative. CRA thanks Bader, Kautz, Kurose and Schreiber for contributions during their service on the board.

Updates from the CCC

By Greg Hager, CCC Chair Full Article

It has been a busy fall for the CCC, hosting workshops on Uncertainty in Computation, Aging in Place, and BRAIN. Each represents a different thread of the CCC’s engagement with the research community – Uncertainty in Computation came from our open call for proposals, Aging in Place was developed in concert with NIH, and BRAIN was a collaboration with CISE. Still, the common themes in each are a unique, new set of opportunities for computing-related research, and the potential to enhance the impact of our field on areas of national interest. Look for workshop reports and/or white papers on these topics to be coming out in the near future.

Analysis of Current and Future Computer Science Needs via Advertised Faculty Searches

By Craig E. Wills, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Full Article

The wealth of faculty searches in Computer Science during this hiring season for positions starting in the Fall of 2015 affords the opportunity to study areas of Computer Science where departments are choosing to invest in new faculty hires. While the number and areas for faculty searches does not necessarily translate into the same for faculty hires, we believe that they provide insight into current and future needs within the discipline.

CCC BRAIN Workshop: Research Interfaces between Brain Science and Computer Science

By The CCC Blog Full Article

Early pioneers of computing such as Alan Turing, John Von Neuman and Herb Simon were fascinated by the possibility of computing opening a window into our understanding of the brain, and how understanding the brain might advance computing. A half century later, computing has made extraordinary progress, but much of the inner workings of the brain remain a mystery. Can we re-ignite the early promise of synergy between research on the human brain and computer science to the benefit of both fields?

CCC to Hold a Series of Workshops on Privacy by Design

By CCC Full Article

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will sponsor a series of workshops on Privacy by Design to frame a broader research vision that frames and explores the problem at the conceptual, engineering, design, operational, and organizational levels. A broader vision will allow researchers from various disciplines to interact and collaborate to develop solutions that address practical privacy needs. The first workshop will focus on the State of Research and Practice in the field.

Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline Infographic January 2015

By Betsy Bizot, CRA Director of Statistics and Evaluation Full Article

515 students who were 4th or 5th year undergraduates in computing programs reported their parental education, in-major GPA, and whether or not they had an REU during their undergraduate program. First generation college students were significantly less likely to have had an REU, even at the highest GPA levels. Other questions established that the reasons for nonparticipation were not lack of interest (first generation sophomores were equally as interested in an REU as non first generation students, 41% vs. 43%) or finances (first generation seniors who did not participate in REUs were no more likely to say that an REU didn’t pay well enough, 23% vs. 23% of those whose parents had bachelor’s degrees and 31% whose parents had graduate degrees). However, high-GPA first generation students were more likely to say that they were not aware of available research opportunities (students with GPA > 3.5, 48% of first generation students and 50% of those whose parents had bachelor’s degrees vs. 25% of those whose parents had graduate degrees). Therefore, REU programs might want to make a special outreach effort to these students to make sure that they are aware of opportunities and that they understand what is required to apply and participate.

From Graduate Student to Fellow: Research Community, Membership Levels, and Recognition

By Kathryn S McKinley, Microsoft Full Article

Every computer science graduate student learns early in their career which publication venues best match their research interests and where the best work in their area is appearing. These conferences are your research home. Every year, you should endeavor to submit, attend, network, and read the papers in these venues. For example, because I work in programming language design and implementation, I regularly read, attend, and submit to PLDI, OOPSLA, and ASPLOS. These activities build research expertise, expose you to new ideas and methodologies, help you focus your research efforts on important problems, and integrate you into your research community (Matthews, 2014).

Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards 2015

By CRA Staff Full Article

This year's nominees were a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several were authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others had made presentations at major conferences, and some had produced software artifacts that were in widespread use.

Call for CCC Council Nominations

By CCC Full Article

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is charged with catalyzing and empowering the U.S. computing research community to articulate and advance major research directions for the field. To do so, the CCC needs truly visionary leaders — people with great ideas, sound judgment, and the willingness to work hard to see things to completion. Please help the computing community by nominating such people for the Council.

Nominees by Petition Sought for CRA Board

By CRA Full Article

The Computing Research Association seeks your help in suggesting nominations for its Board of Directors. We seek individuals who have time, energy, initiative, and resources to work on CRA issues on behalf of the entire CRA community. Ours is a working board, and all members are expected to work on community issues.