On February 14, Kelly Gaither (Texas Advanced Computing Center), Kathryn McKinley (Microsoft Research), and Ed Lazowska (University of Washington and Computing Community Consortium) testified to the Subcommittee on Research of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology at a hearing on “Applications for Information Technology Research & Development.” Lazowska sang a familiar refrain:  Research often takes a long time before it pays off – often 15 years or more. Research often pays off in unanticipated ways – we can’t predict what the biggest impact will be. Advances in one sector enable advances in other sectors. The research ecosystem is fueled by the flow of people and ideas back and […]

Last Saturday, Erwin Gianchandani, formerly the director of the Computing Community Consortium and now the deputy director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Computer and Network Systems, organized and moderated a symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) 2013 Annual Meeting in Boston. The 90-minute session – titled How Fundamental Computing Research Touches Everyday Lives — sought to describe how fundamental research in computing over the last several decades has transformed our world, and promises to facilitate enormous opportunities for still more game-changing breakthroughs in the years ahead. Nearly 85 people packed into a room at the Hynes Convention Center to hear the session’s featured […]