Two Computing Bills Marked Up Today

On March 14, 2013, In Computing Education, Diversity in Computing, Policy, Research, Security, By MelissaNorr

Today the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee marked up two computing bills for floor consideration. HR 756, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2013, and HR 967, the Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013, both of which had passed in the House of Representatives in previous Congressional sessions but not taken up by the Senate. CRA has, both now and in the past, endorsed both of these bills.

The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act promotes education, training, awareness, and research in cybersecurity via authorizing of federal research funding, scholarships, and coordination of programs across NITRD agencies. The legislation requires participating agencies, in conjunction with the National Coordinating Office, to develop strategic plans for federal cybersecurity research. It would also prioritize cyberesecurity research at participating agencies such as NSF. A number of amendments were added during the markup to clarify and specify the inclusion of women, veterans, and community colleges in the education and training provisions as well as to require the evaluation of higher education courses and degrees in cybersecurity. There were also amendments to increase the NIST role in research in the security of the IT supply chain and in the science of cybersecurity.

The Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013 updates the existing NITRD bill and enacts several of the recommendations from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Specifically, the bill requires the NITRD agencies to create a five-year strategic plan for the program, and to have the program’s progress periodically reviewed by a committee of IT experts from academia and industry. Like, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, this bill emphasizes education and attracting women and minorities to get degrees in computing fields. It would also examine the use of cloud computing for federally funded research. Fewer amendments were offered on the NITRD bill than the Cybersecurity Enhancement bill and they were mostly to reflect changes and programs that are already being done under the bill, such as the cyberphysical systems program.

Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) noted that CRA and several other groups such as ACM and IEEE-CS also supported the bills. CRA led the community with a joint endorsement letter that was sent to the Committee.

 
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Undergrad Computer Science Enrollments Rise for Fifth Straight Year — CRA Taulbee Report

On March 8, 2013, In CRA, Diversity in Computing, People, Uncategorized, By SharSteed

The number of new undergraduate computing majors among U.S. computer science departments rose an astonishing 29.2 percent this year, according to new data released today by the Computing Research Association.

The average number of CS majors per U.S. CS departmentThe data appears in Computing Degrees and Enrollment Trends, a special report from the 2011-2012 CRA Taulbee Survey of the organization’s member departments. Among schools who responded to the survey both this year and last, the increase was 22.8 percent.

Overall Ph.D. production in computing programs reported in the survey reached its highest level ever, with 1,929. This represents an 8.2 percent increase over 2010-11. Among those departments reporting both this year and last year, the number of total doctoral degrees increased by 5.2 percent. More than 55 percent of those new degree holders took jobs in industry, with the remainder finding academic or government positions, or self-employment. Only 0.4 percent reported unemployment. The survey also found that bachelor’s degree production in computing fields increased by 19.8 percent overall, and 16.6 percent among those departments that reported both years. Production of Bachelor's Degrees in the US (CS, CE and I Departments)

The CRA Taulbee Survey is conducted annually by the CRA to document trends in student enrollment, degree production, employment of graduates, and faculty salaries in academic units in the United States and Canada that grant the Ph.D. in computer science, computer engineering, or information. CRA today released its Computing Degrees and Enrollment Trends, 2011-12 report. The full Taulbee dataset will be released to the public in May and published in CRA’s Computing Research News.

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IT Research Hearing Focuses on Security, Education

On February 15, 2013, In Computing Community Consortium (CCC), Computing Education, Diversity in Computing, Events, Funding, People, Policy, By MelissaNorr

As noted in a previous post, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research held a hearing on Applications for Information Technology Research and Development.

CCC Chair and former CRA Board Chair Ed Lazowska, CRA-W Chair and current CRA Board Member Kathryn McKinley, representing Microsoft, and Kelly Gaither of the University of Texas at Austin testified on behalf of the computing community and articulated the importance of federal funding for computing research.

Gaither testified first and spoke to the need for interdisciplinary research as computing is an integral piece of other research areas. She also talked about how research isn’t just about end products and discoveries but about the researchers that are supported and the opportunities researchers have because of federal funding.

Ed and Kathryn

McKinley testified about the fact that computing is reaching some fundamental limits and that research is needed to make breakthroughs to overcome those limits. She noted that while the US is still leading the world in computing research, other nations are investing more and if we do not keep up, we will lose our competitive advantage. McKinley also addressed the diversity problem in computing and noted that we need far more graduates than we currently have and that we will have to attract more women and minorities if we want to have enough people to fill the needs of the future in computing.

Lazowska spoke about the NITRD program’s history and the role of computing in the US economy. He showed an NRC chart on research and IT sectors with billion dollar markets. Lazowska also talked about the need to integrate security into the building of systems and not added on at the end as a defensive measure when questioned about cybersecurity by Congressman Steven Stockman (R-TX). Stockman, who credits support from the fiscally-conservative Tea Party for his election, had the quote of the hearing, when after having pressed Lazowska for an order-of-magnitude estimate on how much additional investment in fundamental cyber security research would move the needle seemed surprised that the number PITAC requested back in 2005 was “only” $90 million. “Well, I’m interested in getting you billions, not millions,” he said, indicating he was very concerned about the U.S. vulnerability to cyber attack.

The Subcommittee members were very interested in how to tackle the education problem in computing as well as how they could help researchers address cybersecurity moving forward.

Written testimony and a webcast of the hearing can be found here. Additionally, a PDF of Lazowska’s oral testimony can be found here.

 
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