This article is published in the February 2018 issue.

2018 CRA Conference at Snowbird Program Update

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*blue text indicates updated information

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, Distinguished Engineer, Google, and Raquel Urtasun, Associate Professor, University of Toronto and Head, Uber Advanced Technologies Group, Toronto.  A third plenary session will consist of a panel on “Diversity in Computing Leadership” chaired by Carla Brodley. The confirmed participants include Shinder Dhillon, Head of Global Diversity & Inclusion – Engineering & Corporate Functions, Microsoft, Brian Reaves, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Dell, Inc., and Ayanna Howard, Chair, School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech.  As in prior conferences, there will also be a “Making a Federal Case for Computing” plenary session led by CRA Director of Government Affairs Peter Harsha.

Parallel session topics (see below) include approaches to increasing diversity, faculty recruiting, department rankings, new models for industrial research in CS, and a session on “Using CRA Data to Improve Your Department and Inform Decision Making” co-chaired by Jane Stout, CRA’s director of the Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline, and Betsy Bizot, CRA Director of Statistics and Evaluation. The conference will also feature short after-dinner talks on future directions in computing research, which are organized by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC).

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

Online registration will be opened on the CRA website in April 2018.

Please note: The 2018 conference will start on a Monday, which is a variation from past conferences, which started on a Sunday.

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 Research Conferences: Spotlight and Brainstorming Solutions
    • 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
  • CS 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 at 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