CRA RELEASES A NEW STUDY, THE SUPPLY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES

MACARTHUR FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED

Computer Scientist, Peter Shor, of Florham Park, NJ was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Also known as the "genius award," the fellowship provides a substantial grant to be used at the discretion of the recipient. Shor was awarded $290,000.

Emily Wax, "Genius Has Its Own Reward," Washington Post, Style Section, Wednesday, June 23, 1999.

NEW TECHNOLOGY SECTION IN "NEW YORK TIMES ON THE WEB"

The "New York Times on the Web" offers a technology section, which bolsters breaking news bulletins to keep you up to the minute on the fast-changing world of technology. There is also an encyclopedia of technical terms available from CMP, product reviews and downloads of software. This is in addition to the original Cybertimes technology coverage and is available only on the web.

"New York Times on the Web," Bulletin

CSTB RELEASES TWO NEW REPORTS

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council (NRC) released two reports, Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenges and Being Fluent with Information Technology.

The reports are available online at CSTB's website www.cstb.org. Brief summaries of the two reports follow:

Realizing the Potential of C4I: Fundamental Challenge is the product of a congressional mandate to the NRC to examine DoD plans and programs for C4I. Authored by a CSTB committee equally divided between military and commercial-sector experts, this report identifies three major areas as the fundamental challenges to the full DoD exploitation of C4I technology—information systems security, interoperability, and various aspects of DoD process and cultures. The report articulates principles by which to assess DoD Efforts in these areas over the long term, as well as specific findings and recommendations that are more immediately actionable. Although DoD is the focus of this report, the principles and issues are also relevant to interoperability, architecture, and security challenges faced by government as a whole and large, complex enterprises across the economy.

Being Fluent with Information Technology was authored by the CSTB committee on Information Technology Literacy, which sought to understand what is necessary for people to use information technology effectively today and to adapt to changes in information technology tomorrow. Deciding that "literacy" was too limited a term, the committee approached the problem of understanding information technology from the standpoint of "fluency," a view that requires a deeper understanding of how computers work and mastery of technology for information processing, communication, and problem solving. CSTB believes that this report has broad applicability and relevance to any educational institution (formal or informal) concerned with teaching people how to use information technology effectively.

JOHN WHITE NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO OF ACM

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

John White, former manager of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center's Computer Science Laboratory, took over as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) —one of CRA's affiliate organizations. White replaced Joseph DeBlasi, who retired, at the beginning of the year.

The full story follows:

ACM NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO

On October 23, ACM announced that John White, currently Manager of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center's Computer Science Laboratory, had been appointed as its new Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. White succeeds Joseph DeBlasi, who is retiring at the end of the year. He will report to Dr. Barbara Simons, the President of the ACM under the direction of the Executive Committee of the ACM Council. White has been at Xerox PARC for the past sixteen years, where he has led a number of research groups, including the PARC group that developed and delivered DocuPrint, Xerox's series of high-end, high-speed networked printing products. As head of the Computer Science Lab, he has managed research teams exploring future offerings in networked electronic document systems, services, and commerce. Dr. White has been a long-time advocate of the ACM, serving as its President in 1990-92, and taking part in many ACM volunteer activities over the past two decades.

Dr. White said, "I am excited about the opportunity to help lead the ACM and broaden its influence and deepen its impact. ACM has along and rich history of responding to the needs of the computing field—from embracing emerging technologies and creating the professional communities necessary to guide their evolution, to shaping the discipline of computing science, and helping to raise awareness regarding issues important to the public."

During his two-year term as ACM President, Dr. White helped bolster the ACM's role as an international organization and instituted the ACM's first proactive engagement into privacy issues, the under-representation of women and minorities in computing, and the protection of intellectual property, particularly software. He also began a major networking project (ACM Network Services) to bring together electronically ACM's worldwide community of 80,000 members.

Dr. White received a Ph.D. in Computer Science, an MS in computer science, and a BA in mathematics, all from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has fifteen refereed publications and patents to his credit. He is a Fellow of the ACM, and has received the ACM Outstanding Contribution award, as well as the Xerox PARC Excellence in Science and Technology Award. Dr. White has served on the boards of Computing Research Association and the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board.

For more information please contact: Chris Morgan 617-262-2044 morgan@acm.org or Tina Angelone 212-626-0532 angelone@acm.org

ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE, U.S. Office of Public Policy of the Association for Computing Machinery, November 13, 1998, Volume 2.10