Research Centers in Computer
Science: A New Way of Doing
Science
Fred Roberts, DIMACS, Rutgers University
1
Why Centers?
• Today’s 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.
2
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 3
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.
4
New Kinds of Partnerships:
DIMACS Partners
• Partner Universities: Rutgers
University, Princeton University
• Partner Industrial Research Labs: AT&T 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
8
Centers and Research Outreach
Security
Health Data Privacy
Communication
security
Face detection
9
Centers and Research Outreach
CS and the Social Sciences
Game theory
Auctions
10
Centers and Research Outreach
Digital Government
Electronic Voting
11
Centers and Research Outreach
Computational Epidemiology
AIDS
12
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
13
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
14
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
15
What Else Do Centers Do?
Visitor Programs
• Short term stays
• Longer-term exchanges of senior and junior
faculty and students
16
What Else Do Centers Do?
Dissemination of Results
• Technical Reports
• Book Series
• Educational “modules”
17
What Else Do Centers Do?
Public Outreach
• Lecturers popularizing CS
• Working with museums
• Working with zoos
18
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
19
What Else Do Centers
Do?
International Partnerships
• Joint workshops/conferences
• Joint research projects
• Faculty and student exchanges
20
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
21