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dcblogs writes: A U.S. House bill that will set the nation's basic research agenda for the next two years increases funding for computer science, but at the expense of other research areas. The funding bill, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chair of the Science, Space and Technology Committee, hikes funding for computer science, but cuts — almost by half — social sciences funding, which includes the study of human behavior. Cybersecurity uses human behavior research because humans are often the weakest security link. Research funding social, behavioral and economic sciences will fall from $272 million to $150 million, a 45% decrease. The bill also takes a big cut out of geosciences research, which includes climate change study, from $1.3 billion to $1.2 billion, an 8% decrease. The insight into human behaviors that comes from the social science research, "is critical to understanding how best to design and implement hardware and software systems that are more secure and easier to use," wrote J. Strother Moore, the Computing Research Association chair and a professor of computer science at the University of Texas.

dcblogs (1096431) writes "In a letter to lawmakers Tuesday (PDF), five of the nation's top computing research organizations defended a research grant to study how information goes viral. The groups were responding to claims that the government-funded effort could help create a 1984-type surveillance state. The controversy arises over a nearly $1 million research grant to researchers at Indiana University to investigate "why some ideas cause viral explosions while others are quickly forgotten," particularly on Twitter. "We do not believe this work represents a threat to free speech or a suppression of any type of speech over the internet," the letter said. "The tools developed in the course of this research are capable of making no political judgments, no prognostications, and no editorial comments, nor do they provide any capability for exerting any control over the Twitter stream they analyze," they wrote. The controversy over Truthy may be just another sign of the ongoing deterioration between the science community and lawmakers over basic research funding as well as the science itself.

alphadogg writes "A sneak peek at the annual Computing Research Association's (CRA) report on computer science enrollments at colleges shows that strong demand for technically-savvy workers is luring students in a big way. The full 2013 Taulbee Report will be published in May, but the CRA revealed a few tidbits this week in its Computer Research News publication. Among the findings: Among 123 departments responding last year and the year before, there was a 22% increase in enrollment for computer science bachelor's degree programs at U.S. schools. Degrees awarded increased 0.9% and new enrollments rose 13.7%"

An anonymous reader asks: "Recently, I've been seeing more and more news stories about how 'geek' has gone mainstream. There have been a slew of articles with titles like Geek Pride and Geek Chic, which discuss how movies like 'The 40-Year Old Virgin' and 'Napoleon Dynamite', as well as television shows like 'Beauty and the Geek' have made it cool to be a geek. Two pinup calendars of geeks have been released this year, taking advantage of the new mainstream interest in all things geeky. These include the Geek Gorgeous Calendar, which features women who work in the hi-tech industry, and the Girls of Geekdom Calendar, which includes geeks like 'Art Geek' and 'Movie Geek'. So if being a geek has really become cool, why has interest in CS as a major dropped among incoming freshmen and women are still a minority in computer and engineering fields? Is it cooler to pretend to be a geek (wear 'Save Pedro' shirts, etc.) than to really be one?"

Dasein writes "The Computer Research Association says that the popularity of CS as a major among freshman has dropped in the last four years. Why is obvious to anybody working in the field. They conclude by saying 'With a fall in degree production looming, it is difficult to see how CS can match expected future demand for IT workers without raising women's participation at the undergraduate level.'"

n9fzx writes "The San Jose Mercury News reports on a study by the Computing Research Association which finds that 'Undergraduates in U.S. universities are starting to abandon their studies in computer technology and engineering amid widespread worries about the accelerating pace of offshoring by high-technology employers.' Enrollment in those fields has dropped by 19% in the past year alone." Update: 03/24 23:40 GMT by CN : jlechem wrote in with a related story: "Wired News has a story about how American companies are outsourcing not because of cheap labor but because of the American school system not being up to snuff. In a report by the AeA, they contend that American schools don't teach enough math and science anymore."

The Computing Research Association recently invited 50 of the top scientists, educators, business people, and futurists in cyber security to an executive retreat in Virginia and locked them away for three days until they identified a set of "Grand Challenges" in information security research -- ideas that should "shape the research agenda in the field over the next few decades." The conference participants identified four: eliminate epidemic-style attacks (viruses, worms, email spam) within 10 years; develop tools and principles that allow construction of large-scale systems for important societal applications -- such as medical records systems -- that are highly trustworthy despite being attractive targets; develop quantitative information-systems risk management to be at least as good as quantitative financial risk management within the next decade; and give end-users security controls they can understand and privacy they can control for the dynamic, pervasive computing environments of the future. They haven't written the final report yet (due in early 2004), but they've already told Congress about it. Sounds like they've got a lot of work to do.

The Computing Research Association recently invited 50 of the top scientists, educators, business people, and futurists in cyber security to an executive retreat in Virginia and locked them away for three days until they identified a set of "Grand Challenges" in information security research -- ideas that should "shape the research agenda in the field over the next few decades." The conference participants identified four: eliminate epidemic-style attacks (viruses, worms, email spam) within 10 years; develop tools and principles that allow construction of large-scale systems for important societal applications -- such as medical records systems -- that are highly trustworthy despite being attractive targets; develop quantitative information-systems risk management to be at least as good as quantitative financial risk management within the next decade; and give end-users security controls they can understand and privacy they can control for the dynamic, pervasive computing environments of the future. They haven't written the final report yet (due in early 2004), but they've already told Congress about it. Sounds like they've got a lot of work to do.

The Computing Research Association recently invited 50 of the top scientists, educators, business people, and futurists in cyber security to an executive retreat in Virginia and locked them away for three days until they identified a set of "Grand Challenges" in information security research -- ideas that should "shape the research agenda in the field over the next few decades." The conference participants identified four: eliminate epidemic-style attacks (viruses, worms, email spam) within 10 years; develop tools and principles that allow construction of large-scale systems for important societal applications -- such as medical records systems -- that are highly trustworthy despite being attractive targets; develop quantitative information-systems risk management to be at least as good as quantitative financial risk management within the next decade; and give end-users security controls they can understand and privacy they can control for the dynamic, pervasive computing environments of the future. They haven't written the final report yet (due in early 2004), but they've already told Congress about it. Sounds like they've got a lot of work to do.

The Computing Research Association recently invited 50 of the top scientists, educators, business people, and futurists in cyber security to an executive retreat in Virginia and locked them away for three days until they identified a set of "Grand Challenges" in information security research -- ideas that should "shape the research agenda in the field over the next few decades." The conference participants identified four: eliminate epidemic-style attacks (viruses, worms, email spam) within 10 years; develop tools and principles that allow construction of large-scale systems for important societal applications -- such as medical records systems -- that are highly trustworthy despite being attractive targets; develop quantitative information-systems risk management to be at least as good as quantitative financial risk management within the next decade; and give end-users security controls they can understand and privacy they can control for the dynamic, pervasive computing environments of the future. They haven't written the final report yet (due in early 2004), but they've already told Congress about it. Sounds like they've got a lot of work to do.