This article is published in the January 2018 issue.

2018 Conference at Snowbird Preliminary Agenda

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CLIFF LODGE, SNOWBIRD RESORT, UTAH

The biennial CRA Conference at Snowbird is the flagship invitation-only conference for the leadership of the North American computing research community.

Invitees: Computer science, computer engineering, and information technology department chairs; assistant, associate, and prospective chairs; directors of graduate or undergraduate education; directors of industry or government research labs/centers; and professional society or government leaders in computing.

The conference site: The Snowbird Resort is located in the Wasatch Mountains about 30 miles from Salt Lake City. A top-rated ski resort in the winter, off-season at Snowbird offers hiking amidst beautiful scenery.

This year at Snowbird:
The 2018 CRA Conference at Snowbird is co-chaired by Kim Hazelwood, Facebook, and Vivek Sarkar, Georgia Tech. Plenary sessions will feature former CRA Board Chair David Patterson, Professor Emeritus, University of California-Berkeley and Google, and Raquel Urtasun, University of Toronto and Uber Advanced Technologies Group.

A major focus of the conference will be diversity in computing, and additional parallel session topics include faculty recruiting, department rankings, and new models for industrial research in CS. The meeting will also feature a view into computing and Washington from Peter Harsha, CRA’s Director of Government Affairs, and short after-dinner talks on computing research futures. Jane Stout, CRA’s Director of the Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline and Betsy Bizot, CRA Director of Statistics and Evaluation, will co-chair a session titled “Using CRA Data to Improve Your Department and Inform Decision Making.”

A preliminary program is below. It will be updated on the CRA website as additional information becomes available. There will be several hours of free time for networking, mingling, hiking, or hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous environment.

Online registration will open on the CRA website in April 2018.

Please note, this year the conference will start on a Monday, which is a variation from past schedules which started on Sundays.

In addition to the conference, a workshop for new department chairs will be co-chaired by Greg Hager, Johns Hopkins University, and Andrew Sears, Penn State, on July 16.

CRA Conference at Snowbird 2018 Preliminary Program

Monday, July 16

3:00 – 5:45 pm  New Chairs Workshop
This workshop will give new CS department chairs some of the skills needed to lead their organizations and work with deans, provosts, and advisory boards – the stuff they never told you in graduate school.
6:00 – 7:00 pm  Welcome Reception
7:00 – 9:00 pm  Dinner/Plenary Session

Tuesday, July 17

8:30 am – 10:00 am  Plenary Session
10:30 am – noon  Parallel Tracks
Noon – 1:30 pm  Lunch
1:30 – 3:00 pm  Parallel Tracks
3:30 – 5:00 pm  Networking Activities
6:30 – 9:00 pm  Dinner
After dinner research talks— Organized by the Computing Community Consortium

Wednesday, July 18
8:30 – 10:00 am  Plenary Session
10:30 – Noon  Parallel Tracks
Noon – 1:30 pm  Lunch
1:30 – 3:00 pm  Parallel Tracks
3:30 – 5:00 pm  Policy Session (Chair: Peter Harsha, CRA)
5:30 – 6:30 pm  TBD

Parallel Session Topics

  • Increasing Diversity in Computing is Easier Than You Think: 10 Small Steps that Make a Big Difference
    • Chair: Mary Hall, University of Utah
  • Diversity in CS Research Leadership
    • Co-chairs: Kim Hazelwood, Facebook, and Margaret Martonosi, Princeton University
  • Booming Faculty: Opportunities and Challenges
    • Chair: Laura Haas, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
  • New Models for Industrial Research in CS
    • Co-chairs: Brent Hailpern, IBM and Joe Sventek, University of Oregon
  • Growing a CS Department into a School/College of Computing
    • Chair: Chris Johnson, University of Utah
  • Department Rankings
    • Chair: H.V. Jagadish, University of Michigan
  • Improving Faculty Recruiting in the Computing Community
    • Co-chairs: Shashi Shekhar, University of Minnesota and Josep Torrellas, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Using CRA Data to Improve Your Department and Inform Decision Making
    • Co-chairs: Jane Stout, CRA and Betsy Bizot, CRA
  • Recruiting, Retaining, and Advancing Teaching Faculty
    • Co-chairs: Dan Grossman, University of Washington and Penny Rheingans, University of Maryland Baltimore County