The CRA Bulletin frequently shares news, timely information about CRA initiatives, and items of interest to the general community.
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CRA’s mission is to enhance innovation by joining with industry, government and academia to strengthen research and advanced education in computing. CRA executes this mission by leading the computing research community, informing policymakers and the public, and facilitating the development of strong, diverse talent in the field.
In June, the brightest minds in computing research descended on Orlando, Florida to attend this year’s Federated Computing Research Conference (FCRC). Organized by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) every four years, FCRC assembles a spectrum of affiliated research conferences and workshops into a week-long, co-located meeting that facilitates connections between researchers in different […]
Last week the National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated a nationwide search for its next Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). A key position within NSF’s senior management and policy team, the position provides leadership and direction for CISE’s numerous programs and initiatives, as well as oversight of a staff of approximately […]
CRA is pleased to announce two new members of its Board of Directors effective July 1: Jing Xiao of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and William D. Gropp of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Drs. Xiao and Gropp join the CRA Board this month with five other new CRA Board members elected in February. Jing […]
Computing education continues to face challenges around inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessible learning, and CRA believes change is possible through a coordinated effort among engaged computing leaders and faculty. The goal of the LEVEL UP project–a CRA-led shared effort across several organizations, including ACM and IEEE-CS–is to build consensus around a united vision of inclusive […]
CRA is happy to announce the addition of three new team members to help advance our mission to catalyze computing research. Matt Hazenbush – Director of Communications Matt will oversee the organization’s communications strategy and will work across all CRA committees and activities to craft communications that elevate their efforts and highlight the positive impact […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate recently announced that applications are now being accepted for the third year of the CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship program. The 3-year fellowships support new Ph.D. students pursuing their degree in a CISE field which includes programs in Computer Science, Computer and Information Sciences, […]
The Computing Research Association-Industry Committee (CRA-I) is happy to announce the start of a new group of CRA-I visionary leaders charged with propelling the committee forward. This new Council of individuals will work closely with the Steering Committee to identify future committee directions, connect with the community, and achieve the goals of CRA-I. CRA-I welcomes […]
CSGrad4US @ Grad Cohort for IDEALS 23′ CRA-WP and CRA-E recently celebrated the first inaugural CSGrad4US fellows at the 2023 Grad Cohort for IDEALS Workshop in Honolulu, HI. The event brought together the fellows, coaches, and program leaders, who networked and congratulated each other on their progress in their PhD programs. The 16 fellows, who […]
The American Academy of Arts and Science (AAAS) recently announced 269 new members elected to the academy. Among them are nine new members under the “computer science” category, including several that have worked closely with the Computing Research Association, CRA-Widening Participation, and Computing Community Consortium in the past. The Academy is an honorary society that […]
CRA’s Education Committee (CRA-E) has recently published answers to Frequently Asked Questions on the types of MS programs and their relation to PhD programs.
CRA’s new Undergraduate Research to PhD program, UR2PhD (pronounced “you are 2 PhD”), is seeking institutional partners who would like support with growing the number of women and other gender-marginalized computing students who participate in undergraduate research and continue on to PhD programs.
LEVEL UP, which is an NSF Computing in Undergraduate Education (CUE) Mobilizing project, is a collaboration between CRA, ACM, IEEE-CS, several BPC Alliances (AccessComputing, CAHSI, CRA-WP, ECEP, IAAMCS, LEAP, NCWIT, and STARS), and the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University. We invite others interested in ensuring universities and colleges across the nation offer inclusive computing undergraduate education programs to engage as well.
CRA is growing! If you’re interested in working with some of the brightest minds in computing as they envision the future of computing, CRA wants you to join our team! We offer competitive pay with great benefits, flexible work arrangements, and a supportive team environment.
Please share these opportunities widely with your contacts!
On February 23-24, 2023, CRA hosted its annual Leadership Summit for senior leadership of computing related professional societies as well as its winter Board meeting in Washington, DC. Below is a summary of the items discussed during the sessions. The next CRA Board of Directors meeting will be held July 13-14, 2023 in Portland, Oregon.
CRA’s Education Committee (CRA-E) has recently selected its 2023 CRA-E Graduate Fellow – Alejandro Velasco Dimate, from William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Alejandro (he/his) is a Ph.D student in computer Science at the College of William and Mary, currently advised by Dr. Denys Poshyvanyk. He earned both his Bachelor’s (2015) and Master’s (2019) […]
CRA was sad to learn of the loss of former Board member William A. Wulf. He was an outstanding leader in the computing research community and will be greatly missed. We are grateful for Bill’s involvement in CRA and his deep engagement with and service to the computing research community. Our thoughts are with Anita, his family, and all those that had the pleasure of knowing him.
On February 22-23, 2023 in Washington, DC, the Computing Research Association (CRA) held the Accessible Technology for All Workshop.
The workshop was attended by over 40 participants from academia, industry, and government and 20 remote participants. The purpose of this workshop was to frame the state of the art of accessible technology, identify forces shaping the evolution of accessible technology, and develop an understanding of implications for the next wave of computer science research in accessibility. By the end of the workshop, important areas of future research were identified and the need for tech-informed policy were highlighted by the participants. A workshop report will be forthcoming.
Please help the computing community by nominating outstanding colleagues for the CCC Council.
The SWSIS program provides scholarships of $2,000 or more for women studying for their Bachelors and Masters degrees in fields relating to information security. The purpose of these scholarships is to provide assistance to women at the formative stages of their careers in these fields.
SWSIS is a partnership of Applied Computer Security Associates (ACSA) and CRA-WP. Its long-term goal is to contribute to increasing the representation of women in the information security workforce.
Application Period: December 15 – February 1
Our objective is to develop a short mid-cycle update, identifying gaps that are not being addressed in current research, in funding opportunities, at companies, and in the government, which need to be addressed sooner than the next full roadmap update. To meet this objective, we want to engage a broad swath of researchers from academia and industry to ensure that the update is representative of the community’s view of what is needed in robotics research so that national priorities are met.
We are asking researchers to submit a white paper / position statement, no longer than two pages, that addresses the following: What are the current gaps in robotics research and its ecosystem – and what are potential opportunities to fill those gaps? The white paper can focus on gaps across sectors or within one sector.
The Computing Research Association seeks your help in recruiting candidates for its Board of Directors. We want individuals who have time, energy, initiative, and resources to work on CRA issues on behalf of the entire CRA community. We have a working Board, and all members are expected to work on community issues.
Members of the computing research community who are interested in serving on the CRA Board should nominate themselves by completing this form by December 16, 2022. Nominees do not need to be affiliated with a CRA member organization.
CRA-Industry (CRA-I) is delighted to announce that Lisa Amini (IBM Research) has joined the CRA-I Steering Committee.
Published online each fall, the CRA Academic Member Book highlights institutions that are member departments of CRA. Each academic member department is invited to submit a one page- pdf about their department. Thanks to all the departments that took the time to prepare a submission.
This year’s book is available at: https://cra.org/2022-member-book
On September 13th, 25 computing researchers from across the country took part in a virtual training session to prepare them to make the case to Congress for federally funded computing research. Holding the training virtually is a change from past Congressional Visit Days that CRA Government Affairs staff have run. Due to ongoing restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 Pandemic and post-January 6th security, the Congressional office buildings located in Washington D.C. are not open to the general public. Despite these obstacles, CRA organized a virtual event for computing researchers to meet with their Congressional representatives in web meetings in order to keep making the case for Federal support for computing research.
The Computing Research Association-Industry committee is delighted to announce an upcoming virtual roundtable on Computing Research in Industry on Wednesday, November 9th from 3:00-4:30 PM ET.
In the first installment of the CRA Update: Keeping you in the know column, we began synthesizing feedback received during the opening plenary (“CRA: Looking Forward”) of the 2022 CRA Conference at Snowbird. We finish summarizing the feedback received in this month’s column.
As part of our efforts to increase communications, we welcome you to this CRA Update: Keeping you in the know column. For involvement in CRA activities, we will begin (on an annual basis) requesting nominations (self-nominations are welcome!) from the computing research community to participate in various CRA activities. We request you share the following form with anyone in your institution who might be interested in getting involved in CRA’s activities this academic year (though June 30th): cra.org/interest-form (Deadline: September 30th, 2022)
CRA has recently hired Lauren Lashlee as a program associate for the Widening Participation (CRA-WP) committee. In this role, she supports CRA-WP programs that focus on increasing the success and participation of underrepresented groups in computing research.
I would like to focus this month’s newsletter on an important program we are very excited about, the new NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Graduate Fellowships (CSGrad4US) program and its upcoming June 30, 2022 application deadline. The aim of this program is to grow the number and diversity of US citizen and permanent resident graduate students pursuing research careers in all areas of computer science, computer engineering, or information science.
The Computing Research Association’s newest committee, Computing Research Association-Industry, held their first workshop at the end of March on Best Practices on Using the Cloud for Computing Research. It brought together 30 participants in a hybrid format in Washington, DC from industry, academia, and government. This workshop was based off of a very successful September 2021 roundtable event, in which over 50 members of the community attended. The goal of the workshop was to continue the momentum from the roundtable and identify best practices on using the cloud for computing research in three different areas, education, collaboration, and research.
