The CRA Bulletin frequently shares news, timely information about CRA initiatives, and items of interest to the general community.
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Each year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) recognizes an outstanding young researcher in a field of science or engineering with the Alan T. Waterman Award. Nominations for the 2020 Waterman Award are now being accepted and are due, via https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards/index.jsp, by October 21, 2019.
National Science Foundation Director France Córdova today named former CRA board member, current CRA-WP co-Chair, and current Princeton Computer Science professor Margaret Martonosi as the next head of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering directorate at NSF. Martonosi will assume the role of Assistant Director, CISE on February 1, 2020.
As we noted an year ago at this time, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is an important but, from our experience, often overlooked funding opportunity for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) community. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported areas who are pursing full-time, research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. As the deadline of October 22, 2019, approaches for applicants who fall within CISE fields of study, we want to be sure you all – as members of our community – are aware of this opportunity for your undergraduate seniors and first-year graduate students.
As many of you know, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has a long history of investing in education and workforce development across all areas of science and engineering, including CISE areas.
The NSF International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program is now accepting applications – this is a program where CISE communities have not leveraged very well in the past, having only 7 of the 158 active IRES awards. The program supports international research and research-related activities for U.S. science and engineering students. If you have (or are considering reaching out to) international research partners who would be willing to host and train undergraduate and graduate students in research, this is a fantastic opportunity to advance science through such collaborations. See list of active IRES awards to explore the rich set of topics that has been supported thus far, and to help identify appropriate IRES collaborations – communicate this information to your students as well.
The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) will host a 1 hour webinar on June 12th, 2019 to provide the CISE community with information and answer questions about the revised Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) solicitation that seeks to help early-career PIs. The solicitation may be found on the NSF website here. A revised FAQ for program will also be posted on the solicitation website shortly. To Join the Webinar, please register before June 11th by visiting https://nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=298656.
The 2019 CISE/Computer Systems Research (CSR) Aspiring Investigators Workshop, will be held at the National Science Foundation on June 20-21, 2019. The goal of the workshop is to familiarize aspiring investigators with the scope of activities supported by CSR, various funding opportunities within the program, and crosscutting programs in which CSR plays a significant role. Aspiring investigators will hear from NSF personnel, as well as other senior investigators on best practices in putting proposals together, developing strong education and outreach programs, maximizing broader impact, and intellectual property and commercialization opportunities. The workshop is open to investigators from institutions eligible to receive NSF funding, who have not received prior regular research grants (excluding CRII and SGER grants) from CSR.
A recent Forbes article written by Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and a former CRA board member, addresses “Why We Need Inclusive Teaching In Every Classroom.” In the article, Klawe interviews Colleen Lewis, a computer science professor at Harvey Mudd, about Lewis’ work to develop, incorporate, and disseminate inclusive teaching practices. Lewis researches […]
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC)’s recently launched Catalyzing Computing podcast is now included on the NSF’s Science360 Radio stream. Science360 Radio showcases shows from radio and podcast series, and also includes webcasts, events, in-depth interviews, and documentaries from NSF and other contributors. Catalyzing Computing focuses on topics of interest within the computing research community and is hosted by CCC […]
Colleges and universities across the country are experiencing a significant influx of students in their undergraduate computer science (CS) courses. Many of these students are seeking the “traditional,” CS-centric undergraduate degrees that have evolved over decades, along with changes in our field. But many other students are quite different from the students whom we have found in our undergraduate majors. While they are interested in computing, they are more interested in creatively applying sophisticated computational skills and methods to a range of disciplines from biology to linguistics to art. They understand that CS knowledge is critical to helping them succeed in nearly any job, that “every field is becoming an information field.”
The National Science Foundation is initiating a national search for the Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).
The goal of this workshop is to introduce junior CAREER-eligible faculty to the NSF CAREER program and help them to prepare their CAREER proposals to target CISE programs.
New solicitation opportunity in National Research Traineeships.
The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) has just announced a new program, NSF 19-507, NSF Quantum Computing & Information Science Faculty Fellows (QCIS-FF). This program aims to grow academic research capacity in the computing and information science fields to support advances in quantum computing and/or communication over the long term.
New policy requires awardee institutions to report sexual harassment findings.
In April, NSF requested input from the research community on a policy change to eliminate/reduce deadlines for core programs in the CISE Directorate, and we passed along your feedback. This month, NSF announced a change to remove deadlines for all proposals to the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program.
NSF CISE/IIS has several open program director positions. We encourage you consider serving in this role and sharing the opportunity with your colleagues.
The fourth (and last NSF-funded) New Computing Faculty Workshops will be held August 5-10, 2018 in San Diego. The goal of the workshops is to help new computing faculty to be better and more efficient teachers. By learning a little about teaching, we will help new faculty (a) make their teaching more efficient and effective and (b) make their teaching more enjoyable. We want students to learn more and teachers to have fun teaching them.
Our friends at the National Science Foundation (NSF) have asked for research community input on a proposed policy change to eliminate/reduce deadlines for core programs in the CISE Directorate. Given the increased pressures on securing federal funding and, in some cases, reduced capacity for grant management at computing research institutions, do you think the Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate should follow the lead of the BIO and GEO directorates and consider eliminating or reducing deadlines for proposal submissions? What positive or negative impact could such a shift have on our community?
The 2018 NSF Workshop for Aspiring Principal Investigators (PIs) in Computer Systems Research (CSR) will help aspiring PIs gain a better understanding of the CSR program and prepare them for developing competitive CSR proposals in the future.
Please nominate colleagues and peers who have extraordinarily advanced the scientific enterprise for this prestigious honor. Nominations and three letters of support must be submitted to NSF by April 16, 2018.
Yesterday, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) announced the release of the 2017 Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering (WMPD) report, the federal government’s most comprehensive look at the participation of these three demographic groups in science and engineering education and employment.
The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) will host a one-day workshop on CAREER Proposal Writing on March 20, 2017. This workshop will be held at the Hilton Arlington, near the National Science Foundation. The goal of this workshop is to introduce junior CAREER-eligible faculty to the NSF CAREER program and help them to prepare their CAREER proposals to target CISE programs. Attendees will have the opportunity to improve their skills in proposal writing, as well as to interact with NSF program directors from different CISE divisions (ACI, CCF, CNS, and IIS) and recent NSF CAREER awardees.
The NSF-wide Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) will host a one-day workshop on CAREER Proposal Writing on April 4, 2016. This workshop will be held at the Westin Arlington. The goal of this workshop is to introduce junior CAREER-eligible faculty to the NSF CAREER program and help them to prepare their CAREER proposals to target CISE programs.
President Obama used his weekly radio address today to announce a new Computer Science Education initiative that would allow states to take the lead in increasing access to CS in K-12 classrooms. The initiative, which will be included in the President’s FY 2017 Budget Request to Congress on February 9th, will designate $4 billion for states available over 3 years, and $100 million directly for districts, to increase access to K-12 computer science education “by training teachers, expanding access to high-quality instructional materials, and building effective regional partnerships.” He will also direct NSF to spend more than $120 million over the next five years to support and train CS teachers.
Check out this great article on booming enrollments in computer science by Jim Kurose, current Assistant Director for NSF CISE and former CRA Board Member: In many colleges and universities across the country, computer science classes are bursting at the seams! According to the Computing Research Association (CRA)’s Taulbee Survey, the number of newly declared computer science […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is now accepting nominations for the 2016 Alan T. Waterman award, the NSF’s highest honor. This annual award recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition to a medal, the awardee receives a grant of $1,000,000 over a five-year period for scientific research or advanced study in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, social, or other sciences at the institution of the recipient’s choice.
