Published: October 2018, Issue: Vol. 30/No.9, Download as PDF
Archive of articles published in the October 2018, Vol. 30/No.9 issue.
The Computing Research Association seeks your help in recruiting candidates for its Board of Directors. We want individuals who have 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 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award honors faculty members in computing who have made a significant impact on students they have mentored. It recognizes those 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.
The Computing Research Association Education Committee (CRA-E) is now accepting applications for the CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program. The program 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 promote computer science research and undergraduate education at the national level.
On September 13th, 11 computing researchers from across the country visited Washington, D.C. to make the case for federally funded computing research. The volunteers, traveling from as near as Virginia and Pennsylvania, and as far away as Washington and Ohio, participated in nearly 30 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. Those Members of Congress now know more about the expertise and interesting (and important) computing work that occurs in their districts and states, and our participants have a sense of just who represents them in Congress. And they’ve hopefully started a lasting dialogue on both sides.
One cannot get through the day without some acknowledgment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), whether it’s something in the news or a direct interaction with an AI system. However, as acknowledged by the White House, there is still much basic research to be done in the area. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is announcing a new initiative to create a Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence.
The Computing Research Association seeks a highly motivated individual to serve as a Deputy Director for the Computing Community Consortium. The Deputy Director works with the CCC Director, Council Members, and the CRA staff to ensure that the CCC succeeds in its mission: to serve as a catalyst and enabler for the computing research community, to provide mechanisms for the community to identify compelling research visions for the future of the field and to articulate those visions to key stakeholders.
CERP evaluated the CCC Early Career Researcher Symposium held in Washington, D.C. during August 2018. Evaluation findings showed that participants of the symposium gained potential collaborators for future work. These findings highlight a key feature of the symposium, which was to encourage networking and discussions among peers and leaders from the field.
Research shows that it takes 25 minutes to reach full productivity after an interruption, yet we are interrupted every 3 minutes. And even without external interruptions, our focus is fragmented. We look at any given desktop window for an average of only 40 seconds, constantly self-interrupting to check email or Facebook. We also try to complete multiple tasks at once, even though we all know that multitasking typically fails. Our tendency to be easily distracted kept our hunter-and-gatherer ancestors alive when they needed to attend to potential predators, but now, in the safety of our offices, it is amazing we manage to get anything done. Chances are you won’t even read this entire article in one go.
The 2018 ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference, presented by CMD-IT, was held September 19-22 in Orlando, Florida. The Tapia conferences bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
We will again host two Graduate Cohort Workshops in 2019. The CRA URMD Grad Cohort Workshop is designed specifically for underrepresented minorities in computing and persons with disabilities in graduate school in computing fields. The CRA-W Grad Cohort Workshop is designed for women students in their first, second, or third year of graduate school in computing fields. The workshops will include a mix of formal presentations, informal discussions and social events. By attending Grad Cohort, participants will be able to build mentoring relationships and develop peer networks that are intended to form the basis for ongoing activities during their graduate career and beyond. Both applications are open now and will close on November 15.
Are You Working on the Taulbee Survey?
The CRA Taulbee Survey is in progress. The deadline for the salary section is November 27.
Late December: Preliminary salary report available to participants.
January 15, 2019: Due date for the main Taulbee section.
Upcoming Nomination Deadlines
CRA Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers
October 15
CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award
November 26
Candidates Sought for CRA Board of Directors
November 30
CRA Distinguished Service Award
December 7
A. Nico Habermann Award
December 7
CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program
January 28, 2019
