McCallum selected to computing community consortium council

Associate Professor Andrew McCallum has received a two-year appointment to the first Council for the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), a group dedicated to identifying major research opportunities and goals for the computing field.

“The council will gather consensus on large, forward-looking computer science research projects that would not be possible through traditional means,” says McCallum. “The impact of computing in science and our everyday lives continues to grow, and the demand for computer scientists is also rising. The vision produced by the council should not only drive forward a broad-based research agenda, but also attract new students to study computer science.”

McCallum is one of 16 researchers from academia, government and industry chosen for the council by the Computing Research Association in consultation with the National Science Foundation.

“One of my goals in the council will be to focus on the uses of computing and how it reaches out into the rest of the world,” says McCallum. He cites two examples: colleagues who are developing machine learning methods to guide the search for an AIDS vaccine and developing new hardware and software for monitoring endangered animals.

The CCC was created by the Computing Research Association under a three-year, six million dollar agreement with the National Science Foundation to identify major research opportunities and grand challenges for the computer sciences. The council will direct and oversee the operations of the CCC while it provides academic leadership and vision to computing research and large-scale research projects.