Apr

27

Call for applications for 2010-11 Computing Innovation Fellows

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The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) and the Computing Research Association (CRA), with anticipated funding from the National Science Foundation, are pleased to announce a new call for Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) for the 2010-11 academic year.  The CIFellows Project is an opportunity for new Ph.D. graduates in computer science and closely related fields to obtain one- to two-year positions at universities, industrial research laboratories, and other organizations that advance the field of computing and its positive impact on society.  The goals of the CIFellows Project are to retain new Ph.D.s in research and teaching during challenging economic times, and to support intellectual renewal and diversity in computing fields at U.S. organizations.

This call follows a highly successful inaugural class of CIFellows for the 2009-10 academic year, in which 60 Ph.D. graduates are completing outstanding research and teaching enrichment experiences.  Six of these 2009-10 CIFellows have already received faculty appointments in part as a result of their CIFellowships, and many others are continuing in the program for a second year.

The CIFellows Project seeks to fund around 40 new positions starting during the 2010-11 academic year.  Applications are due very soon:  5 p.m. EDT on May 23, 2010.  Awards are expected to be announced by July 1, 2010.  Positions will commence in the fall.

Applications will be received beginning May 3, 2010, at http://cifellows.org.

Also:  Go to http://cifellows.org to advertise your interest in hosting a CIFellow at your organization.

Individuals who received (or will receive) Ph.D.s from U.S. institutions between May 1, 2009 and August 31, 2010 in computer science, computer engineering, information science, or a closely related field are eligible to apply.  Applicants must obtain commitments—including mentoring plans—from between one and three prospective hosts/mentors.  Hosts/mentors cannot be at the same institution as the one granting the Ph.D.  The CIFellows website (linked above) provides resources for both prospective applicants and host/mentors to announce their interests and availability.

- Greg Andrews, Chair of the CIFellows Steering Committee
- Ed Lazowska, Chair of the Computing Community Consortium Council
- Eric Grimson, Chair of the Computing Research Association
- Erwin Gianchandani, Director of the Computing Community Consortium & the CIFellows Project

Jul

30

First CIFellows sub-award completed!

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untitledToday, the first sub-award in the Computing Innovation Fellows project was completed!

Under the CIFellows project – conceived of and implemented by CCC and CRA, and funded by a $15 million award from NSF – 60 extraordinary new Ph.D. graduates have been paired with 60 outstanding mentors for postdoctoral opportunities that advance the computing field.

The CIFellows project was conceived in February as a response to the current economic climate.  The goal is to keep outstanding Ph.D. graduates “in the research and education game” until the climate improves.  It is a huge tribute to NSF, CCC, CRA, the computing research community, and Peter Lee (who directs the project) that we were able to go from conception to sub-award in 5 months!

Jun

27

CIFellows Status Report

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Less than six weeks ago we launched the Computing Innovation Fellows Project.  In that short time, more than 1,200 people announced their interest in hosting a CIFellow on our mentor website, and 526 applications for CIFellowships were completed and forwarded to the Selection Committee for review.

The website for submitting applications was taken down on schedule at midnight on June 9, and the reviewing process commenced two days later. We’ve been very busy reviewing ever since, assigning each application to multiple reviewers, to guarantee a minimum of three reviews for each awardee. We are targeting July 10 for completing the review and decision process.

The 526 applications come from 415 145 distinct colleges and universities and specify a total of 949 different applicant-mentor pairs. The mentors span 198 different universities, companies, and non-profits.

27% of the applicants declare themselves to be female and 62% male. 42% are US citizens and 5% are permanent residents. The two largest international groups are from China (15%) and India (14%). 6% of the applicants are members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.

We asked each applicant to specify his or her research subdiscipline. A quick tabulation of the responses is as follows:

  • 21%: AI / Machine Learning / Robotics / Vision
  • 2%: Communications/Signal Processing
  • 3%: Computer Science Education / Educational Technology
  • 6%: Databases / Information Retrieval / Data Mining
  • 3%: Graphics / Visualization
  • 7%: Hardware / Architecture
  • 7%: HCI / CSCW
  • 7%: Information Assurance / Security / Privacy / Cryptography
  • 2%: Information Systems / Information Science
  • 5%: Mobile / Ubiquitous / Embedded Computing
  • 9%: Networks / Operating Systems
  • 3%: Numerical/Scientific Computing / HPC / Data-Intensive Scalable Computing
  • 3%: Other (e.g., Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Computational Neuroscience, Technology for the Developing World)
  • 3%: Programming Languages / Compilers
  • 8%: Scientific/Medical Informatics (includes Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Clinical Informatics, Public Health Informatics, Chemical Informatics)
  • 2%: Social Computing / Social Informatics
  • 2%: Software Engineering
  • 0% (2): Technology Policy
  • 6%: Theory / Algorithms

(It seems clear that a further subdivision of AI/ML/Robotics/Vision into separate areas would provide better information.)

The response by both prospective mentors and applicants far exceeds our expectations! The level of interest has been extremely gratifying, and we truly appreciate the cooperation of almost all of the mentors and recommenders in submitting their endorsements on time. The members of both the Selection Committee and Steering Committee have been working very, very hard on a completely volunteer basis. The CCC’s oversight is working well to ensure broad community input, notification and, ultimately, participation.

We’re all looking forward to making the final decisions, in about two weeks or so …

– Peter Lee and Ed Lazowska