2021 Highlights
The Computing Community Consortium would like to thank everyone for their continued support this year and a special thanks to those that helped make our accomplishments this year possible. The CCC is proud of critical work done on behalf of the computing research community this year and look forward to 2022!
Please check out this year’s highlights below:
Episode 31 and 32: Autonomous Flight and Landing on Mars with Behçet Açikmeşe
Khari Douglas interviews Dr. Behçet Açikmeşe. Behçet was a technologist and a senior member of the Guidance and Control (G&C) Analysis Group at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is currently a Professor in Aeronautics & Astronautics, as well as Electrical & Computer Engineering, at the University of Washington and a member of their Autonomous Controls Lab. In these episodes, Dr. Açikmeşe discuss his time at JPL and what it takes to land a rover on Mars.
Episode 33 and 34: Health Informatics with Katie Siek
Khari Douglas (CCC Senior Program Associate) interviews Dr. Katie Siek, a professor in Informatics and the Chair of Informatics at Indiana University – Bloomington. Dr. Siek is interested in integrating pervasive technologies in health and wellness environments to study how technology affects interventions. Her research interests include human computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, and health informatics. In these episodes, Katie discusses health informatics, fitness trackers, data ownership, aging in place, health disparities and how computing technologies can play a role in their reduction, as well as the challenges to doing health informatics research in the field.
Episode 35 and 36: Computer Architecture with Mark D. Hill
In these episodes, Khari Douglas (CCC Senior Program Associate) interviews Dr. Mark D. Hill, the Gene M. Amdahl and John P. Morgridge Professor Emeritus of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Chair Emeritus of the CCC Council. This episode was recorded prior to Dr. Hill joining Microsoft as a Partner Hardware Architect with Azure. His research interests include parallel computer system design, memory system design, computer simulation, deterministic replay and transactional memory. In this episode Hill discusses the importance of computer architecture, the 3C model of cache behavior, and overcoming the end of Moore’s law.
Artificial Intelligence / Operations Research Workshop 1 Report Out
Publication Date: October 2021
Authors: Sanmay Das (George Mason University); John Dickerson (University of Maryland); Pascal Van Hentenryck (Georgia Tech); Sven Koenig (University of Southern Carolina); Ramayya Krishnan (Carnegie Mellon University); Radhika Kulkarni (SAS Institute, Inc.), Phebe Vayanos (University of Southern California) with support from Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University and Computing Community Consortium) and Ann Schwartz Drobnis (Computing Community Consortium).
In September 2021, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and ACM SIGAI sponsored a virtual workshop, entitled Artificial Intelligence / Operations Research Workshop to provide a space for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Operations Research (OR) to discuss a joint strategic vision for a strong and sustained collaboration between the two fields. This report summarizes presentations, breakout discussions and key takeaways from each session at the workshop.
CCC / Code 8.7 Applying AI in the Fight Against Modern Slavery
Publication Date: June 2021
Authors: Workshop Chair –Ufuk Topcu (The University of Texas at Austin)
Nadya Bliss (Arizona State University and Computing Community Consortium); Mark Briers (Turing Institute); Alice Eckstein (UNU-CPR); James Goulding (University of Nottingham); Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University and Computing Community Consortium); Anjali Mazumder (Turing Institute) and Gavin Smith (University of Nottingham).
In early March 2020, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), in collaboration with the Code 8.7 Initiative, brought together over fifty members of the computing research community along with anti-slavery practitioners and survivors to lay out a research roadmap. The primary goal was to explore ways in which long-range research in artificial intelligence (AI) could be applied to the fight against human trafficking. Building on the kickoff Code 8.7 conference held at the headquarters of the United Nations in February 2019, the focus for this workshop was to link the ambitious goals outlined in the A 20-Year Community Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Research in the US (AI Roadmap) to challenges vital in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7, the elimination of modern slavery.
Computing Research for Climate Crisis
Publication Date: August 2021
Authors: Nadya Bliss (Arizona State University), Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado Boulder), and Claire Monteleoni (University of Colorado Boulder).
Abstract: The goal of this white paper is to highlight the role of computing research in addressing climate change-induced challenges. The paper outlines six key impact areas in which these challenges will arise—energy, environmental justice, transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, and environmental monitoring & forecasting—then identify specific ways in which computing research can help address the associated problems.
National Discovery Cloud 2021
Publication Date: April 2021
Authors: Ian Foster (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago), Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University), Bill Gropp (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Mark D. Hill (Microsoft and University of Wisconsin), Katie Schuman (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Abstract: The nature of computation and its role in our lives have been transformed in the past two decades by three remarkable developments: the emergence of public cloud utilities as a new computing platform; the ability to extract information from enormous quantities of data via machine learning; and the emergence of computational simulation as a research method on par with experimental science. Each development has major implications for how societies function and compete; together, they represent a change in technological foundations of society as profound as the telegraph or electrification. Societies that embrace these changes will lead in the 21st Century; those that do not, will decline in prosperity and influence. Nowhere is this stark choice more evident than in research and education, the two sectors that produce the innovations that power the future and prepare a workforce able to exploit those innovations, respectively. In this article, we introduce these developments and suggest steps that the US government might take to prepare the research and education system for its implications.
A National Research Agenda for Intelligent Infrastructure: 2021 Update
Publication Date: January 2021
Authors: Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University) and Shashi Shekhar (University of Minnesota)
Abstract: Strategic, sustained Federal investments in intelligent infrastructure will increase safety and resilience, improve efficiencies and civic services, and broaden employment opportunities and job growth nationwide. The technologies that comprise intelligent infrastructure can also provide keys to solving some of the most vexing challenges we face today, including confronting future pandemics and natural disasters, achieving sustainability and energy efficiency goals, and advancing social justice. Enabling those technologies effectively will require investment in the associated computing research as well, beyond and in concert with the basic building projects. In 2017, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) produced a series of intelligent infrastructure whitepapers, and in 2020 CCC issued a set of companion whitepapers on closely related topics. Here we briefly survey those earlier works, and then highlight four themes of rising national prominence where intelligent infrastructure can also play an enabling role, driven by experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and the social justice movement. We conclude with recommendations for the necessary research investments.
Pandemic Informatics: Vaccine Distribution, Logistics, and PrioritizationToggle Title
Publication Date: March 2021
Authors: Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado Boulder), Madhav Marathe (University of Virginia), Melanie Moses (The University of New Mexico), William D Gropp (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University)
Abstract: An addendum to Pandemic Informatics: Preparation, Robustness, and Resilience, which outlined a strategy to reduce the impact of global pandemics stressing early detection, predicting the public’s reaction and developing effective policies. This paper addresses current issues in the continued pandemic such as vaccine distribution.
Pandemic Informatics: Variants of Concern (VOC)
Publication Date: April 2021
Authors: Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado Boulder), Madhav Marathe (University of Virginia), Melanie Moses (The University of New Mexico), William D Gropp (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University)
Abstract: An addendum to Pandemic Informatics: Preparation, Robustness, and Resilience, which outlined a strategy to reduce the impact of global pandemics stressing early detection, predicting the public’s reaction and developing effective policies. This paper addresses current issues in the continued pandemic such as COVID-19 variants.
CRA/CCC Announces CIFellows 2021 Program
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: April 5th, 2021
Announces new application cycle for a 2021 CIFellows cohort. A program that provides funding for post doc positions as a response to the disruption of hiring practices due to COVID-19.
Serving as a DARPA PM: A very long lever arm
Author: Kathleen Fisher
Publication Date: September 30th, 2021
This post describes the experiences former council member, Kathleen Fisher, serving as a Project Manager (PM) at DARPA. The articles goal is to convey a sense of what the job is like and why it could be an attractive career option.
National AI Initiative Office launched by White House
Author: Helen Wright
Publication Date: January 13th, 2021
This post announces the establishment of a new office, National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, in the White House focused on coordinating U.S. efforts in Artificial Intelligence research.
Computing Research for the Climate Crisis
Author: Helen Wright
Publication Date: August 12th, 2021
This post announces the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis report.
I2O PostDoc Fellowship- Deadlines February 1st and March 1st, 2021
Author: Helen Wright
Publication Date: January 4th, 2021
Announces new DARPA I20 PostDoc Fellowship program.
The CCC Hybrid Workshop on Best Practices for Hybrid Workshops
Organizers: Sujata Banerjee (VMware), Maria Gini (University of Minnesota) Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University and Computing Community Consortium) and Holly Yanco (University of Massachusetts Lowell).
Dates: October 14-15, 2021
The 2020 pandemic catalyzed the transition to remote work. Even with the technological advances and adoption of remote work, there are some serious challenges in a hybrid environment where there are clusters of participants who are co-located physically while others are distributed across the world. As a result, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) organized a hybrid workshop visioning activity on the technical, social and equity challenges that hybrid environments present.
Artificial Intelligence/Operations Research Workshop
Organizers: Sanmay Das (George Mason University); John Dickerson (University of Maryland); Pascal Van Hentenryck (Georgia Tech); Sven Koenig (University of Southern Carolina); Ramayya Krishnan (Carnegie Mellon University); Radhika Kulkarni (SAS Institute, Inc.), Phebe Vayanos (University of Southern California) with support from Daniel Lopresti (Lehigh University and Computing Community Consortium) and Ann Schwartz Drobnis (Computing Community Consortium).
Dates: September 23-24, 2021
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and ACM SIGAI organized a virtual workshop focusing on exploiting the synergies of the AI and OR communities to transform decision making. The goal of this workshop is to establish a joint strategic vision for AI/OR that will maximize the societal impact of AI and OR in a world that is bound to undergo significant changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, widening inequalities, and challenges in resilience and sustainability in the food-water-energy nexus.
Computing Innovation Fellows 2021
In spring of 2021, the Computing Research Association (CRA) and the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), with strong support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), announced a new Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) cohort for 2021. As before, this program aids recent and soon-to-be PhD computing graduates whose job search was hampered by the continued disruption COVID-19 has had on academic job hiring practices and the economy.
We received 238 applications covering a wide variety of research areas and over 108 universities. Over 100 members of the computing community came out to support the program as reviewers. The 2021 class of CIFellows is composed of 69 diverse researchers covering a broad range of areas in computing. The cohort is 52% women, come from 49 universities, and will be beginning their CIFellowships at 48 different universities. You can find out more about each CIFellow here.
