CRA Update: Keeping You in the Know

By: Tracy Camp, CRA Executive Director & CEO, and Nancy Amato, CRA Board of Directors Chair

The next CRA Board of Directors meeting will be held July 13-14th in Portland, Oregon. In this CRA Update, we provide details on how you can influence the work at the upcoming Board meeting. Second, we list the committees and working groups with “seats” available that CRA will have in the upcoming fiscal year (FY24: July 2023 to June 2024). You can nominate yourself to participate in one of the options. Lastly, we discuss the four documents that we plan to update and/or create in the upcoming fiscal year (FY24). Again, you can nominate yourself to participate in one of the committees working on these documents. In short, if you want to be involved in a CRA activity this coming fiscal year, now is the time to act! Please also encourage others to get involved – for CRA to be most effective, we need input and engagement from the community – that is you!

CRA Board Meeting Input
The current CRA Governance Working Group proposed an idea to engage the broader computing research community in the work that the CRA Board does, i.e., set up a Zoom meeting with several CRA member organizations to discuss the current draft agenda for the upcoming Board meeting, gather input on the topics we are planning to discuss, and ask “what else should we be focused on?” We will pilot this idea over the next month with CRA’s Executive Committee. If you would like to provide input on CRA’s upcoming Board meeting, then please complete this Board Input FORM by June 29th. On the form, you can request a Zoom meeting (date/time TBD between you and the ExCom member you’ll meet) OR just provide input that is “top of mind” for the CRA Board to consider. Note: requesting a Zoom meeting does not guarantee we will be able to host one with you (but we will try!).

CRA Committees/Working Groups for FY24
For 2023-24, CRA is looking for a few members from the broader community to participate on each of the following committees/working groups. Complete this CRA Committees/Working Groups FORM by June 29th to nominate yourself to participate in one of the following committees/working groups for this fiscal year (FY24). More details on each opportunity are provided on the form.

CRA Awards – Nominations Committee
CRA Awards – Selection Committee
2024 CRA Career Mentoring Workshop Organizing Committee
2024 CRA Conference at Snowbird Organizing Committee
CRA Survey Committee
CRA Communications Working Group
CRA Governance Working Group
CRA Misconduct Issues Working Group
CRA Socially Responsible Computing Working Group

Note: expressing interest does not guarantee participation, as available seats are limited.

CRA Documents
At the upcoming CRA Board meeting, one breakout session will discuss four documents that we plan to update and/or create in the next fiscal year (FY24). Would you be interested in being a part of the CRA committee that works on one of these documents? Or do you have any input that you would like to share with the committee for consideration as they work on these documents? If yes, complete this CRA Documents FORM by June 29th.

NEW Document: Multidisciplinary Research
This document will focus on questions such as: How can we do multidisciplinary research well? How do we support junior researchers to participate in multidisciplinary research? This effort will leverage CRA’s Promotion and Tenure of Interdisciplinary Faculty document from July 2008.

NEW Document: Teaching and T/TT Faculty
This document will focus on questions such as: What is a typical (or appropriate) balance in a department for teaching faculty (e.g., 30% for R1s?) and tenured/tenure-track faculty (e.g., 70% for R1s)? How should teaching faculty (or non-tenure track faculty) be involved in decision making? This effort will leverage CRA’s Laying a Foundation: Best Practices for Engaging Teaching Faculty in Research Computing Departments document from July 2018.

NEW Document: Research Collaborations with Minoritized Groups
This document will focus on questions such as: What are the best practices for non-MSI institutions/organizations to engage with MSIs? Are those best practices the same for engaging with a community or organization that represents a marginal or oppressed group? How do we ensure a research collaboration is a win-win for all communities involved?

UPDATED Document: CRA has previously published the following two documents related to evaluating computing research. The goal of this effort will be to consider whether we should merge and/or update these two separate documents into one.