Archive of articles published in the 2016 issue.

CCC White Paper: The Importance of Computing Education Research

By: Helen Wright, CCC Senior Program AssociateIn: /

The time is now for computer science education!

With the shifting economy, educators are increasingly recognizing computer science as a new basic requirement. In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that “helping students learn to write computer code” is among his goals for the year ahead.

Jim Kurose, the assistant director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) released a letter to the community acknowledging the excitement in the community, but also noting to “please stay tuned as the Administration announces new steps in the coming weeks to support efforts to expand access to computer science education across the Nation.”

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CCC White Paper: Smart Communities Internet of Things

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The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Computing in the Physical World Task Force has just released another community white paper on Smart Communities Internet of Things.

The task force, led by CCC Council Member Ben Zorn from Microsoft Research and Shwetak Patel from University of Washington, is looking at core research challenges that the Internet of Things (IoT) presents. This white paper, led by Klara Nahnahrstedt from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, highlights the benefits and challenges of cybertechnologies within “Smart Cities,” especially the IoT for smart communities, which means considering the benefits and challenges of IoT cybertechnologies on joint smart cities’ physical infrastructures and their human stakeholders.

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Computer Science for All

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It is a very exciting time for Computer Science (CS) education! I know our community was proud and excited to hear President Obama explicitly call out CS education in his final State of the Union address. Even more recently, on Saturday, January 30th, the President unveiled the Computer Science for All initiative in his weekly […]

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Announcements

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– CRA and CRA-W Welcome Ayla Mangold.
– Take the time to nominate an individual for the CRA-W Borg Early Career Award (BECA).
– Scholarships for Women Studying Information Security is a program that provides an average of 15 female Bachelor’s and Master’s cybersecurity students $5,000 to $10,000 scholarships each year.
– NSF CAREER Workshop
– David Johnson Elected to National Academy of Engineering

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2016 Conference at Snowbird Preliminary Program

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The 2016 CRA Snowbird conference will kick-off with a plenary conversation between John Markoff, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covers science and technology for The New York Times, and University of Washington professor Ed Lazowska. A second plenary will feature Jessica Hodgins, professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department at CMU. Panel sessions will include topics ranging from “Smart Cities” to “Computing’s Place in the University to the Future of Work.” A major focus of the conference will be booming enrollments, with a short plenary followed by parallel sessions devoted to the topic, its various ramifications, and ideas to help you deal with it, including best practices for managing growth. The meeting will also feature a view into computing and Washington from CRA’s Government Affairs Director Peter Harsha, and short after-dinner talks on computing research futures. New this year, we will facilitate book discussion groups over coffee.

In addition to the conference, a workshop for new department chairs will be held on July 17. There will be several hours of free time for networking, mingling, hiking, or hanging out and enjoying the gorgeous environment.

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2016 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award Winners

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This year’s nominees are a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several were authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others had made presentations at major conferences, and some had produced software artifacts that are in wide use.

Many nominees had been involved in successful summer research or internship programs; many had worked as teaching assistants, tutors, or mentors; and a number were significantly involved in community volunteer efforts.

CRA gratefully acknowledges the support of Microsoft Research and Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), which sponsor the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award program in alternate years. MERL is the sponsor of the 2016 awards.

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Nominees for CRA Board Announced and Petition Nominees Sought

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CRA is pleased to announce the 2016 Election Committee’s slate of nominees for the CRA Board. CRA also currently accepting nominations by petition.

Important dates and events:
On February 5, 2016, petition nominations due
On February 12, 2016, final ballots will be distributed to all CRA department chairs and lab directors. Each will have one vote for each open slot on the board.
On February 26, 2016, completed ballots must be returned to CRA.
In early March, the election results will be announced.

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Announcements

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CRA Surveys in Progress, Deadline January 22
The main part of the Taulbee Survey is still in progress. This includes data on student degrees and enrollment, faculty, research expenditures, and the every-three-years Profiles questions about department space, teaching load, and graduate student recruitment. CRA is conducting a one-time survey of doctoral institutions that goes beyond Taulbee’s basic enrollment numbers to collect information on the current surge in computer science enrollments. If you have any questions about either survey, contact Dr. Betsy Bizot, CRA Director of Statistics and Evaluation, bizot@cra.org or 202-266-2943.

Call for Nominations for BECA Award

New CRA Board Member
Tom Conte is the new IEEE-CS representative on the CRA Board of Directors. Tom joins David Ebert and replaces Jean-Luc Gaudiot who has been elected IEEE-CS 2017 president. Tom was the president of IEEE-CS in 2015.

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CRA-E Announces New Program and Service

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The Computing Research Association Education Committee (CRA-E) is pleased to announce the CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program and a new Undergraduate Research Listing Service. The CRA-E Graduate Fellows program provides opportunities for Ph.D. candidates in a computing field to contribute to CRA-E projects, to network with computer science education advocates on the committee, and to engage in advocacy for mentoring undergraduate students and to promote undergraduate research and education at the national level. A new “undergraduate research listing service” is now available for faculty and other researchers to advertise (at no cost) undergraduate research opportunities and for undergraduates to find such opportunities. The site can be found here.

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CS in DC: Jim Kurose, Assistant Director, NSF, CISE

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Jim Kurose is an assistant director (AD) at the National Science Foundation (NSF), where he leads the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) in its mission to uphold the nation’s leadership in scientific discovery and engineering innovation through its support of fundamental research and transformative advances in cyberinfrastructure. He is on leave from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he is a distinguished professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences.

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