Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), which took place this year from December 4 to 10 in the United States, is a celebration of computer science education. And while it’s a great idea to devote a week to recognizing the importance of this field, it’s a…
Posted by Rob Knies The world is awash in scientific data these days, but all that information is not being harnessed to its potential to help steer the planet to a more sustainable future.That’s the message Stephen Emmott, head of the Computational Science Laboratory…
Posted by Rob Knies Each year, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recognizes several of its members for their contributions to computing by naming them as Fellows. Today, 46 ACM members have been named as Fellows—and six of them are from Microsoft Research, representing four…
Human trafficking of minors—including the illegal trade of children and teens for commercial sexual exploitation—is a crime so vile that it makes most people shudder. But unfortunately, not everyone recoils: pedophiles and procurers have made the commercial sexual exploitation of children an international business, and there…
Every so often, a new platform comes along that really shakes things up. Well, if you’re part of the earth-sciences community, prepare to be shaken, because Microsoft Research has just released a new way to convey earth-science concepts. It’s called Layerscape, and I like to…
The Jim Gray eScience Award—named for Jim Gray, a Technical Fellow at Microsoft Research and a Turing Award winner who disappeared at sea in 2007—recognizes innovators whose work makes science easier for other scientists.It was a special pleasure to be part of the audience in…
The first documented case of HIV was in 1981. Today, HIV is viewed as a treatable, chronic disease by many in developed nations where treatments are readily available. Yet HIV continues to devastate, claiming the lives of 1.8 million people annually—about 5,000 deaths per day.…
Through my work with academics in Brazil, I have witnessed an increasing awareness of the importance of computing in advancing scientific research in such areas as bioenergy, biodiversity, climate change, and plant physiology. In order to advance these fields, scientists need to deal with increasingly…
Posted by Rob Knies Congratulations to Georges Gonthier, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge, for winning the 2011 EADS Foundation Grand Prize in Computer Science.Gonthier, who spends a significant amount of his time collaborating with French researchers from INRIA at the Microsoft Research-INRIA Joint…
It began with a simple question: “Why can’t students earn digital rewards for being awesome?” A research group comprised of university faculty, staff, and students at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) decided to find out. The team delved into the everyday travails of college…
Jonathan Fay and I recently visited the California Academy of Sciences, the world-class natural history museum and research center located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Our goals were to connect in person with Academy researchers and to help prepare the Academy’s Morrison Planetarium for…
Posted by Rob Knies If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with HoloDesk, research from the Sensors and Devices team at Microsoft Research Cambridge that my colleague Steve Clayton posted on the Next at Microsoft blog a few weeks ago. The…
