2022 Highlights
The CCC would like to give a special thanks to everyone from the community for their support and participation over the past year. We accomplished a lot of important work in 2022, including getting back to in-person events. Our accomplishments could not have been done without our community volunteers and participants. Please see some of CCC’s highlights from 2022 below:
Response to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing USA Semiconductor Institutes Request for Information
In November, 2022 NIST sought public input to inform the design of, and requirements for, potential Manufacturing USA institutes to strengthen the semiconductor and microelectronics innovation ecosystem, which could include design, fabrication, advanced test, assembly, and packaging capability. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform NIST’s development of funding opportunities for federal assistance to establish Manufacturing USA semiconductor institutes.
Computing Research Association – Industry (CRA-I) and the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Response to the Second Draft of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework
In August, 2022 NIST released a call for comments and contributions to the second draft of their AI Risk Management Framework. The framework is intended for voluntary use to address risks in the design, development, use, and evaluation of AI products, services, and systems. NIST intends to continue to engage stakeholders and make ongoing edits as the technology evolves. The most recent draft is a reflection of the initial version from March 2022 and the concept paper from December 2021.
Response to Request for Information on Federal Video and Image Analytics Research and Development Action Plan
In July 2022, the National Science Foundation and the Networking Information Technology Research and Development program (NITRD) requested information from the community on updating the 2020 Federal Video and Image Analytics (VIA) Research and Development (R&D) Action Plan. This information will assist the NITRD VIA team in revising the VIA action plan to be more comprehensive and effective at implementing its strategic goals and objectives.
Response to Request for Information on Advancing Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
In July 2022, the National Science Foundation and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) requested information from the community to better understand how to accelerate the responsible development and adoption of PETs in a manner that maximizes the benefit to individuals and society, including increasing equity for underserved or marginalized groups and promoting trust in data processing and information technologies. The information will be used to develop a national strategy on privacy-preserving data sharing and analytics, along with associated policy initiatives.
Response to Request for Information on Implementing Initial Findings and Recommendations of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force
In June 2022, the National Science Foundation and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) requested input from the community on the initial findings and recommendations contained in the interim report prepared by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Task Force. The RFI aims to establish an implementation roadmap for a shared research infrastructure that would provide artificial intelligence (AI) researchers and students with access to computational resources, high-quality data, training tools, and user support.
Response to Request for Information on Federal Priorities for Information Integrity Research and Development
In March 2022, the National Science Foundation and NITRD NCO requested input from the community on Federal priorities for research and development efforts to address misinformation and disinformation. The RFI aims to identify ways in which the Federal Government might enable research and development activities that advance the trustworthiness of information, mitigate the effects of information manipulation, and foster an environment of trust and resilience in which individuals can be discerning consumers of information.
Response to Request for Evaluating and Improving NIST Cybersecurity Resources: The Cybersecurity Framework and Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
In February 2022, the National Institute of Standards and Technology requested ideas from the community to assist in evaluating and improving its cybersecurity resources, including the “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity” (the “NIST Cybersecurity Framework,” “CSF” or “Framework”) and a variety of existing and potential standards, guidelines, and other information, including those relating to improving cybersecurity in supply chains.
- Request for Information (RFI) for Evaluating and Improving NIST Cybersecurity Resources: The Cybersecurity Framework and Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
- CCC’s Response to RFI for Evaluating and Improving NIST Cybersecurity Resources: The Cybersecurity Framework and Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
Response to Request for Information on the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan
In February 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy requested input from interested parties on ways in which the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan can be revised and improved. The information received from the solicitation will assist OSTOP, the Select Committee, MLAI-SC, NAIIO and NITRD NCO in updating the current strategic plan.
Response to Request for Information on Incentives, Infrastructure, and Research and Development Needs To Support a Strong Domestic Semiconductor Industry
In January 2022, the Department of Commerce with the assistance of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requested information in order to inform the planning and design of potential semiconductor programs. Specifically, they are seeking ideas to: Incentivize investment in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and associated ecosystems; provide for shared infrastructure to accelerate semiconductor research, development, and prototyping; and support research related to advanced packaging and advanced metrology to ensure a robust domestic semiconductor industry.
Response to Request for Information on Public and Private Sector Uses of Biometric Technologies
In October 2021, the Office of Science and Technology Policy requested input from interested parties on past deployments, proposals, pilots, or trials, and current use of biometric technologies. The purpose of the RFI was to understand the extent and variety of biometric technologies in past, current, or planned use; the domains in which these technologies are being used; the entities making use of them; current principles, practices, or policies governing their use; and the stakeholders that are, or may be, impacted by their use or regulation.
Meta Hybrid Report
Organizers/Authors: Sujata Banerjee (VMware), Maria Gini (University of Minnesota), Daniel P. Lopresti (Lehigh University), Holly Yanco (University of Massachusetts Lowell)
Publication Date: March 2022
This report outlines the findings from From the 2021 The CCC Hybrid Workshop on Best Practices for Hybrid Workshops. The 2020 pandemic has catalyzed the transition to remote work but even prior to the pandemic, supported by new technologies (faster Internet connections, powerful end-user computing and communication devices, cloud applications, etc.), there has been a slow and steady move to a distributed and remote workforce. This report outlines best practices in a hybrid world.
Research Opportunities in Evidence-Based Elections
Authors: Josh Benaloh, Philip B. Stark, Vanessa Teague, Melanie Volkamer, and Dan Wallach
Publication Date: January 2022
For citation use: Benaloh J., Stark P.B., Teague V., Volkamer M., and Wallach D. (2022). Research Opportunities in Evidence-Based Elections. https://cra.org/ccc/resources/ccc-led-whitepapers/
There is a crisis of confidence today in U.S. elections. Millions of Americans do not believe the announced 2020 presidential election results, and many other recent elections have had vocal doubters. Regardless of the basis of these concerns, our current electoral system fails to provide convincing evidence that the reported results reflect the will of the eligible voters who participated in the election. These technologies have not yet been widely deployed and there are many opportunities for the research community to improve their form and function in order to enable evidence-based elections; for instance, (1) how to effectively deploy these technologies, (2) how to apply these technologies in particular to complex voting scenarios, (3) how to make these technologies usable and understandable for all, (4) and how to translate the trustworthiness created by these technologies into public trust in election results.
Read here.
Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Convergence Accelerator Workshop
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
Overview of the CCC workshops on Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Convergence Accelerator Workshop.
CIFellows Spotlight: Alexis Block - Mobile Social-Physical Human-Robot Interaction and Embodiment
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: August 10, 2022
CIFellow, Alexis E. Block recently won the Otto Hahn Medal from Germany’s Max Planck Society for her dissertation work in human-robot interaction and the development of the “HuggieBot” which you can read about here.
The CCC Transitions Back to In-Person Workshops Following the Pandemic
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: August 29th, 2022
Overview of CCC’s transition back to in-person events since the start of the pandemic with the Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research II workshop and the Mechanism Design for Improving Hardware Security.
Snowbird CCC “Reboot!” Session
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
An overview of the CCC’s after-dinner brainstorming session, “Reboot!” to help members of the community engage in a visioning discussion at CRA’s Conference at Snowbird.
CIFellows Research Poster Session
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: July 14th, 2022
On May 25, 2022, the CIFellows were given the opportunity to present their research to the community during a poster session at the NITRD 30th Anniversary Symposium. The poster session was a great way to celebrate early career researchers and demonstrate the impact of federal investments in computing research.
NITRD 30th Anniversary Symposium Recap
Author: Maddy Hunter
Publication Date: June 8th, 2022
The NITRD 30th Anniversary Symposium was held in Washington D.C. at the National Spy Museum. The event provided an opportunity for the computing research community to come together and celebrate the impact that federal funding has had on computing technologies, innovations and the world at large
Special Events
NITRD 30th Anniversary Symposium
Organizers:
- Robert Bonneau, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
- Elizabeth Bradley, CCC and University of Colorado Boulder
- Richard Conroy, Office of the Director National Institutes of Health
- Erwin Gianchandani, Deputy Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (National Science Foundation)
- Kamie Roberts, Director National Coordination Office for NITRD
- Charles Romine, Director, Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Ann Schwartz Drobnis, CCC
- Katherine Yelick, Associate Dean for Research, University of California Berkeley
- Ben Zorn, Partner Researcher, Microsoft Research
On December 22, 2021 the 30th Anniversary of the NITRD program occurred during the height of the pandemic, and accordingly a virtual commemoration was held to celebrate the incredible achievements of the last 30 years while maintaining social distancing measures. While the anniversary has passed we will be hosting an in-person event on May 25th, 2022 to commemorate this milestone.
For more information, please see the NITRD website.
CIFellows 2022 Workshop
Organizers: Aruna Balasubramanian (Stony Brook University), Ifeoma Nwogu (University at Buffalo, SUNY), Brian Scassellati (Yale University) and Bobby Schnabel (University of Colorado – Boulder).
Date: May 26, 2022
2020 and 2021 CIFellow cohorts met on May 26th in Washington, DC. There was a variety of speakers, panels and networking opportunities with members of the computing research community.
Artificial Intelligence / Operations Research Workshop II
Organizers:
- John Dickerson, University of Maryland
- Bistra Dilkina, University of Southern California
- Yu Ding, Texas A&M
- Swati Gupta, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Pascal Van Hentenryck, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Sven Koenig, University of Southern California
- Ramayya Krishnan, Carnegie Mellon University
- Radhika Kulkarni, SAS Institute, Inc. (retired)
Dates: August 16-17, 2022
This is an in-person workshop sponsored by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and ACM SIGAI to create a joint vision for fusing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Operations Research (OR) communities to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on August 16-17, 2022.
This workshop is the second in a three part series which will focus on exploiting the synergies of the AI and OR communities to transform highly scalable, actionable, automated data-driven decision-making. The goal of this workshop series 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 facing significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, widening inequalities, and challenges in resilience and sustainability in the food-water-energy nexus, among others.
Mechanism Design for Improving Hardware Security
Organizers: Simha Sethumadhavan, Columbia University and Tim Sherwood, UC Santa Barbara
Dates: August 24-25, 2022
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will hold a visioning workshop on Mechanism Design for Improving Hardware Security on August 24-25, 2022. The workshop will be at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. Workshop attendance will be by invitation only we will review the submitted white papers to help us create the agenda for workshop discussions and select attendees. White papers will be due April 10th, see more in the application tab. Workshop organizers Simha Sethumadhavan (Columbia University) and Tim Sherwood (University of California Santa Barbara) held an orientation webinar on January 13th, 2022 to outline the goals of the workshop and expand on what they are looking for in the white papers. Check out a recap of the orientation in the resources tab.
Join the Slack channel here.
Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Virtual Convergence Accelerator Workshop
Organizers: Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado, Boulder), Aurali Dade (National Science Foundation (TIP/ITE)), Chandra Krintz (University of California, Santa Barbara), and Melanie Moses, (University of New Mexico)
Dates: November 10th, 2022
This virtual workshop, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program and hosted by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), will be held on November 10th, 2022 from 12:00 – 3:00 pm EST. This workshop will follow the Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Convergence Accelerator Workshop, and will facilitate discussion amongst the community. This meeting will be open to researchers and practitioners to discuss the emerging themes developed during the in-person workshop and to identify additional areas to explore. Breakout groups will help facilitate engagement from all interested parties.
Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations: A Convergence Accelerator Workshop
Organizers: Elizabeth Bradley (University of Colorado, Boulder), Aurali Dade (National Science Foundation (TIP/ITE)), Chandra Krintz (University of California, Santa Barbara), and Melanie Moses, (University of New Mexico)
Dates: October 27-28, 2022
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) will hold a convergence accelerator workshop on Building Resilience to Climate Driven Extreme Events with Computing Innovations on October 27-28, 2022. The workshop will be sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program, which promotes the convergence of innovative ideas, approaches, and technologies to more quickly and expertly tackle outstanding societal problems.
Through this workshop we hope to identify the computing building blocks needed to facilitate and expedite technological innovation in multiple impact areas. We plan to focus on a subset of the impact areas identified in the CCC white paper titled, Computing Research for the Climate Crisis: Energy, Environmental Justice, Agriculture, and Transportation.
