February 16, 2012 - Washington, DC Main Page Event Summary Photos
Overview
The United States has a proud history of achievement and leadership in networking and information technology. The Federal Government has played an essential role in fostering the advances in this field that have transformed our world. The Federal investment in networking and information technology research and development is without question one of the best investments our nation has ever made.
While the Federal investment in Networking and Information Technology (NIT) Research and Development (R&D) dates from the birth of the field more than 60 years ago, the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, recognizing the unique importance NIT R&D to our nation, provided for multi-agency coordination of this investment.
About this Symposium
This daylong, invitation-only symposium in Washington, DC, explores the accomplishments and prospects of this coordinated effort -- now referred to as the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, and involving 15 Federal agencies as full partners.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who spearheaded the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, will be a featured keynote speaker. Other elements of the program will include modules on information technology and people, information technology in the physical world, information technology for the advancement of science, the building blocks of information technology, and the world of data; as well as a forward-looking panel that considers the roles of government, academia, industry, and the research community as a whole in finding and funding the next "Big Ideas."
The symposium is being organized by the Computing Community Consortium, in collaboration with the National Coordination Office (NCO) for NITRD. (The CCC catalyzes and empowers the computing research community to pursue audacious, high-impact research. The NCO supports the planning, budget, and assessment activities for the Federal government's NITRD program.)
Agenda - Thursday, February 16, 2012
Welcome Remarks & the IT Innovation Ecosystem
8:15am - 8:45am
Farnam Jahanian, Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation, & Co-Chair, NITRD Subcommittee
George Strawn, Director, National Coordination Office for NITRD, & Co-Chair, NITRD Subcommittee
"A Day in the Life"
8:45am - 9:00am
Jeannette Wing, Carnegie Mellon University
Information Technology and People
9:00am - 10:00am
Moderator: Charles Romine, former NCO director (now at NIST)
Human Language Technology: What Machines Do with Text and Speech
Kevin Knight, USC Information Sciences Institute
As We May Think: The Legacy of Computing Research and the Power of Human Cognition
Elizabeth Mynatt, Georgia Institute of Technology
Privacy, Information Technology, and Digital Media
Helen Nissenbaum, New York University
Break
10:00am - 10:10am
Information Technology in the Physical World
10:10am - 10:50am
Moderator: Christopher Greer, former NCO director (now at NIST)
Reinventing Mobility
Sebastian Thrun, Google and Stanford University
The Role of Sensors in Our Daily Lives
Shwetak Patel, University of Washington
The Economic Impact of NITRD
10:50am - 11:30am
Moderator: Paul Messina, Argonne National Laboratory
The Economic Impact of Information Technology
Erik Brynjolfsson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Modeling and Simulation Behind Improving Everyday Life
Tom Lange, Procter & Gamble
Luncheon and Keynote
11:30am - 1:00pm
Keynote
The Honorable Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States.
Building Blocks of Information Technology
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Moderator: Barbara Helland, Department of Energy
NITRD and the Internet
Vint Cerf, Google
Software and Strategy
William Scherlis, Carnegie Mellon University
Successes and Challenges of Computer Security Research
Stefan Savage, University of California, San Diego
Information Technology for the Advancement of Science
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Moderator: Karin Remington, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Chain Reactions: Information Technology and Biomedical Discovery
Russ Altman, Stanford University
High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering: The Tree and the Fruit
David Keyes, Columbia University & KAUST
More and Moore: Growing Computing Performance for Scientific Discovery
Katherine Yelick, University of California, Berkeley, & Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Featured Speaker
3:00pm - 3:15pm
The Honorable Tom Davis, formerly U.S. House of Representatives (VA)
Break
3:15pm - 3:30pm
Information Technology and the World of Data
3:30pm - 4:30pm
Moderator: Cita Furlani, former NCO director (now at NIST)
This Research Made Watson Possible
Eric Brown, IBM
Data to Insights to Actions: Enabling Evidence-based Healthcare
Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research
Data-Intensive Discovery in Science: The Fourth Paradigm
Alexander Szalay, Johns Hopkins University
Future "Big Ideas" Panel
4:30pm - 5:15pm
Thomas Kalil, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (moderator)
Peter Lee, Microsoft Research
Elizabeth Mynatt, Georgia Institute of Technology
Stefan Savage, University of California, San Diego
Charles Vest, National Academy of Engineering
Closing Remarks
5:15pm - 5:30pm
Edward Lazowska, University of Washington & Computing Community Consortium
Susan Graham, University of California, Berkeley, & Computing Community Consortium
Reception & Agency Showcase
5:30pm - 7:30pm
On the 8th floor of the Newseum's Knight Conference Center, the NITRD agencies will present booths with flyers, posters, and/or demos highlighting NIT R&D research accomplishments and prospects.
Contact
For inquiries, please contact Dr. Erwin Gianchandani, Director of the CCC, at erwin [at] cra.org.
Participating Agencies
Corporate Sponsors
