Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future

Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience

Category: Innovation

  • NITRD: Come, Let Us Reason Together
    NITRD: Come, Let Us Reason Together

    On Wednesday, July 31, I testified to the U.S. House Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology in the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill. The full committee hearing, chaired by Rep. Bart Gordon, was on oversight of the Networking, Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program and the 2007 report of the President’s Council of Advisors…

  • Computing Community Consortium (CCC)
    Computing Community Consortium (CCC)

    The CCC Blog (http://www.cccblog.org) is now up and running. It is intended to be a forum for discussing “longer range, audacious research challenges” in the computing field. The plan, initially, is to have about two articles a month, with each article offering opinions on the future. Several of us will be contributing material.

  • Computing Education and the Infinite Onion
    Computing Education and the Infinite Onion

    Much has been written about declining enrollments in computer science, the image of computing among secondary school students, and the depressingly small numbers of women and minorities enrolled in computer science programs. There are many opinions about the root causes of our enrollment problems and at least as many opinions about possible solutions. The reality…

  • Why Curiosity Matters
    Why Curiosity Matters

    In my recent Computing Research Association (CRA) column, I reflected on the sense of wonder and empowerment that comes from informed curiosity.

  • Innovation: The Plane of Excellence
    Innovation: The Plane of Excellence

    My friend Thomas Sterling once posed a rhetorical question whose answer still haunts me, “In which year of birth (1930 or 1970) would one have had the higher probability of walking on the moon?” Putting aside the Cold War dynamics of the race to the moon, which were both real and complex, Sterling’s question is…

  • RENCI Expansion and Innovation
    RENCI Expansion and Innovation

    I believe RENCI can provide the technological infrastructure and expertise that are vital for making breakthrough discoveries, at UNC Chapel Hill, in North Carolina and across the United States.