Over the past several decades, computing and information technologies have shaped our lives, our society, and our physical world in ways we never would have imagined. An increasing number of jobs depend on IT, IT shrinks time and distance in our social lives, agriculture and transportation are rapidly becoming IT-based, and IT holds the promise of revolutionizing education and healthcare. Although many of the IT-powered innovations that are reshaping our society can be traced to fundamental computing-related research, their impact has been magnified through powerful applications in areas of broad societal need and opportunity.

Over the past 11 years, the Computing Community Consortium has hosted dozens of research visioning workshops to imagine, discuss, and debate the future of computing and its role in addressing societal needs. The second CCC Computing Research symposium brought these topics into a program designed to illuminate current and future trends in computing and the potential for computing to address national challenges.

The two days were organized around four main themes:

Intelligent Infrastructure for our Cities and Communities

• Intelligent infrastructure is already transforming our nation’s cities and communities, but the technological revolution is just now beginning. The potential for major improvements in public health and safety, efficient use of our resources, and a higher quality of life for all citizens are enormous. At the same time, new risks arise as we attempt to integrate large scale data collection, advanced cyberphysical systems, and autonomous vehicles into our daily lives. This session highlighted some of the major advances now taking place, while at the same time emphasizing the substantial body of research, much of it crossing disciplinary boundaries, that still needs to be done.

Security and Privacy for Democracy

• Computing research enables new technology to help society cope with information security and privacy risks. The audience learned about how differential privacy will enable new understanding of the population while protecting privacy and about technologies used to help journalists and human rights workers to communicate safely in oppressive regimes.

AI and Amplifying Human Abilities

• This panel examined the emerging role of AI in augmenting human abilities in new and powerful ways. In particular, this session examined the spectrum of human and machine capabilities and how we develop systems that provide a seamless interface between the two. Speakers grounded their remarks in application areas ranging from health, transportation, universal access, data analysis, and education.

Data, Algorithms, and Fairness

• Data-driven and algorithmic decision making increasingly determines how businesses target advertisements to consumers, how police departments monitor individuals or groups, how banks decide who gets a loan and who does not, how employers hire, how colleges and universities make admissions and financial aid decisions, and much more. As data-driven decisions increasingly affect every corner of our lives, there is an urgent need to ensure they do not become instruments of discrimination, barriers to equality, and threats to social justice.

To watch video recordings of the 2017 CCC Symposium on Computing Research visit here.

Poster presenters at the 2017 CCC Symposium on Computing Research included early career faculty members, post-docs, and graduate students from many fields of computer science. You can learn more about the poster session and view video presentations here.