Undergraduate Award Winners Announced

CRA Government Affairs:

A Guide to Policy and Policymaking
for the Computing Research Community

Computing research is entwined in many policy issues, and CRA has been involved in shaping those issues for more than ten years. We are now enhancing our efforts to help the individuals that make up the computing research community contribute to the public debate knowledgeably and effectively.

1999 is a particularly good time to embark on new activities to promote computing research: President Clinton has proposed a new initiative, Information Technology for the Twenty-First Century (IT²), to expand the federal investment in long-term, fundamental computing and communications R&D. The Administration's FY 2000 budget request would provide $366 million for these new activities.

The active involvement of the computing research community is essential to getting the proposed funding increases enacted. To facilitate action from the computing research community and to leverage its impact, CRA is pleased to provide via this website all the resources you need to:

• Learn about federal policy issues that affect computing research
  From the Policy page, you can get the latest information about important policy issues as they are formulated and considered: what proposals have been made, what the various stakeholders are saying about them, how they are influenced by broader policy debates, and who the key players are. In the coming weeks, a Budget page will be added to the website so information on the FY 2000 federal budget request can be accessed from one place.

• Get information about the legislators who represent you
  The Congress page provides links to information about your Members of Congress as well as about the key Congressional committees that consider legislation affecting computing research.

• Learn how to talk about computing research with policymakers
  The Advocacy page features resources you can use to formulate effective messages about computing research, including CRA statements and policy briefs that you can cite in whole or in part, as well as general tips for communicating with Congress.

• Take advantage of key opportunities to advocate computing research
  Action Alerts will be added to the Advocacy page at key points in the policy- and budget- making process, whenever there emerges a particularly important opportunity for individuals to promote computing research. Each Alert will include a concise summary of the issue at hand, talking points you can use to formulate messages, and logistical information for conveying those messages (typically via faxed correspondence).

CRA invites the computing research community to join us in a vigorous advocacy campaign on behalf of our field and its contributions to the national interest.

Get Action Alerts delivered right to your e-mail so you don't miss any important opportunities to speak out on behalf of computing research! To further facilitate community action, CRA has established the Computing Research Advocacy Network, a subscriber mailing list for delivering timely information about key advocacy opportunities to computing researchers. Participants can expect to receive about seven to ten e-mail Action Alerts per year. It is not a discussion list — only CRA Government Affairs staff will use the mailing list and only for the purposes outlined on this page.

Join the Computing Research Advocacy Network