On Monday, the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF) held an event on Capitol Hill to announce the launch of a dozen regional partnerships between undergraduate institutions and businesses to increase the research and workforce in key areas specific to the region. The partnerships are located in California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Six of the twelve partnerships focus on information technology with several emphasizing cybersecurity. The others address health care, energy, and environmental concerns. All of the partnerships are in keeping with the overarching goal of increasing the number of undergraduates who pursue and obtain a degree in a STEM field, particularly a field that the industry in the region is seeking.
Information on each of the twelve partnerships can be found here.
David Forsyth and his research display for CRA's booth
David Forsyth, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, ably represented CRA last night at the Coalition for National Science Funding Science Exhibition on Capitol Hill. Featuring a poster and computer slideshow of his research on inserting synthetic objects into legacy photographs, David spoke to Congressional and Senate staff members, National Science Foundation employees, students and lobbyists who were all fascinated by his research and presentation.
Demonstrations of David’s research are available online as a video.
Three out of every four people who were asked to identify the real photograph from the computer-generated photograph were unable to correctly identify the real one. Many were intrigued by the possible applications of the research from the benign to the more sinister possibilities. Several said they would never look at a photograph the same way again.
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee staff member Chris O'Leary listens to David's research explanation
The Exhibition, an annual science fair for Congress and staff, had 35 booths manned by researchers representing universities and scientific societies featuring some of the important research funded by the National Science Foundation.
The Washington Post has a great write-up of an event on April 25th put on by an alliance of academic and scientific societies and a bi-partisan group of Congressmen that sought to highlight the incredible payoff of research that “may once have been viewed as unusual, odd, or obscure.” The event, called the Golden Goose Awards, is a spin on the long-running “Golden Fleece Awards” started by Sen. William Proxmire (D-WI) back in the mid-1970s, which Proxmire used to highlight what he thought was particularly egregious examples of wasteful federal spending. (Last year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), launched a similarly themed attack on the National Science Foundation, mocking the agency for funding research into towel-folding robots and shrimp on treadmills, among other examples.) Instead, these Members took to the podium to cite examples of odd sounding research that produced enormous payoff. From the article:
Federally-funded research of dog urine ultimately gave scientists and understanding of the effect of hormones on the human kidney, which in turn has been helpful for diabetes patients. A study called “Acoustic Trauma in the Guinea Pig” resulted in treatment of early hearing loss in infants. And that randy screwworm study? It helped researchers control the population of a deadly parasite that targets cattle–costing the government $250,000 but ultimately saving the cattle industry more than $20 billion, according to [Rep. Jim] Cooper’s [(D-TN)] office.
Cooper was joined by Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) in standing up for odd-sounding science — hardly a collection of free-spending Members.
Cooper himself can’t be accused of being a free-spending liberal:As a member of the Blue Dog Caucus that sponsored the Simpson-Bowles plan on the House floor, his own deficit reduction proposals have garnered praise from prominent fiscal conservatives. The two House Republicans who helped him unveil the Golden Goose Awards–named after Aesop’s fable of “the goose that laid the golden egg”– also voted for Sen. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) most recent budget. But the congressmen stress that federal money spent on basic scientific research is well worth the upfront investment.
“When we invest in science, we also invest in jobs. Research and development is a key part to any healthy economy,” said Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) at Wednesday’s press conference. “It’s critical, and the federal government has an important role to play,” said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Penn.), who described how injecting horses with snake venom might “seem peculiar” but led to the discovery of the first anti-venom.
The group also wants their colleagues–and the broader public–to understand that investing in science means that the research failures are part of the process, as well. “There has never been a scientific project with guaranteed success…a single breakthrough can counter a thousand failures,” says Cooper.
A good counter to Proxmire and Coburn, and just what Congress needs to hear as they figure out how to prioritize the cuts required to tame the federal deficit. Read the whole article.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have just released their drafts (House – Senate) of the FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, and the numbers look pretty decent for NSF and NIST.
Short version: NSF would see an increase of 4.3 percent overall in FY13; NIST would see increases of $54-56 million to its core research accounts; NASA would see cuts.
Here are the slightly more detailed summaries (House – Senate):
On NSF, from the House —
National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $7.3 billion, which is $299 million above fiscal year 2012 and $41 million below the President’s request. NSF’s entire increase is provided to core research and education activities, which are critical to innovation and U.S. economic competitiveness, including funding for an advanced manufacturing science initiative and for research in cyber-security and cyber-infrastructure.
That’s a 4.3 percent increase over FY12, 1 percent less than the President’s Budget Request. NSF’s Research and Related Activities Account would receive a 4.5 percent increase in the bill.
From the Senate —
National Science Foundation (NSF) — The National Science Foundation (NSF) is funded at $7.3 billion, an increase of $240 million above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level.
Same overall level.
On NIST, from the House —
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $830 million in the bill, which is $79 million above fiscal year 2012 and $27 million below the President’s request. Within this total, important core research activities to help advance U.S. competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth are increased by $54 million above fiscal year 2012. In addition, the bill includes $128 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program – which provides training and technical assistance to U.S. manufacturers – and $21 million for an Advanced Manufacturing competitive research initiative.
From the Senate —
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $826 million, which is $75 million above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. The bill provides an increase of $56 million for NIST’s laboratories and technical research while maintaining strong support with industry partners including $128.5 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and $14.5 million for the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech)
So, both have healthy increases for NIST core research.
NASA doesn’t fare as well in the House. On NASA, from the House —
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $17.6 billion in the bill, which is $226 million below fiscal year 2012 and $138 million below the President’s request. This funding includes:
$3.7 billion for Exploration – $59 million below fiscal year 2012. This includes funding to keep NASA on schedule for upcoming Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System flight milestones and to maintain progress in a reconfigured commercial crew program.
$4 billion for Space Operations – $249 million below fiscal year 2012. The legislation will continue the closeout of the Space Shuttle program for a savings of $503 million.
$5.1 billion for NASA Science programs – $5 million above fiscal year 2012. This includes $1.4 billion for planetary science to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs that were imperiled by the President’s request. This also includes $628 million, as requested, for the James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA research also sees cuts in the Senate bill —
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is funded at $19.4 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion over the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. The large increase results from a reorganization of operational weather satellite procurement from NOAA into NASA. Without the funds for weather satellite procurement, this level represents a $41.5 million cut from the fiscal year 2012 enacted level.
The bill provides $5 billion for Science which is $69 million less than fiscal year 2012. Within Science, the bill restores $100 million of a proposed cut to robotic Mars science programs, resulting in a total of $461 million for Mars robotic science.
So, on the whole, good news for the agencies we care most about in this bill, except for NASA. The bills have some marked differences in the way they treat other programs in the bill — NOAA satellites paid for by NASA, for example and differences in the way some Dept of Justice programs are funded — that might cause some rejiggering of funding levels as these bills go to the floor and into conference. But it’s always better to start with a big-ish number and work from there, rather than starting with a smaller number. Also important is the verbiage used by both committees in summarizing the increases. Our arguments about the importance of NSF and NIST in promoting US innovation and competitiveness still resonate loudly with both sides of the aisle.
Enrollments in undergraduate computer science programs rose 9.6 percent in the 2011-12 school year, the fourth straight year of increase, according to new data released today by the Computing Research Association.
The data, found in the CRA Taulbee Survey report Computing Degree and Enrollment Trends, 2010-2011, compares schools that responded to both this year’s survey and last. Overall enrollment — including schools that did not participate in the survey last year — increased by 11.5 percent per department compared to the 2010-11 school year. The report also suggests that student interest in computer science may even be higher than the enrollment statistics indicate, noting that enrollments at some schools are constrained by enrollment caps in computer science departments. Free of these caps, in place because of faculty or infrastructure limitations, the report suggests that enrollments might have reflected even larger increases.
The number of bachelors degrees in computer science awarded by U.S. schools also increased by 10.5 percent in the 2010-11 school year, according to the report. Among schools who responded to both year’s surveys, the increase was 12.9 percent.
Total Ph.D. production in computing programs held steady in 2010-11, with 1,782 degrees granted.
The CRA Taulbee Survey is conducted annually by the Computing Research Association to document trends in student enrollment, degree production, employment of graduates, and faculty salaries in academic units in the United States and Canada that grant the Ph.D. in computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE) or information (I). CRA today released its Computing Degrees and Enrollment Trends, 2010-2011 report. The full Taulbee dataset will be released to the public in May and published in CRA’s Computing Research News.
Wired News’ Noah Shactman has an exclusive today on DARPA Director Regina Dugan’s announcement that she will be leaving the agency she’s helmed for three years to take a senior executive level position at Google. Here’s a snippet:
Darpa director Regina Dugan will soon be stepping down from her position atop the Pentagon’s premiere research shop to take a job with Google. Dugan, whose controversial tenure at the agency lasted just under three years, was “offered and accepted at senior executive position” with the internet giant, according to Darpa spokesman Eric Mazzacone. She felt she couldn’t say no to such an “innovative company,” he adds.
Current Deputy Director Ken Gabriel is expected to take on the interim Director role and is a good bet to take on the permanent role, though IARPA head Lisa Porter could also be considered, according to Shactman.
Dugan is responsible for changing a number of policies at the agency that often limited academic researchers from participating in DARPA-sponsored research, including removing the requirement for “go/no-go” decisions on all research and publication pre-clearance review (except in exceptional cases of national security). Dugan also promised the agency would be more cautious in its use of classification and would revamp the proposal process to give office directors and program managers more authority to pursue promising research, and by most indications, has followed through. It’s hard to imagine that Gabriel, who is well known to the academic community having been a professor of electrical and computer engineering and robotics at Carnegie Mellon, wouldn’t continue those policies under his tenure.
As we noted yesterday, science agencies were among the winners in the President’s budget request. The National Science Foundation “fared very well,” according to Director Subra Suresh, garnering an increase in the President’s plan of $340 million or nearly 5 percent compared to FY 12 final levels. Computing research, in particular, did even better. The agency’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering directorate (CISE) — the home for fundamental computing research at the agency — would see an increase of 8.6 percent in the President’s plan, the highest percentage increase among all the major science directorates.
How does computing warrant this seemingly preferential treatment? In large part, the reason lies with the agency’s new priorities — a suite of mostly-new initiatives announced by Suresh under what he called the new “OneNSF Framework.” In each, computing plays a key, or even foundational, role:
Cyber-enabled Materials, Manufacturing, and Smart Systems (CEMMS) — $247 million across the foundation, including $91 million in CISE;
Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) — $106 million NSF-wide, $16 million in CISE;
Expeditions in Education (E2) — $49 million NSF-wide, $4 million in CISE;
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) — $19 million NSF-wide, $6 million in CISE;
Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) — $63 million NSF-wide, $4 million in CISE;
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) — $110 million NSF-wide, $69 million in CISE;
Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) — $203 million NSF-wide, $11.5 million in CISE.
While some of this funding represents research already funded under different programs — for example, CISE already supports research in CEMMS through the ongoing work in Cyber-physical Systems National Robotics Initiative, as well as through the now discontinued Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation program — much of it is new money for the directorate. In addition, the directorate is funneling $17 million from three programs that have ended (Network Science and Engineering (NetSE), Social-Computational Systems, and the Interface between Computer Science and Economic and Social Sciences (ICES), into core CISE research areas. This process of identifying new initiatives, securing new funding for them, letting them run their course, then ending them and folding that money back into the CISE core is key to growing the CISE budget, and really the Foundation budget, over time.
So what do the newly announced OneNSF initiatives mean for CISE and computing researchers? Here’s how they break down:
Cyber-enabled Materials, Manufacturing, and Smart Systems (CEMMS) — The overall goal of CEMMS is to accelerate advances in 21st century smart engineered systems — systems that sense, respond, and adapt to the environment. CISE, partnering with NSF’s Biological Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and Office of Cyber Infrastructure, hopes to establish the scientific basis for engineered systems interdependent with physical world and social systems, model and simulate them in full complexity and dynamics, and develop a technology framework. In doing so, they’ll leverage ongoing research in their CPS and NRI activities.
Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) — Aims to accelerate the progress of scientific discovery and innovation. CISE’s contributions include investments in Advanced Computational Infrastructure (ACI) — foundational research in parallelism and concurrency, as well as distributed systems at scale — and to advance big data science and engineering through foundational research in managing, analyzing, visualizing and extracting useful information from large data sets.
Expeditions in Education (E2) — The goal across the Foundation is to integrate, leverage and expand STEM education. CISE hopes to focus on transforming undergraduate STEM learning though science and engineering, learning and understanding sustainability, and cyberlearning, data and observations for STEM education. CISE hopes to leverage their cross-directorate program in Cyberlearning (wit EHR, SBE, OCI), to design ways that innovative tools can be effectively integrated into learning, understand how people learn with technology, and implement new technologies into learning environments in way so that their potential is fulfilled.
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) — The Foundation goal is to accelerate innovations from the lab to the market, and as one of the founding directorates in the effort, CISE plans to continue its efforts to show high-impact results from a relatively modest investment ($6 million).
Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) — Aims to catalyze interdisciplinary research.
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) — A cross-directorate (CISE, EHR, ENG, MPS, OCI, SBE) effort to “build a cybersecure society and provide a strong competitive edge in the Nation’s ability to produce high-quiality digital systems and a well-trained cybersecurity workforce.” The program includes a solicitation that addresses cybersecurity from trustworthy computing systems; social, behavioral and economics; and addressing the transition to practice perspective. It also includes the ongoing Scholarship for Service (SFS) program designed to increase the number of qualified students entering the cyber security field.
Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) — This ongoing program aims to inform the societal actions needed for environmental and economic sustainability and sustainable human well-being. CISE sees multiple roles for computer science in SEES, including in questions of monitoring, data, scalability, addressing complexity, and behavior modeling and change, and is funding $11.5 million in research in response.
In addition to the cross-agency priorities, CISE maintains a number of CISE-level cross-cutting programs, including the Expeditions in Computing program (see this recent post on the CCC Blog), the Computing Education for the 21st Century program (which includes CISE efforts in computing education, research on teaching and learning, and broadening participation), Smart Health and Wellbeing, Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum (EARS), and Mid-scale Research Infrastructure, which includes increasing the “GENI footprint” and pushing ahead with US Ignite.
Finally, in his detailed briefing on the CISE directorate yesterday, CISE AD Farnam Jahanian stressed that while there’s a focus on the initiatives on this budget, the net result for the CISE “core” research areas is very positive. Put simply, as CISE grows, so grows the CISE core. And CISE will continue to grow as long as computing continues to stay relevant to national priorities and the priorities of the Foundation. Even in difficult budget climes….
As we noted earlier today, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science did fairly well in the President’s Budget Request considering the fiscal climate we remain mired in. Overall, the Office of Science request is for an increase of 2.4 percent over the FY12 enacted appropriations to a total of $5 billion.
The Advanced Scientific Computing Research program would see a 3.3 percent increase to $455.6 million. Basic Energy Sciences would also receive an increase to $1.8 billion, a 6.6 percent increase. The biggest decrease in the Office of Science would be to the Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists program. It would lose $4 million or 21.6 percent of it’s FY12 funding.
ARPA-E would see a significant increase to it’s project funding of 27.5 percent for a total of $325 million. This is a $70 million increase over the enacted FY12 funding and does not include the requested increase for “program direction” of 25 percent to $25 million. This would bring the total ARPA-E funding to $350 million. DoE states that the program direction funding would allow them to hire more federal employees, support contractors, lease space, and increase IT purchases. It is unlikely that Congress will approve of such increases for personnel, space, and equipment given the spending climate in Washington.
Secretary Chu’s statement on the Department of Energy budget can be found here. The full budget document can be found here.
As expected, these aren’t huge increases, but in the context of the current fiscal climate, they demonstrate that the Administration continues to make investments in research and development a priority. It’s certainly a better position from which to start the annual budget process than if they’d proposed cuts.
We’ll have more on the DOE Office of Science budget and NSF CISE budget today after budget briefings at those agencies.
Yesterday was STEM education day for the Administration. In the morning at a White House Science Fair, President Obama announced he will seek $80 million in the FY13 budget of the Department of Education to help train 100,000 more STEM teachers along with policies to recruit, retain, and reward STEM teachers. The full announcement can be found here.
In the afternoon, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released “Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”, a report focusing on ways to increase the attraction and retention of undergraduates majoring in the STEM fields. During the release, members of PCAST spoke to the difficulties of keeping interested students in the STEM fields particularly when they are not prepared for college level math and when they find the introductory level courses to be “uninspiring”. Additionally, many underrepresented groups leave STEM courses because the atmosphere is unwelcoming.
“PCAST found that economic forecasts point to a need for producing, over the next decade, approximately 1 million more college graduates in STEM fields than expected under current assumptions. Fewer than 40% of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. Merely increasing the retention of STEM majors from 40% to 50% would generate three-quarters of the targeted 1 million additional STEM degrees over the next decade,” according to the introductory letter to the President.
The report listed five recommendations for improving the attraction and retention of undergraduates.
Catalyze widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices
Advocate and provide support for replacing standard laboratory classes with discovery based research courses
Launch a national experiment in postsecondary mathematics education to address the math preparation gap
Encourage partnerships among stakeholders to diversify pathways to STEM careers
Create a Presidential Council on STEM Education with leadership from the academic and business communities to provide strategic leadership for transformative and sustainable change in STEM undergraduate education
A fact sheet, executive summary, and the full report are all available as PDFs at the PCAST website.
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BHEF Launches Regional Industry-Academic Partnerships
/In: Computing Education, Diversity in Computing /by MelissaNorrOn Monday, the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF) held an event on Capitol Hill to announce the launch of a dozen regional partnerships between undergraduate institutions and businesses to increase the research and workforce in key areas specific to the region. The partnerships are located in California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Six of the twelve partnerships focus on information technology with several emphasizing cybersecurity. The others address health care, energy, and environmental concerns. All of the partnerships are in keeping with the overarching goal of increasing the number of undergraduates who pursue and obtain a degree in a STEM field, particularly a field that the industry in the region is seeking.
Information on each of the twelve partnerships can be found here.
CNSF Science Exhibition on Hill
/In: CRA, Events, People, Research /by MelissaNorrDavid Forsyth and his research display for CRA's booth
David Forsyth, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, ably represented CRA last night at the Coalition for National Science Funding Science Exhibition on Capitol Hill. Featuring a poster and computer slideshow of his research on inserting synthetic objects into legacy photographs, David spoke to Congressional and Senate staff members, National Science Foundation employees, students and lobbyists who were all fascinated by his research and presentation.
Three out of every four people who were asked to identify the real photograph from the computer-generated photograph were unable to correctly identify the real one. Many were intrigued by the possible applications of the research from the benign to the more sinister possibilities. Several said they would never look at a photograph the same way again.
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee staff member Chris O'Leary listens to David's research explanation
The Exhibition, an annual science fair for Congress and staff, had 35 booths manned by researchers representing universities and scientific societies featuring some of the important research funded by the National Science Foundation.
Members of Congress Defend “Frivolous-sounding” Research That Really Pays Off at “Golden Goose Awards”
/In: Funding, Policy, R&D in the Press /by Peter HarshaScrewworm Larvae
The Washington Post has a great write-up of an event on April 25th put on by an alliance of academic and scientific societies and a bi-partisan group of Congressmen that sought to highlight the incredible payoff of research that “may once have been viewed as unusual, odd, or obscure.” The event, called the Golden Goose Awards, is a spin on the long-running “Golden Fleece Awards” started by Sen. William Proxmire (D-WI) back in the mid-1970s, which Proxmire used to highlight what he thought was particularly egregious examples of wasteful federal spending. (Last year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), launched a similarly themed attack on the National Science Foundation, mocking the agency for funding research into towel-folding robots and shrimp on treadmills, among other examples.) Instead, these Members took to the podium to cite examples of odd sounding research that produced enormous payoff. From the article:
Cooper was joined by Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) in standing up for odd-sounding science — hardly a collection of free-spending Members.
A good counter to Proxmire and Coburn, and just what Congress needs to hear as they figure out how to prioritize the cuts required to tame the federal deficit. Read the whole article.
NSF, NIST Fare OK in First FY13 Spending Bill Drafts
/In: Funding, FY13 Appropriations /by Peter HarshaThe House and Senate Appropriations Committees have just released their drafts (House – Senate) of the FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, and the numbers look pretty decent for NSF and NIST.
Short version: NSF would see an increase of 4.3 percent overall in FY13; NIST would see increases of $54-56 million to its core research accounts; NASA would see cuts.
Here are the slightly more detailed summaries (House – Senate):
On NSF, from the House —
That’s a 4.3 percent increase over FY12, 1 percent less than the President’s Budget Request. NSF’s Research and Related Activities Account would receive a 4.5 percent increase in the bill.
From the Senate —
Same overall level.
On NIST, from the House —
From the Senate —
So, both have healthy increases for NIST core research.
NASA doesn’t fare as well in the House. On NASA, from the House —
NASA research also sees cuts in the Senate bill —
So, on the whole, good news for the agencies we care most about in this bill, except for NASA. The bills have some marked differences in the way they treat other programs in the bill — NOAA satellites paid for by NASA, for example and differences in the way some Dept of Justice programs are funded — that might cause some rejiggering of funding levels as these bills go to the floor and into conference. But it’s always better to start with a big-ish number and work from there, rather than starting with a smaller number. Also important is the verbiage used by both committees in summarizing the increases. Our arguments about the importance of NSF and NIST in promoting US innovation and competitiveness still resonate loudly with both sides of the aisle.
More details as they become available!
Undergrad Computer Science Enrollments Rise for Fourth Straight Year — CRA Taulbee Report
/In: Computing Education, CRA, Diversity in Computing, People /by Peter HarshaEnrollments in undergraduate computer science programs rose 9.6 percent in the 2011-12 school year, the fourth straight year of increase, according to new data released today by the Computing Research Association.
The data, found in the CRA Taulbee Survey report Computing Degree and Enrollment Trends, 2010-2011, compares schools that responded to both this year’s survey and last. Overall enrollment — including schools that did not participate in the survey last year — increased by 11.5 percent per department compared to the 2010-11 school year. The report also suggests that student interest in computer science may even be higher than the enrollment statistics indicate, noting that enrollments at some schools are constrained by enrollment caps in computer science departments. Free of these caps, in place because of faculty or infrastructure limitations, the report suggests that enrollments might have reflected even larger increases.
The number of bachelors degrees in computer science awarded by U.S. schools also increased by 10.5 percent in the 2010-11 school year, according to the report. Among schools who responded to both year’s surveys, the increase was 12.9 percent.
Total Ph.D. production in computing programs held steady in 2010-11, with 1,782 degrees granted.
The CRA Taulbee Survey is conducted annually by the Computing Research Association to document trends in student enrollment, degree production, employment of graduates, and faculty salaries in academic units in the United States and Canada that grant the Ph.D. in computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE) or information (I). CRA today released its Computing Degrees and Enrollment Trends, 2010-2011 report. The full Taulbee dataset will be released to the public in May and published in CRA’s Computing Research News.
DARPA Director Dugan to Leave Agency for Google
/In: General /by Peter HarshaWired News’ Noah Shactman has an exclusive today on DARPA Director Regina Dugan’s announcement that she will be leaving the agency she’s helmed for three years to take a senior executive level position at Google. Here’s a snippet:
Current Deputy Director Ken Gabriel is expected to take on the interim Director role and is a good bet to take on the permanent role, though IARPA head Lisa Porter could also be considered, according to Shactman.
Dugan is responsible for changing a number of policies at the agency that often limited academic researchers from participating in DARPA-sponsored research, including removing the requirement for “go/no-go” decisions on all research and publication pre-clearance review (except in exceptional cases of national security). Dugan also promised the agency would be more cautious in its use of classification and would revamp the proposal process to give office directors and program managers more authority to pursue promising research, and by most indications, has followed through. It’s hard to imagine that Gabriel, who is well known to the academic community having been a professor of electrical and computer engineering and robotics at Carnegie Mellon, wouldn’t continue those policies under his tenure.
We’ll have more detail as it’s available.
Budget Drilldown FY13: National Science Foundation
/In: Funding, FY13 Appropriations /by Peter HarshaAs we noted yesterday, science agencies were among the winners in the President’s budget request. The National Science Foundation “fared very well,” according to Director Subra Suresh, garnering an increase in the President’s plan of $340 million or nearly 5 percent compared to FY 12 final levels. Computing research, in particular, did even better. The agency’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering directorate (CISE) — the home for fundamental computing research at the agency — would see an increase of 8.6 percent in the President’s plan, the highest percentage increase among all the major science directorates.
How does computing warrant this seemingly preferential treatment? In large part, the reason lies with the agency’s new priorities — a suite of mostly-new initiatives announced by Suresh under what he called the new “OneNSF Framework.” In each, computing plays a key, or even foundational, role:
While some of this funding represents research already funded under different programs — for example, CISE already supports research in CEMMS through the ongoing work in Cyber-physical Systems National Robotics Initiative, as well as through the now discontinued Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation program — much of it is new money for the directorate. In addition, the directorate is funneling $17 million from three programs that have ended (Network Science and Engineering (NetSE), Social-Computational Systems, and the Interface between Computer Science and Economic and Social Sciences (ICES), into core CISE research areas. This process of identifying new initiatives, securing new funding for them, letting them run their course, then ending them and folding that money back into the CISE core is key to growing the CISE budget, and really the Foundation budget, over time.
So what do the newly announced OneNSF initiatives mean for CISE and computing researchers? Here’s how they break down:
Cyber-enabled Materials, Manufacturing, and Smart Systems (CEMMS) — The overall goal of CEMMS is to accelerate advances in 21st century smart engineered systems — systems that sense, respond, and adapt to the environment. CISE, partnering with NSF’s Biological Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and Office of Cyber Infrastructure, hopes to establish the scientific basis for engineered systems interdependent with physical world and social systems, model and simulate them in full complexity and dynamics, and develop a technology framework. In doing so, they’ll leverage ongoing research in their CPS and NRI activities.
Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) — Aims to accelerate the progress of scientific discovery and innovation. CISE’s contributions include investments in Advanced Computational Infrastructure (ACI) — foundational research in parallelism and concurrency, as well as distributed systems at scale — and to advance big data science and engineering through foundational research in managing, analyzing, visualizing and extracting useful information from large data sets.
Expeditions in Education (E2) — The goal across the Foundation is to integrate, leverage and expand STEM education. CISE hopes to focus on transforming undergraduate STEM learning though science and engineering, learning and understanding sustainability, and cyberlearning, data and observations for STEM education. CISE hopes to leverage their cross-directorate program in Cyberlearning (wit EHR, SBE, OCI), to design ways that innovative tools can be effectively integrated into learning, understand how people learn with technology, and implement new technologies into learning environments in way so that their potential is fulfilled.
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) — The Foundation goal is to accelerate innovations from the lab to the market, and as one of the founding directorates in the effort, CISE plans to continue its efforts to show high-impact results from a relatively modest investment ($6 million).
Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) — Aims to catalyze interdisciplinary research.
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) — A cross-directorate (CISE, EHR, ENG, MPS, OCI, SBE) effort to “build a cybersecure society and provide a strong competitive edge in the Nation’s ability to produce high-quiality digital systems and a well-trained cybersecurity workforce.” The program includes a solicitation that addresses cybersecurity from trustworthy computing systems; social, behavioral and economics; and addressing the transition to practice perspective. It also includes the ongoing Scholarship for Service (SFS) program designed to increase the number of qualified students entering the cyber security field.
Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) — This ongoing program aims to inform the societal actions needed for environmental and economic sustainability and sustainable human well-being. CISE sees multiple roles for computer science in SEES, including in questions of monitoring, data, scalability, addressing complexity, and behavior modeling and change, and is funding $11.5 million in research in response.
In addition to the cross-agency priorities, CISE maintains a number of CISE-level cross-cutting programs, including the Expeditions in Computing program (see this recent post on the CCC Blog), the Computing Education for the 21st Century program (which includes CISE efforts in computing education, research on teaching and learning, and broadening participation), Smart Health and Wellbeing, Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum (EARS), and Mid-scale Research Infrastructure, which includes increasing the “GENI footprint” and pushing ahead with US Ignite.
Finally, in his detailed briefing on the CISE directorate yesterday, CISE AD Farnam Jahanian stressed that while there’s a focus on the initiatives on this budget, the net result for the CISE “core” research areas is very positive. Put simply, as CISE grows, so grows the CISE core. And CISE will continue to grow as long as computing continues to stay relevant to national priorities and the priorities of the Foundation. Even in difficult budget climes….
FY2013 Department of Energy Budget Request
/In: Funding, FY13 Appropriations /by MelissaNorrAs we noted earlier today, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science did fairly well in the President’s Budget Request considering the fiscal climate we remain mired in. Overall, the Office of Science request is for an increase of 2.4 percent over the FY12 enacted appropriations to a total of $5 billion.
The Advanced Scientific Computing Research program would see a 3.3 percent increase to $455.6 million. Basic Energy Sciences would also receive an increase to $1.8 billion, a 6.6 percent increase. The biggest decrease in the Office of Science would be to the Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists program. It would lose $4 million or 21.6 percent of it’s FY12 funding.
ARPA-E would see a significant increase to it’s project funding of 27.5 percent for a total of $325 million. This is a $70 million increase over the enacted FY12 funding and does not include the requested increase for “program direction” of 25 percent to $25 million. This would bring the total ARPA-E funding to $350 million. DoE states that the program direction funding would allow them to hire more federal employees, support contractors, lease space, and increase IT purchases. It is unlikely that Congress will approve of such increases for personnel, space, and equipment given the spending climate in Washington.
Secretary Chu’s statement on the Department of Energy budget can be found here. The full budget document can be found here.
Federal R&D Investments Up Overall in President’s FY13 Budget Request
/In: Funding, FY13 Appropriations /by Peter HarshaThe President’s budget request for FY 2013 is out and the White House has prepared a handy summary of the R&D portions.
Some highlights:
As expected, these aren’t huge increases, but in the context of the current fiscal climate, they demonstrate that the Administration continues to make investments in research and development a priority. It’s certainly a better position from which to start the annual budget process than if they’d proposed cuts.
We’ll have more on the DOE Office of Science budget and NSF CISE budget today after budget briefings at those agencies.
STEM Education Initiatives Announced
/In: Computing Education, Diversity in Computing, Funding, Policy /by MelissaNorrYesterday was STEM education day for the Administration. In the morning at a White House Science Fair, President Obama announced he will seek $80 million in the FY13 budget of the Department of Education to help train 100,000 more STEM teachers along with policies to recruit, retain, and reward STEM teachers. The full announcement can be found here.
In the afternoon, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released “Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”, a report focusing on ways to increase the attraction and retention of undergraduates majoring in the STEM fields. During the release, members of PCAST spoke to the difficulties of keeping interested students in the STEM fields particularly when they are not prepared for college level math and when they find the introductory level courses to be “uninspiring”. Additionally, many underrepresented groups leave STEM courses because the atmosphere is unwelcoming.
“PCAST found that economic forecasts point to a need for producing, over the next decade, approximately 1 million more college graduates in STEM fields than expected under current assumptions. Fewer than 40% of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. Merely increasing the retention of STEM majors from 40% to 50% would generate three-quarters of the targeted 1 million additional STEM degrees over the next decade,” according to the introductory letter to the President.
The report listed five recommendations for improving the attraction and retention of undergraduates.
A fact sheet, executive summary, and the full report are all available as PDFs at the PCAST website.