2016 Archives - Page 2 of 11

Archive of articles published in the 2016 issue.

Nominations Open for CRA Distinguished Service and A. Nico Habermann Awards

In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

The Computing Research Association invites nominations for the 2017 CRA Distinguished Service Award and A. Nico Habermann Award. Both nominations are due December 9.

Distinguished Service Award
CRA presents an award, usually annually, to a person who has made an outstanding service contribution to the computing research community. This award recognizes service in the areas of government affairs, professional societies, publications or conferences, and leadership that has a major impact on computing research.

Nico Habermann Award
CRA presents an award, usually annually, to a person who has made outstanding contributions aimed at increasing the numbers and/or successes of underrepresented groups in the computing research community. This award recognizes work in areas of government affairs, educational programs, professional societies, public awareness, and leadership that has a major impact on advancing these groups in the computing research community.

CRA

Nominees Sought for CRA Board of Directors

In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

The Computing Research Association seeks your help in suggesting nominations for its board of directors. We want individuals who have the time, energy, initiative, and resources to work on CRA issues on behalf of the entire CRA community. We have a working board, and all members are expected to work on community issues. The deadline for receipt of nominations is December 2.

CRA

Nominations Open for 2017 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award

In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

CRA’s newest award program honors faculty members in computing who have made a significant impact on students they have mentored. The CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award recognizes faculty members who have provided exceptional mentorship and undergraduate research experiences and, in parallel, guidance on admission and matriculation of these students to research-focused graduate programs in computing. Nominations are due Monday, November 28.

CRA-E

CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program

In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

The Computing Research Association Education Committee (CRA-E) is now accepting applications for the CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program. The program provides opportunities for Ph.D. candidates in computing fields to contribute to CRA-E projects, network with computer science education advocates on the committee, engage in advocacy for mentoring undergraduate students and promote undergraduate research and education at the national level. Nominations are due January 30, 2017.

CRA-E

CRA Executive Director Speaks at White House Summit on Computer Science for All

By: Shar Steed, CRA Communications Specialist, and Jane Stout, CERP DirectorIn: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

On September 14, CRA executive director, Andrew Bernat was a speaker at the White House Summit on Computer Science for All. The audience heard from students and leaders of CS education efforts as part of the CS for All initiative. The initiative aims to ensure CS education is available to all K-12 students across the U.S. CRA member institutions’ support will include faculty expertise and effort, the development of innovative computing education products, and teacher development.

CRA

Computing Researchers Travel to D.C. to Make the Case for Computing

By: Brian Mosley, CRA Policy AnalystIn: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

On September 14, 21 computing researchers from across the country visited Washington, D.C. to make the case before Congress for federally funded computing research. The volunteers, traveling from as near as Maryland and Pennsylvania, and as far away as Utah and California, participated in nearly 50 House and Senate meetings. Their message to Congress was very simple: Federally supported computing research is vital to the nation’s future. Using their own research and individual stories as support, and reinforced with additional information from CRA, they made the “Federal case” for computing to members of Congress and their staff. And they’ve hopefully started a lasting dialogue on both sides.

GovAffairs

Undergraduate Computing Majors Talk about Institutional Support at Their College or University for Becoming a Middle or High School Teacher

By: Jane Stout, CERP DirectorIn: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

CERP asked 3,616 undergraduate computing majors about their perceptions of institutional support for becoming a middle or high school computing teacher. As seen here, very few students in this sample have been exposed to this career path in their department, and more than one-third of students perceive the career path as viewed negatively in their department. Furthermore, few students knew where to seek advice for this career path at their institution. These data suggest colleges and universities in general, and computing departments specifically, could improve the amount of emphasis placed on teaching middle or high school computing. In turn, this might result in increased interest by computing majors in becoming middle or high school computing teachers. Given recent efforts to promote widespread K-12 computing education, enhancing support for students who might be interested in becoming middle or high school computing teachers is important.

CERP

The Future of Computing Research: Industry-Academic Collaborations

By: Helen Wright, CCC senior program associateIn: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

The Computing Community Consortium convened a round-table of industry and academic participants in July 2015 to better understand the landscape of industry-academic interaction, and to discuss possible actions that might be taken to enhance those interactions. This discussion was preceded by a survey sent to academics and industry representatives in Spring of 2015. This survey was designed to provide some current information about the perceptions of the value of academic/industry interaction as well as trends and barriers.

The resulting report, The Future of Computing Research: Industry-Academic Collaborations, touches on topics that were discussion during the round-table as well as in the survey.

CCC

One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence

By: Greg Hager, Computing Community Consortium past chair and Johns Hopkins University.In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

What do you think your field will look like in 100 years? Speculating about the world a century from now may be too challenging, so what if instead a community took it upon itself to periodically assess its progress and potential nearer-term futures over time? How might such reflections influence the rate of progress, the types of problems that the field focuses on, the public perception of the work, or the ability to anticipate and address thorny ethical or policy questions?

The first step on a project to answer these questions was taken with the release of the first report of the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100).

CCC

Expanding the Pipeline: PROMISE Brings a New Phase of #ThinkBigDiversity to Maryland Grad Students

By: Renetta Garrison Tull, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyIn: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

Graduate students in STEM fields can find their M.S. and doctoral experiences to be both isolating and academically challenging. Loneliness can be particularly poignant when the graduate student is a member of an underrepresented group; has had an undergraduate experience that was connected by school spirit, such as collectively rooting for the college’s sports teams; or has participated in group-based academic student success initiatives, such as the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, which primarily connect to undergraduate students.

To combat isolation, PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, hosts the annual Summer Success Institute (SSI), a pre-semester weekend conference in August for graduate students. The SSI features professional development activities that directly cater to the needs of graduate students in STEM, and peripherally to “postdoctoral fellows, professors, and career professionals (PP&P).”

CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline

Announcements

In: October 2016, Vol. 28/No.9 /

Please share these opportunities with your students.
Applications Open for Grad Cohort 2017
The upcoming CRA-Women Graduate Student Cohort (Grad Cohort) will be held April 7-8, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Grad Cohort is a two-day workshop for female students in their first, second, or third year of graduate school in computing fields. The application is available here and closes November 30. The workshop aims to increase the ranks of senior women in computing-related studies and research by building and mentoring nationwide communities of women through their graduate studies.

CRA-Women Virtual Undergrad Town Hall: Enabling Science Breakthroughs Using Computer Science
During CRA-W’s Virtual Undergraduate Town Hall webinar, students from around the world will learn about cutting edge research in the field of computing, and ask questions to distinguished computer scientists. The next event will be held October 13 at 7PM EST. Click here to register.

CRA-WP

Computing Research News