Archive of articles published in the 2012 issue.

Symposium Marks 20 Years of Coordinated Federal Investment in Networking and IT R&D

By: Erwin P. GianchandaniIn: /

On Thursday, February 16, more than 150 Federal officials, Congressional staffers, academic researchers, and industry leaders packed a room overlooking the United States Capitol to mark two decades of coordinated Federal investment in networking and information technology research and development with a daylong symposium exploring progress and prospects in the field. Complete materials from this extraordinary day—including videos, slides, and written summaries from nearly twenty 15-minute presentations by leaders of the field, plus a luncheon keynote by former Vice President Al Gore, a longtime champion of information technology R&D — are available on the web at: https://cra.org/ccc/theimpactofnitrd.

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CCC

Highlights of the CISE Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request

In: /

On February 13, the President delivered the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget to Congress. The Administration is requesting a total of nearly $7.4 billion dollars for NSF, which is an increase of $340 million, or almost five percent, over the FY 2012 NSF Enacted level. The Request also includes an increase of $56 million, or 8.6 percent, over the FY 2012 Current Plan for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate, for a total of $709.7 million. For more information on the NSF FY 2013 budget, see: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2013/index.jsp.

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CRA

Where are the Minorities in Computing?

In: /

It is well recognized that increasing the diversity of the workforce is very important to the field of computing. In this article we focus on diversity within doctoral programs because it has a significant impact on diversity among both faculty members and researchers in industry and government labs. In particular, we focus on the source of minority students for graduate programs in computer science with respect to the following underrepresented groups: African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indian or Alaska Natives.

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CRA-WPGuest Article, Expanding the Pipeline

Despite Austere Budget, Science Would See Increases in President’s Plan

In: /

In his last annual budget request before facing voters this November, President Obama showed his commitment to debt reduction by calling for cuts across almost all Federal agencies. But amidst the cuts, the President’s budget contains some key investments in research and development, including increased investments in computing research, that demonstrate his belief that Federally supported research can help spark the innovation required to keep the Nation placed at the top of an increasingly competitive world.

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CRA

Heads Up: Taulbee Survey to Receive a New Look

In: /

In the May issue of CRN, we expect to publish this year’s full Taulbee report. Beginning this year, we no longer will stratify the U.S. computer science department data based on National Research Council rankings. Instead, stratification dimensions will include whether the institution is public or private, tenure-track faculty size of the reporting department, and the population of the locale in which the institution is located. This will allow our readers to get multiple views of important data, and hopefully gain new insights from them. These dimensions were recommended by the CRA Surveys Committee, and approved by the CRA Board of Directors, following extensive discussion of various options.

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CRA

NSF, NIST Do Surprisingly Well in FY 2012 Appropriations

In: /

Despite relatively meager marks from the House and Senate for FY12 science budgets, a few key science agencies received a bit of a surprise in November when congressional appropriators provided final funding levels that exceeded those previously approved levels. The National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology both will see increases in FY12 compared to FY11, and NASA, which had been slated for large cuts, will see those cuts mitigated somewhat. In the bill, NSF will see an increase of 2.5 percent versus its FY11 level, NIST will see an increase of $33 million, and NASA will see a decrease of $648 million-though markedly better than the $1.6 billion cut originally proposed.

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GovAffairs

Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates: The CREU Program

In: /

The Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates (CREU) program encourages and supports undergraduate women and minorities in computing research. It was started by CRA-W under the name “CREW” in 1998, and since 2004 has been administered collaboratively by CRA-W and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC). The goal of CREU is to increase the number of women and minorities who continue on to graduate school in computer science and computer engineering. Teams of undergraduates work with faculty member sponsors at their home institutions on research projects during the academic year and optionally the following summer.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline

Computing Researchers Get ‘Schooled’ on Science Policy at CCC Workshop

In: /

As part of its mission to develop a next generation of leaders in the computing research community, the Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium recently held its inaugural Leadership in Science Policy Institute (LiSPI). This one-day workshop was intended to educate a small cadre of computing researchers on how science policy in the U.S. is formulated and how our government works. Participants heard candid and “off-the-record” views from people who do it or have done it. Thirty-four computer scientists and engineers from twenty-five different universities and research organizations attended the November 7, 2011 workshop.

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CCC