Thirty researchers met August 11-13 to discuss the future of interactive systems. This workshop was sponsored by the Computing Community Consortium, ACM/SIGCHI and Canada’s GRAND initiative. The interactive systems architecture is the foundation of what is feasible when people interact with computing technologies. An interactive architecture creates an ecosystem within which diverse user experiences can be developed. UNIX introduced the idea that software modules could be interactively “piped” together. X-Windows laid the foundation of distributed interaction. The Macintosh put graphical interaction in the hands of the masses and the Web distributed interaction around the world. The researchers gathered at this workshop in Jackson, WY, envision a world where information and […]

The Simons Foundation will provide up to $6 million/year in funding for a new Institute for the Theory of Computing. The call for applications recognizes the deep importance of the study of computation to society. Computation (and its abstract form, the algorithm) has not only revolutionized science, technology, and society, but also is among the most important scientific concepts discovered and developed in the 20th century. This scientific discipline has enabled numerous technological advances and has forged many connections to mathematics and other sciences, providing fruitful insights and new problems. It has impacted not only computer science and technology, but also parts of mathematics, physics, biology, economics and sociology. Meanwhile, […]

Every 10 years, U.S. astronomers come together to generate what has become a highly influential report recommending which astronomy and astrophysics projects should be funded by Federal agencies in the following decade. This year’s “decadal survey” – assimilated from 9 appointed panels, 17 town hall meetings, and 324 white papers – was released by the National Research Council (NRC) on Aug. 13. Unlike previous decadal surveys that have been defined by lengthy “wish lists,” the 2010 report unveiled just 8 projects, all focused on the study of dark matter and dark energy. And for the first time, the survey included independently vetted estimates of project costs. (See http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/329/5995/1002 and http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100818/full/466910a.html […]

The internet is abuzz with stories about a purported proof that the class P is not equal to the class NP.  The author of the proof is Dr. Vinay Deolalikar, a Principal Research Scientist at HP Lab.  Professor Richard Lipton’s blog provides some interesting comments and reflections on this manuscript.

Last week, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced a new report titled “Telling the Stories of the BPC Alliances”. This report describes how the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program has had tremendous success in boosting participation of underserved students in computer science. The BPC program funds 11 alliances involving a diverse set of institutions—large research universities, historically black colleges, states, middle and high schools, and various non-profit organizations. Together, they leverage their faculty and financial resources to encourage more students to pursue computer science degrees, and, ultimately, careers. While national participation in computer science is declining, the number of students pursuing CS […]