Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
Rice University Webinar – Doctoral Program Planning
March 20, 2012 – 10:00AM (PST)/12:00PM (CST)/1:00PM (EST)
On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 , the ELA Mentoring Program is hosting the next webinar session featuring Bushra Anjum and Jeremy Barksdale (both PhD students) who will discuss "Doctoral Program Planning". To join the hour-long session, sign up online here by Tuesday, March 20, 8am CT.
Rice University to Host XSEDE Webinar Featuring Roger Moye, Rice University Campus Champion
March 21, 2012 – 4:00pm CT
ELA will also be hosting a computing webinar led by Roger Moye, Rice U. XSEDE Campus Champion . The presentation will spend about 15 minutes discussing the XSEDE Campus Champions program. The remainder of the hour will be spent discussing the general design of an HPC system (cluster), how to login to and submit jobs on an XSEDE machine (TACC Ranger), and will briefly discuss how an HPC system can be used to support a computational science research project. To join the hour-long session, sign up online here by Wednesday, March 21, 8am CT.
Webinar Overview: The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) is the most advanced, powerful, and robust collection of integrated advanced digital resources and services in the world. Scientists and engineers around the world use these resources and services—supercomputers, collections of data, and new tools. The XSEDE Campus Champions program supports campus representatives as a local source of knowledge about high-performance and high-throughput computing so that the campus has direct access to XSEDE, input to its staff, and assistance in using these resources.
FUTURE COMPUTING 2012: The Fourth International Conference on Future
Computational Technologies and Applications – Call for Papers, Tutorials, and Panels
July 22-27, 2012 - Nice, France
Submission Deadline Extended – March 22, 2012
Please consider to contribute to and/or forward to the appropriate groups
the following opportunity to submit and publish original scientific results to FUTURE COMPUTING 2012. In addition, authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: The topics suggested by the conference can be discussed in term of concepts, state of the art, research, standards, implementations, running experiments, applications, and industrial case studies. For more information, including topic areas and submission guidelines, please visit http://www.iaria.org/conferences2012/SubmitFUTURECOMPUTING12.html.
7th Annual Computer Science for High School Teachers Summer Workshop
August 1-3, 2012 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University is running their 7th annual CS4HS summer workshop. The workshop includes activities that help high school teachers understand the breadth of computer science beyond Java programming. We provide hands-on activities that teachers can use in their classrooms to show their students how to use computational thinking principles to solve problems, explore the use of robots and other software to solve real-world problems, and learn more about the various fields of study within computer science including machine learning and human computer interaction. Teachers will visit the local Google office in Pittsburgh to speak with Google engineers about how to help prepare their students for jobs in the computing industry, and there will be an open forum to discuss ways to improve the perception and relevance of computing in K-12. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.cs.cmu.edu/cs4hs/summer12
Research Features Across the XSEDE Partnership
SDSC’s ‘Gordon’ Supercomputer: Ready for Researchers
Accurately predicting severe storms, or what Wall Street’s markets will do next, may become just a bit easier in coming months as Gordon, a unique supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, begins helping researchers delve into these and other data-intensive projects. Following acceptance testing in January, Gordon has now begun serving University of California and national academic researchers as well as industry and government agencies. Named for its massive amounts of flash-based memory, Gordon is part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, or XSEDE program, a nationwide partnership comprising 16 supercomputers and high-end visualization and data analysis resources. To read further, please visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressreleases/sdscs_gordon_supercomputer_ready_for_researchers/.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Climate Scientists Compute in Concert
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers are sharing their Community Earth Model System (CEMS) to improve the detail and performance of a scientific application code that is the product of one of the world's largest collaborations of climate researchers. CEMS is a mega-model that combines components of atmosphere, land, ocean, and ice data to reflect their complex interactions. ORNL's Kate Evans and colleagues recently began the Scalable, Efficient, and Accurate Community Ice Sheet Model (SEACISM) project to incorporate a three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice sheet model called Glimmer-CISM into the greater CESM. Once fully integrated, Glimmer-CISM will be able to send information back and forth among other CESM codes, making it the first fully coupled ice sheet model in the CESM. For more information, please visit http://www.ornl.gov/info/features/get_feature.cfm?FeatureNumber=f20120227-00.
Science: Too Many Connections Weakens Networks
Discovers University of California Researchers
University of California, Davis (UCD) researchers have found that when it comes to linking together networks or other systems, it is best to have many, but not too many, connections. Too many connections can be dangerous, because failures in one network can easily fall into another, says UCD's Charles Brummitt. "When your network is under stress, the neighboring network can help you out," Brummitt notes. "But in some cases, the neighboring network can be volatile and make your problems worse." He says the researchers are studying this equilibrium and trying to "find what amount of interdependence among different networks would minimize the risk of large, spreading failures." To read further, please visit http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/022412-science-too-many-connections-weakens-256563.html.
Educational Opportunities and Curriculum
ITEST 9th Annual NSF ITEST Summit Day 1 Archive of Presentation Now Available
The goal of this year’s annual National Science Foundation (NSF), Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) summit is to explore together as a community findings gathered through the ITEST experience and determine how these collectively contribute to a common STEM workforce development model that can be replicated nationally. Over the past eight years, the ITEST program has engaged students and educators in intensive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career exploration and learning. Learn more about the findings, evidence, and outcomes championed by the 180+ ITEST projects to date and learn how ITEST resources and expertise can support your STEM education and workforce development efforts. Archived presentations are now posted at http://itestlrc.edc.org/resources/ninth-annual-nsf-itest-summit-presentations.
Educators, Innovators Call for Earlier Introduction to Computer Science
Many educators believe schools need to introduce computer science to students as early as kindergarten, while private companies are developing programs to mentor students and maintain interest in computer science and engineering. Although the number of applications is rising at many engineering and computer science schools, U.S. students are still lagging behind international students. For example, the Class of 2012 at Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science drew 2,390 applicants, with just 590 of those coming from the United States. "Most [U.S.] students are not exposed to computer science in the same way they are to biology and physics," says Carnegie Mellon computer science department head Jeannette Wing. "We have to incorporate computer science at the K-12 level. It's not easy to do, but this is what is needed." To read further, please visit http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/02/27/mct_pacompsci.html.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
Graduate Student Conference Fellowships for 2012 CMMI Engineering Research and Innovation Conference
Northeastern is proud to be hosting the 2012 NSF CMMI Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, themed “Engineering Transformation through Partnerships” and would like to invite graduate students to participate in the conference and present their research. We are pleased to offer fellowships, covering the conference registration fee and accommodations on our beautiful campus, for 150-200 selected students. We encourage all students, domestic and international, to apply for the student conference fellowships. Several student activities will be arranged on the Northeastern campus during the time of the conference; please check back to find out additional information on the student program in the near future. For more information, please visit http://www.northeastern.edu/cmmi2012/graduate-student-program/.
Last but Not Least – Items of Interest
Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos
Excerpt from the New York Times
Android apps do not need permission to access users' photos, and as long as an app has the right to send data over the Internet, it can copy the photos to a remove server without notice, according to developers and mobile security experts. Google acknowledged the potential security vulnerability and said it will consider changing the software. The lack of photo restrictions was a design choice related to the way early Android phones stored data, according to a Google employee. However, "as phones and tablets have evolved to rely more on built-in, nonremovable memory, we're taking another look at this and considering adding a permission for apps to access images," the employee says. Google's explanation would be "surprising to most users, since they'd likely be unaware of this arbitrary difference in the phone's storage system," says researcher Ashkan Soltani. To read further, please visit http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/android-photos/.
City With Superfast Internet Invites Innovators to Play
Excerpt from Technology Review
Chattanooga, Tenn., residents have access to a 1 Gbps Internet, which is about 100 times faster than the U.S. national average, and now the city is holding a contest with $300,000 in prize money to help determine what to do with the superfast Internet. One entrant is a healthcare application that transfers larger files such as computed tomographic scans in real time so that specialists can serve a larger area. The Chattanooga service has been available for more than a year to 150,000 residential and commercial customers for $350 a month, but so far it only has eight residential and 18 commercial subscribers. "What we are trying to do is inject some capital into innovation, with the goal of driving demand for higher-bandwidth networks and jump-start adoption across the country and world," says Lamp Post Group's Jack Studer. "Eventually, these fatter pipes will get filled with bandwidth-eating applications.” Google is trying to set up a similar superfast Internet system in Kansas City. The efforts in Chattanooga and Kansas City are a step toward carrying out the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan. To read further, please viist http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/39801/?p1=A1.
Eye-Controlled Computer Games for Disabled Children
Excerpt from BBC News
Eye-tracking technology could give severely disabled children a chance to play computer games. De Montfort University researchers are developing an accessible, low-cost system designed to bring gaming to disabled children who cannot use a mouse or keyboard. Disabled children will be able to look at an onscreen button to click on it, and control characters by looking at different points on the screen, says research leader Stephen Vickers. "The characters will walk where you are looking," he says. "It's much more natural to use and enjoy." To read further, please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17179405.
