Research Centers in Computer Science: A New Way of Doing Science

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Research Centers in Computer Science A New Way
of Doing Science
Fred Roberts, DIMACS, Rutgers University
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Why Centers?

• Todays research challenges in CS often require
  large teams of researchers with many different
  backgrounds.
• Increasing recognition that research and
  education should be integrated.
• There are opportunities for new kinds of
  collaborations among universities, industry, and
  government.

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Many Kinds of Centers

• There are many models of centers.
• Many are limited to one university. At Rutgers,
  there are over 50 centers, bureaus, and
  institutes in many topics.
• Major federal programs in US encouraging
  ambitious centers
• Science and Technology Centers program started in
  1988 (initially 2 in CS)
• Engineering Research Centers started even earlier
• Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes

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New Kinds of Partnerships

• Some centers have partners across sectors
• Several universities
• Industry affiliates
• Government partnerships
• Industry and government can be real partner or
  serve advisory role.

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New Kinds of Partnerships DIMACS Partners

• Partner Universities Rutgers
• University, Princeton University
• Partner Industrial Research Labs ATT Labs,
  Bell Labs, NEC Laboratories America, Telcordia
  Technologies
• Affiliated Universities Georgia Tech, Rensselaer
  Polytechnic Institute, Stevens Institute of
  Technology
• Affiliated Industrial Research Labs Avaya Labs,
  HP Labs, IBM Research, Microsoft Research

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What do Centers Do?
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What do Centers Do?

• Research!
• Projects that would be hard for individual
  investigator or small group of investigators
• Often interdisciplinary.
• Often working on high risk, high reward
  problems
• Some work on fairly narrow but complex problems
• Center mode of operation especially relevant to
  outreach from CS to other disciplines

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Centers and Research Outreach
Computational Biology
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Centers and Research Outreach
Security
Health Data Privacy
Communication security
Face detection
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Centers and Research Outreach
CS and the Social Sciences
Game theory
Auctions
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Centers and Research Outreach
Digital Government
Electronic Voting
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Centers and Research Outreach
Computational Epidemiology
AIDS
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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Conferences Workshops
• Tutorials Shortcourses
• Some specialized, some not
• Some small, some large
• Typically open to others outside the center
• National and international scope

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Integration of Research and Education
• Educational Programs at All Levels
• Postdoctoral training
• Graduate students
• Undergraduates
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates
• Very important in focusing talented students on
  graduate education

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Integration of Research and Education
• Educational Programs at All Levels
• Precollege programs
• For students
• For teachers
• Introduce teachers and students to excitement of
  modern CS

Kindergarten through high school
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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Visitor Programs
• Short term stays
• Longer-term exchanges of senior and junior
  faculty and students

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Dissemination of Results
• Technical Reports
• Book Series
• Educational modules

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Public Outreach
• Lecturers popularizing CS
• Working with museums
• Working with zoos

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• Technology Transfer
• Working closely with industry and government
• Training courses for industry and government
  researchers
• Industry and government researchers as visitors

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What Else Do Centers Do?

• International Partnerships
• Joint workshops/conferences
• Joint research projects
• Faculty and student exchanges

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Centers are a New Way of Doing Science
Centers are a new way of doing science. They can
play an important role in the future of Computer
Science