Links

The following are some links to information about the current funding crisis in computer science.

• We like to think of CS as a "hot" field (just like Biology). It is therefore sobering to realize that total funding for academic CS research has stayed fairly flat for quite a while now. (In fact, the graph for CS resembles the graph for psychology and social science, rather than that of a "hot" discipline like Biology.) Meanwhile, the number of academic CS researchers has grown tremendously, and CS has had great impact on society. NSF statistics on R&D expenditures of all federal agencies also interesting reading.

• Computing Research: A National Investment for Leadership in the 21st Century by CRA. Note that TCS is missing from this picture. This illustrates the need for the TCS community to be more proactive.

• 20th century vs. 21st century C&C: the SPUR manifesto and The state of funding for new initiatives in computer science and engineering. A pair of articles by ACM president Dave Patterson.

• An Endless Frontier Postponed. Science editorial by Lazowska and Patterson. Many other articles in that issue deal with computational science and distributed computing.

• Is the thrill gone? Op-ed by Arora and Chazelle (to appear in CACM August'05). It tries to explain the point that CS is a radical new way to think, rather than just a road to IT infrastructure.

• Many links appear at CRA's website, including one on how to write to your congressperson.

• An example of how to make arguments to NSF and the government; the cyberinfrastructure proposal.

• A powerpoint presentation from a program examiner at the Office of Management and the Budget. It gives some insight into how people in his position think. The slides titled "Ethos and Mythos" are the most interesting.

• The latest report from PITAC, which calls Computational Science a national priority. We can probably use some of its recommendations wrt algorithms in our advocacy. Note how many times the report uses the term "infrastructure." I wish they had also stressed the notion that CS gives a new way to think. [Sanjeev A.]

• An article announcing that PITAC is being disbanded.

• Slides from the discussion of TCS funding at STOC in May 2005.

• Task Force on the Future of American Innovation is a group of concerned industry and academia figures who argue for more govt funding for science and computing. They have an interesting report on their website that documents the shrinking lead of the US in basic science.