Microsoft Engages Academic Leaders to Help Shape Future of Computing

HostReview.com
Monday, July 18, 2005; 02:18 PM

Today at the sixth annual Microsoft® Research Faculty Summit, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and Princeton University Dean of Engineering and Applied Science Maria Klawe discussed issues of mutual concern to academic researchers and the technology industry before an audience of more than 350 faculty researchers from 175 academic institutions in 20 countries.

“These are challenges that affect not only the computer science field but our entire society, and addressing them will require new levels of teamwork among universities, industry and government,” Klawe said.

As part of the Faculty Summit, Microsoft Research also unveiled a range of new collaboration opportunities and faculty recognition programs designed to help advance the state of the art in computing research.

“We must capture the imaginations of the next generation of computing innovators by exposing them to inspirational research that bridges multiple disciplines,” Gates said.

This year’s Faculty Summit is built around the theme “Computing: The Next Decade,” with a focus on research and technical challenges in areas such as security, mobility, software engineering, programming languages, human-computer interaction, embedded computing and technologies for education.

Academic research projects supported by Microsoft Research that are being showcased at the Faculty Summit include a wide diversity of subject areas, such as Trustworthy Computing in higher education curricula; technology solutions for education; use of sensor networks for early detection of environmental disasters; innovative software architectures; and tool boxes for computational science.

As part of its mission to cultivate talent, encourage new ideas and foster continuous innovation in computer science, the External Research and Programs group today launched the latest round of requests for proposals (RFPs) for academic research funding.

In addition, Microsoft Research plans to solicit grant proposals in the area of Digital Inclusion, which encompasses an array of efforts aimed at making information technology affordable, accessible and relevant.

More details about the External Research and Programs 2005–2006 RFP process and other academic research collaboration opportunities are available at http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/rfps.

Also today at the Faculty Summit, Microsoft Research announced the nomination process for its 2006 New Faculty Fellowship Program, which recognizes university professors who are in the first three years of their careers and are demonstrating exceptional talent for innovative research in computing.

Established a year ago, the program accepts one nominee per university and involves a rigorous, multiround selection process that culminates in the selected finalists presenting their work before a panel of distinguished reviewers from Microsoft Research and the academic community.

The inaugural group of New Faculty Fellows — Fredo Durand of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Subhash Khot of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dan Klein of the University of California at Berkeley, Radhika Nagpal of Harvard University and Wei Wang of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — are participating in this week’s Faculty Summit and were brought on stage today for special recognition by Gates.