Erwin Gianchandani joined the Computing Community Consortium as our inaugural Director in April 2010.  Much of the success that the CCC has achieved is directly due to Erwin’s efforts:  he is – among a long list of extraordinary attributes – smart, thoughtful, strategic, well-organized, tireless, and a joy to work with and be around. When you are fortunate enough to hire a young person such as Erwin, you know that at some point he will move on to other opportunities.  We’re sad to report that this day has come.  Next week, Erwin will leave CCC to become Deputy Director of the Division of Computer and Network Systems in NSF’s CISE […]

Earlier this month, Columbia University computer science professor Steven Bellovin was named the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) chief technologist, taking over for Princeton’s Ed Felten following the conclusion of his successful two-year term. In his first post on the Tech@FTC Blog, Bellovin wrote: I’m delighted to succeed Ed Felten as Chief Technologist of the Federal Trade Commission. He’s a hard act to follow! But what does the FTC do, and what is the role of a technologist?   The FTC polices the online marketplace. While that often involves addressing complex issues, one essential requirement is that companies must keep the promises they make to consumers. If an organization’s privacy policy says that […]

The New York Times’s John Markoff has penned another article on robotics today, this time featuring the efforts of Rodney Brooks and Rethink Robotics to engineer robots that work directly with humans in the workplace: If you grab the hand of a two-armed robot named Baxter, it will turn its head and a pair of cartoon eyes — displayed on a tablet-size computer-screen “face” — will peer at you with interest.   The sensation that Baxter conveys is not creepy, but benign, perhaps even disarmingly friendly. And that is intentional.   Baxter, the first product of Rethink Robotics, an ambitious start-up company in a revived manufacturing district here, is a significant bet that robots in the future […]

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) announcing its intent to establish a new Mobile Health Public-Private Partnership (mHealth PPP) that would “facilitate research and evidence collection to enable the appropriate use of wireless devices to improve health in both the domestic and global environment” through collaboration among government, academic, non-profit, philanthropic, and private sector organizations. In particular, the RFI seeks to identify organizations that could serve as managing partner and/or participants for the mHealth PPP. According to the RFI (following the link):