For decades, databases have supported declarative SQL as well as imperative functions and procedures as ways for users to express data processing tasks. While the evaluation of declarative SQL has received a lot of attention resulting in highly sophisticated techniques, improvements in the efficient evaluation of imperative programs have remained elusive. Imperative User-Defined Functions (UDFs) and procedures offer several benefits over SQL, including code modularity, reusability and readability. Because of these benefits, imperative programs often…
August 27th, 2018
Episode 38, August 22, 2018 You know those people who work behind the scenes to make sure nothing bad happens to you, and if they’re really good, you never know who they are because nothing bad happens to you? Well, meet one of those people. Dr. Brian LaMacchia is a Distinguished Engineer and he heads up the Security and Cryptography Group at Microsoft Research. It’s his job to make sure – using up-to-the-minute math –…
August 22nd, 2018
For decades, causal inference methods have found wide applicability in the social and biomedical sciences. As computing systems start intervening in our work and daily lives, questions of cause-and-effect are gaining importance in computer science as well. To enable widespread use of causal inference, we are pleased to announce a new software library, DoWhy. Its name is inspired by Judea Pearl’s do-calculus for causal inference. In addition to providing a programmatic interface for popular causal…
August 21st, 2018
Microsoft Research is actively developing technologies as we continually strive to make our network and online services the most performant and efficient on the planet and this includes openly sharing our progress in advancing the state of the art with the research community. At the upcoming SIGCOMM 2018 – the annual flagship conference organized by Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communications, held this year in Budapest, August 20-24 – Microsoft Research…
August 21st, 2018
The 19th Microsoft Research Faculty Summit yet again demonstrated its unique place in the world of computer science in gathering thought leaders, state-of-the-art ideas, new products and a sense of the possible under one roof as industry and leading academic researchers came together to share vision and purpose. More than 500 leading experts from academia, Microsoft Research and Microsoft gathered in Redmond, Washington August 1-2 to participate in the event, themed this year under the…
August 17th, 2018
Episode 37, August 15, 2018 - In our first live podcast, Dr. Bahl shares some fascinating stories from his long and illustrious career, gives us an inside look at what’s new in networking, and, explains why, in an industry where it pays to be the smartest person in the room, it’s important to be a world-class listener.
August 15th, 2018
The Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Program in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) was launched in 2004 by Microsoft Research Cambridge, United Kingdom and has so far supported more than 200 PhD students from more than 18 countries and 51 institutions. The online submission tool for 2019 projects goes live on September 17 and the deadline for submissions is October 8, 2018. How it works Nominated PhD supervisors from academic institutions in EMEA submit their proposals…
August 10th, 2018
Episode 36, August 8, 2018 - In a wide-ranging interview, Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer, Kevin Scott shares his insights on both the history and the future of computing, talks about how his impulse to celebrate the extraordinary people “behind the tech” led to an eponymous non-profit organization and a podcast, and… reveals the superpower he got when he was in grad school.
August 8th, 2018
To help academics advance their research, Microsoft has supported hundreds of fellows through the Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship. This year we are expanding our funding support by creating two new fellowships: one designed to support diverse talent earning advanced degrees in computing-related fields, and one designed to support young faculty. Nominations for all three fellowships are now open. Microsoft Research Ada Lovelace Fellowship The new Microsoft Research Ada Lovelace Fellowship aims to increase diverse talent…
August 1st, 2018
Episode 35, August 1, 2018 - Dr. Ravindranath Sivalingam tells us why he is so passionate about what he does, explains how internships can literally change your life, and shares the story of how a hackathon idea turned into a prize-winning project… and then became the backbone of a powerhouse tool for gamers and their fans.
August 1st, 2018
The Systems focused Microsoft Research Faculty Summit is just around the corner on August 1-2, 2018! This year’s summit will highlight how Systems are the infrastructure Fueling Future Disruptions by delivering an engaging program exploring not only the importance of systems and systems research but their fundamental role in fueling the future disruptions that are now becoming evident through artificial intelligence. Immerse yourself in the trends and challenges through the insightful keynotes, sessions and panels.…
July 30th, 2018
France’s victory over Croatia in the 2018 FIFA World Cup was as thrilling as sports competition gets. If you’re as much a fan of the game as I am, you enjoyed watching 32 national teams vie for the title over a beautiful month across 11 cities in Russia. The riveting action taking place on the pitch reminded us of another kind of competition. But this one, instead of football teams, involves software agents. Two years…
July 27th, 2018
