CIFellows Program for New Computing PhDs is Launched
Education, Policy, Research, News
An important opportunity for new computing-related PhDs has just been announced by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC). To apply, go to http://cifellows.org. Note that the application deadline is very soon — June 9, 2009.
The nation’s universities and industrial research labs are facing unprecedented budget pressure. The result: there are considerably fewer openings for computing research and teaching positions than anyone imagined even six months ago. But this scarcity of jobs does not mean that departments and labs are staffed to capacity. Indeed, enrollments are growing at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in computer science, computer engineering, information science, and other computing related fields. And as our society faces challenges in energy, healthcare, education, and a host of other IT-reliant areas, the need for new talent grows. Unfortunately, with the slowdown in hiring at universities and industrial research labs, we risk creating a “hole” in the talent pool that will last for decades. This, in turn, puts at risk our nation’s ability to use technological innovation for remaining globally competitive.
To address this problem, the CCC and Computing Research Association (CRA), with funding from the National Science Foundation, are launching the Computing Innovation Fellows Project to enable new computing PhDs to obtain one-to-two year positions at academic institutions and industrial research organizations. We hope that this project will forestall a permanent loss of research talent likely to occur if new PhDs are forced to seek employment outside of the field due to the sharp cuts brought about by the recent budget crisis. It is also hoped that new PhDs will be provided the opportunity to develop experience to make them more effective researchers and/or teachers. In two years, increasing enrollments and larger research budgets may create pent-up demand for hiring at university computer science and related departments. As the economy improves and budget adjustments are made, these departments will try to satisfy this demand for additional faculty. We can hope, and perhaps even expect, that this “bump” will match the “bulge” created by this project.
As a member of the CCC Council and the incoming Chair of the Board of Directors of the CRA, I am extremely proud to have had a hand in launching this project. A fantastic group of scholars and industry leaders, anchored by members of the CCC and CRA and supported tirelessly by both the CRA staff and NSF, has worked extremely hard to make this opportunity possible.
Peter Lee @ May 15, 2009
Count me as skeptical. There are no jobs for these people. I think it is counterproductive and even cruel (if you’ll grant me some hyperbole) to draw them further down this dead-end road. Rather than developing experience to make the new PhDs more effective researchers and/or teachers—which experience they will find completely useless when they can’t find a job one or two years from now—they would be better off developing experience in industry.
What you are really doing is ensuring that there never will be permanent research or faculty jobs in the US because you are creating an entrenched culture of postdocs. It may be good for the public, since postdocs are cheap. In the long term, though, foreign postdocs will leave the country to get permanent jobs, and Americans will realize that there are no permanent jobs and get out of the field.
It is not easy to judge the tradeoff. My own feeling, though, is that this project will cause more loss of research talent than it will stem. Yes for every two or three postdocs you make a position for we can eliminate a faculty position. But research is more about quality than quantity. The best people will judge the situation and go elsewhere, leaving behind those less talented, without as many options, and non-Americans.
While it’s hard to predict the future, even just 3 years out, I disagree with this assessment of the situation and of the impact of the CIFellows project. Research funding is on the rise, and there is a very good possibility that these increases will be sustained for quite some time, to the point that NSF and other agencies critical to research in computer science will see a doubling of their budgets. This is commencing precisely at the same time that the new President is talking about investments in science and technology research at levels never seen before. And then we see the comeback in enrollments.
The field is expanding rapidly, with the number of important research subfields and problems growing much faster than academic departments and industry labs to keep pace. I think, when the financial crisis is overcome (or at least adjusted to), we could see a significant expansion of the field.
Even if we don’t, however, this project is starting small. This year we will have only about 60 awards — certainly a healthy number but only a drop in the bucket of what is needed. Perhaps we will do this for a second year, perhaps on a somewhat larger scale, but again it will address only a part of the real need. This will be important for the field, but unlikely to cause a replacement of faculty members at universities.
[…] past weekend was incredibly busy, not only with the launch of the CIFellows Project, but also with a full slate of CMU commencement activities. Jeffrey Baker did a nice job taking a […]
Well, I don’t agree. However, I think I came off as rude in my first, and I am sorry for that. Thank you for your work promoting the field.
If I remember correctly, the proposed doubling of the NSF budget is over ten years. Depending on inflation, this could well only be a 30-50% budget increase in real terms. That still sounds very substantial, but it is still just a proposal. One can bet that the actual increase will be significantly less.
It seems like a mistake to be planning for a world that is the exact opposite of what we have now—almost no hiring, no jobs. Things just don’t change that quickly. Are these researchers going to be postdocs for the next ten years?
Very good article, very usefull!!
I think i really like to read your articles .. I will keep reading to learn more … Thanks..
Very useful article for students. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the great topic. We will kepp wisiting your pages in the future for informative articles….
Very soon i will be sending you my tought about this article..
Thanks you for the great blog . Very informative for everyone…
Maybe one day i can come and find you for a short wisit. Thanks for the post.
Sharing to much information to the public has always been usefull for young generation
Things just donât change that quickly. Are these researchers going to be postdocs for the next ten years?
this is awsome thanks
Things just don’t change that quickly. Are these researchers going to be postdocs for the next ten years?
Peter, thank you so much for this information! I’ve got a young associate who is looking for a way to jump start her career, and this type of education just might do it for her!