as calculators for business and scientific applications. We were using it, however, as a personal augmenter. The hypertext system we built was used in the early 1970s for a poetry class, where someone would enter a poem and invite commentary about it. This was like creating a wiki, only 35 years earlier.

[CoNtINUeD fRom P. 128] how different is it teaching computer science now than it was five, 10, or 20 years ago, given how fast-shifting the landscape is?

what was your philosophy when it
came to chairing the department?

First, it’s about leadership, not administration. Be a leader; hire an administrator. Second, it’s about people and making them productive. You provide a shield that allows the people working for you to focus on their research and teaching. Third, it’s about students—they’re the multiplicative factor. If you’re at a university and you’re not engaged with students, you’re in the wrong line of work—go to an industrial research lab.

with respect to your role in the eScience
Institute, how are you working to take
research about disruptive technologies
and make a real-world impact?

We are undergoing a revolution in science. The growth of data sensors has been phenomenal. They’re everywhere—in cell phones, in telescopes,

“i’m surrounded
by people who can
be counted on
to produce. i try
to be one of those
people, too.”

in gene sequencers, in highways and buildings and bridges, on the sea floor, in forest canopies, on the Web. In the old days, if you wanted to study the creation of a social clique, for example, you’d pay some undergraduates $6 to participate in a focus group during their lunch break. Now, you have millions of such cliques that can be researched through social media. The challenge of research before was finding enough data. Now, we’re drowning in it. This is a new turn of the crank in the field of computational science— it’s about the data, not the cycles.

With the eScience Institute, we’re focusing on finding better ways to pursue the collection and exploration of all of this data. We want to apply this knowledge first to the needs of the research scientists here at the university—the biologists and astrophysicists who need to resolve big-data exploration problems to do their jobs. Then, we can create solutions for people around the world.

 

You’re also chair of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC). what are the primary efforts the CCC is most involved with now? and what do you hope to accomplish with these efforts?

Let’s face it, as computer scientists,
we can come across as a bit geeky. Our
neighbors don’t understand what we
do. But what we do greatly impacts the
issues that affect our neighbors, like
the improvement of our transporta-
tion systems, energy efficiency, health
care, education, open government, cy-
bersecurity, and discovery in all fields.
As computer scientists, we have a rich
intellectual agenda with the capability
to have an enormous breadth of im-
pact upon daily lives. We need to do
a better job of telling that story, and a
better job of garnering the resources to
do the research that will enable further
breakthroughs. That’s what the CCC
seeks to do.

You also seek to increase the role of computer science in K– 12, within the Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Stem) education Coalition learning framework. Kids spend plenty of time with computers these days, but it seems more voy-euristically focused, with lots of social networking and watching Youtube clips. how do you get them to take a step beyond?

There’s a positive aspect to what they’re doing. It’s better than in the days when the only computer in the house was a video game console. When you have young people using their home computers or iPhones for communication and social networking, it’s good because it introduces them to the broader power of computer science. Hopefully, many of these young people will say, “I want to create something like this.” But to empower these kids, there needs to be a revolution in STEM education.

All available data tells us that our K– 12 students are falling behind the rest of the developed world. To address this, we’re exploring how to better teach STEM disciplines. We need to revive the concept that science is about discovery, and not the memorization of facts. And computer science needs to be a big part of this revolution—it needs to be viewed as an essential STEM discipline.

You clearly have a lot on your plate.
how do you serve so many needs with-
out shortchanging some?

I’m the wrong person to ask! As responsibilities increase, the hours of the day don’t. If I’m writing a report, I always want to have another month. If I’m preparing for a class, I always want to have another hour. I wish I had to power to say “no,” but I don’t. I’m surrounded by people who can be counted on to produce. I try to be one of those people, too.

 

Dennis McCafferty is a Washington, D. C.-based technology writer.