Measuringthehealthofthecompu3ngfield:

ChallengesfacingtheCRAcommunity

EricGrimsonEECS,MIT

Chair,CRABoard

Howdowemeasurethehealthofthecompu3ngresearchcommunity?

•  Fundinglevelsandtrends

•  Produc3onofstudents–  Numbersofstudents– Wheretheygoandthedemandlevel

•  Percep3onofthefieldanditsimpact

•  Influenceonotherdisciplines

Fundinglevelsandtrends•  FY11budgetprocessinCongress–  COMPETESAct(2007)in

processofrenewal–doubleNSFbudgetover7years

–  DARPAbudgetexpectedtoincreaseoverlastFY

–  DARPAmovingtoreinvestinuniversityfunding

–  NIHcomputa3onrelatedfundingrising

•  Challengesremain–GACpromo3ngagenda–  (SnowbirdsessiononimpactinDC)

GovernmentITR&Dfunding

Source: Peter Harsha, CRA

Refactoring of funding by NIH

Selectedagencies

Source: Peter Harsha, CRA

Misleading, due to contract style

Produc3onofstudents

•  Doctoralproduc3on•  Theearlierpipeline

–  Newbachelorsstudents•  Theevenearlierpipeline?

Doctoralproduc3on

Source:SusanneHambrusch,Purdue

Whereareourgraduatesgoing?

Bachelorsproduc3on

Source:SusanneHambrusch,Purdue

NewBachelorsstudents

•  Source–Taulbeesurvey

•  CShasbeenflatsince2005,withaveryslightupturn

•  CEessen3allyflatsince2002

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

CS

CE

I

Total

Improvingthediversityofthefield

•  Trendsindegreerecipients

•  Trendsinfacultyposi3ons

Diversity

Diversityinfaculty

Whyarewestrugglingtoa^ractstudents?

•  USDept.ofLaborsta3s3csshowthatCS/CEhaslargedemand,highini3alwages•  2oftop6occupa3onsthatrequirea

collegedegreewithlargestprojectedgrowthinjobsareCS/CErelated

•  Sowhyareweflatintermsofthepipeline?•  WeareworkingongefngCinto

CSTEMinschools,butprogressisslow•  ChangingtheCSAPexam,gefngCS

includedinlocalcurricula•  (SnowbirdsessiononCS/10K)

•  Weneedtothinkabouthowstudentsseeourcurriculum

•  (SnowbirdsessiononCRA‐E)

Percep3onofthefield

•  Wearelosingthe“design”ba^letootherfields,especiallyMechanicalEngineering–  Arewecommunica3ngwellto

studentstheexci3ngopportuni3esinthefield?

•  Currentstudentswanttomakeanimpact–  Isourcurriculumsetupto

encouragestudentswithbroaderinterests?

–  DowedoagoodjobofsellingCS/CEforsustainability,environmentalissues,healthcare,energy,socialwell‐being?

Percep3onofthefield

•  TheObamaadministra3onisstressingfourbroadpriori3es–  economicprosperity–  energy,environment,climatechange

–  healthcare:biomedandIT–  na3onalsecurity

•  Weshouldbesignificantplayersinallofthese–  Arewe?

•  TheNRCrankingsprocessmaynothelpourimage?

Areweencouragingimpact?

•  Arewebecomingadeadline‐drivenfield?–  Researchdrivenbythe

nextconferencedeadline,ratherthantakingthe3metotacklelargescaleissues?

•  Arewehiringandpromo3ngbasedonimpactorvolume?–  (Snowbirddiscussionon

publica3ons)

Impact:Influenceonotherfields

•  Growingopportuni3esforcomputa3onin:–  Lifesciences– Medicine–  Finance–  Energy–  Transporta3on

•  Challengeistoar3culateimportanceofITroleintheseareas

Influenceonotherfields

•  Computa3onal‐X– Wehaveanopportunitytorelatetoawiderangeofotherdisciplines–incurricula,inresearch,inapplica3ons

•  “Computa3onalthinking”–  Everywelleducatedpersonshouldunderstandcomputa3onalthinking