By Meredith Ringel Morris, Principal Researcher & MSR Dissertation Grant Chair

Broadening participation in computing is a core part of Microsoft’s values; accordingly, we are excited to continue the Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant that aims to recognize, support, and mentor diverse doctoral students as they complete their dissertation research in computing-related fields. This grant is open to doctoral students in their fourth year or beyond, studying computing topics at universities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, who are underrepresented in the field of computing which include those who self-identify as a woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and/or people with disabilities. The program allows students to submit a grant proposal of up to $25,000 to support their dissertation research; grant recipients will also get to take part in a two-day career workshop at Microsoft Research Redmond this autumn. Grant proposals for 2019 are due on March 31.

You can read more about the Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant and find instructions to submit a grant proposal at http://aka.ms/Dissertation-Grant.

By Melanie Williamson

Convention tells us that research involves a selection of topic, literature review, framework development, refining/defining your research question, developing a design, collecting data, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions, but at a community college the formality cannot always be used as a rule, but as a guideline for developing a realistic, learning opportunity. Community college participation in undergraduate research is an important part of education, but can easily fall by the wayside to address life challenges often faced by community college students. However, given the opportunity to participate, research can be a rewarding and valuable skill that should be afforded to more students.

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has launched the “Catalyzing Computing” podcast, which will focus on topics of interests within the computing research community. The podcast is hosted by CCC Program Associate Khari Douglas and will feature interviews with researchers and policy makers about their background and experiences in the computing community.

The first episode is out now! In this episode a CCC Council Member talks about growing up in India, his grad school trajectory, career choices, and his current research interest in algorithmic fairness.

You can stream or download the podcast on Soundcloud now.

By Thyagarajan Nandagopal, NSF

The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) will host a one-day workshop on CAREER Proposal Writing on April 8, 2019. 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 (CCF, CNS, IIS and OAC) and recent NSF CAREER awardees. The workshop is also open to multidisciplinary researchers with a CISE-specific focus, including cyber-infrastructure. In order to attend this event, registration is required on or before March 4, 2019.