CCC Symposium on Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs
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.
To raise awareness of the importance of computing research to the nation, and the CCC’s role in fostering that research, the CCC regularly holds a symposium in Washington, DC on Computing Research: Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs, which also serves as an important medium for informing, inspiring, and engaging early career researchers. Learn about past symposiums below and stay tuned for updates about future symposiums.
2017 Symposium
The second CCC Computing Research symposium featured 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.
Learn more about the 2017 Symposium on the event webpage. Watch speaker and poster session videos below.
2017 CCC Symposium on Computing Research speaker videos
Video playlist of the of the 2017 CCC Symposium on Computing Research.
2017 CCC Symposium on Computing Research poster presentation videos
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. There were a total of 47 poster presentations during the poster reception. The videos below are from the poster presenters who chose to record a short video clip of their presentation.
To see the full list of poster presenters at the Symposium and their abstracts, please see the CCC Symposium Poster Book.
2016 Symposium
The first CCC Computing Research symposium featured a program designed to illuminate current and future trends in computing and the potential for computing to address national challenges. The two days are organized around four main themes:
- The Impact of Computing in Our Physical World: New advances in robotics and the internet-of-things promise to reshape how people move and act in the world. This session will explore the implications of computing-powered advances for transportation, agriculture, smart cities, and disaster response.
- Computing Enhancing Our Lives: Computing will now follow us from our earliest education to healthcare at the end of our lives. This session will illustrate the potential of computing to shape our education, our work life, and enhance our independence and quality of life as we age.
- Controlling Our Data: We are all aware of the explosion of issues related to the ever more pervasive use of data and computing. This session will explain how new types of systems and cryptographic techniques can support control, privacy, security, and fairness in a data-rich world.
- Partnerships for the Future: The preceding sessions illustrate the enormous leverage of computing research in our lives. This session will present new ideas for combining the capabilities and resources of the public and private sectors to ensure our investments in fundamental computing research have the highest possible value for society.
Learn more about the 2016 Symposium on the event webpage. Watch speaker and poster session videos below.
2016 CCC Symposium on Computing Research speaker videos
Video playlist of the of the 2016 CCC Symposium on Computing Research.
2016 CCC Symposium on Computing Research poster presentation videos
Poster presenters at the 2016 CCC Symposium on Computing Research included early career faculty members, post-docs, and graduate students from many fields of computer science. There were a total of 39 poster presentations during the poster reception. The videos below are from the poster presenters who chose to record a short video clip of their presentation.
To see the full list of poster presenters at the Symposium and their abstracts, please see the CCC Symposium Poster Book.
