Microsoft Research attempts to extend the state of the art in a variety of communication and collaboration scenarios, including systems that enhance information coding and communication of media signals and computer data over packet networks, multimedia technologies and applications to enable people to reach each other easily while separated by space or time, hardware for handheld and embedded devices such as mobile phones and sensor nodes, wireless and sensor networks, and the symbiotic relationships of such research with operating systems and distributed systems.

Areas of focus for Microsoft Research’s inquiries into computational linguistics are threefold: machine translation, to create systems and technologies that cater to today’s multitude of translation scenarios; multilingual systems, to develop a natural-language-neutral approach to all aspects of linguistic computing; and natural-language processing, to design and build software that will analyze, understand, and generate languages that humans use naturally, with the goal of enabling a user to address a computer as though addressing another person.

In the early part of the 21st century, exciting work is being conducted by Microsoft Research at the intersection of computing science and the natural sciences. Whether it is groundbreaking research resulting in the WorldWide Telescope, the integration of computing and biology, novel computational tools and methods to predict and mitigate rapid changes occurring in the earth’s life-support systems, or the representations, analysis, and visualization of digitized geographic information, Microsoft Research is committed to providing computational support to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

Computers now operate in a connected, often mobile world. Our research into operating systems, networks, and distributed computing is focused on developing technologies that enable computers to operate more effectively in a networked environment, and that provide the infrastructure required to enable the deployment, operation, management, and security of distributed applications.

As the Internet has evolved, it has become apparent that the fields of computer science and economics have become much more intertwined. Whether it be social networks, advertising, or understanding how people value things, the study of economics is driving computational science, and vice versa. And in emerging markets, Microsoft Research seeks to address the needs and aspirations of people consuming computer technologies and those for people whose access remains largely out of reach.

Microsoft Research is committed to building partnerships with academia to advance computer science and education. This effort extends the organization’s scope into important new areas outside core computer science via new types of strategic public-private collaborative endeavors with universities, including programs including research grants, conference support, Ph.D. fellowships, travel grants, and work with universities, institutions, and schools to disseminate innovative curricula.

Experienced professors regularly suggest that games and robots represent valuable scenarios in which to engage aspiring programmers and software engineers. No other areas of programming have a similar ability to interest students or provide meaningful accomplishments. Microsoft Research focuses on identifying and developing vehicles for innovative curricula and teaching with application across a variety of topics and disciplines. In addition, we use the methods of machine learning and game theory to address relevant applications in both recreational games and in abstract decision games played in the real world.

We focus on new multimedia and graphics experiences made possible with the growth in computing power and storage. Our research focus spans the linear and interactive media spectrum, across television, broadband, and gaming. We seek to address the challenges involved in the high computational cost of producing, transmitting, and displaying complex models by researching geometric compression and multiresolution representations.

Our research focuses on developing devices that will connect users more intimately, naturally, and efficiently with their computing environment. The devices range from large displays to wearable devices to micro-electro-mechanical systems. We collaborate with other groups to build the hardware that will support the next generation of software. We’ve developed ideas for new types of microphones and unique data-input devices, and we’re researching reconfigurable computing hardware.

Innovation in computing continues to yield dramatic productivity benefits to individuals, organizations, and societies, and nowhere is this more evident than in the potential of computing to improve dramatically the health and well-being of millions worldwide. Efforts to accomplish this far-reaching goal take many forms, including assisted cognition, tools for bioinformatics, synthetic biology, biomedicine, the confluence of mobile devices and healthcare, and personalized medicine.

Research on human-computer interaction plays a central role across multiple teams at Microsoft Research. Our work is focused on advancing the way users interact with computing devices. This includes search, access, and information management, the display of complex data and information, user modeling and activity recognition, efficient input and interaction, the role of automation, and the coupling of intelligent systems with direct manipulation.

Knowledge workers need software that is easy to use and intuitive. They need to find their information long after they’ve forgotten where they put their documents and what they named their files. Information retrieval and search are important to making this happen. We are pursuing research in information retrieval, filtering, and management. Other work has explored the use of classification technologies and the development of systems that will enrich the user experience.

We pursue research on automated reasoning, adaptation, and the theories and applications of decision making and learning. Our research goals include learning from data and data mining. By building software that automatically learns from data, we design applications that have new functions and flexibility. Our research focuses on using statistical methods for the development of more advanced, intelligent computer systems.

Microsoft Research pursues projects in a wide variety of directions, not all of which fall neatly into a particular discipline. A few examples of research that, while difficult to classify, remains critical to advancing the state of the art in computer science and related fields.

We study various aspects of security related to computer systems. This includes the design of secure systems; the usability, evaluation and certification of security products; the robustness of digital watermarking algorithms; threat analysis for open networks; and database privacy. In addition, we work on making mobile devices even more secure than they are today.

We research and develop software that contributes to compelling, effective social interactions, with a focus on user-centered design processes and rapid prototyping. Our projects range from topics in online sharing and mobile applications to trust, reputation, and storytelling. We’re interested in how people use computers to enhance their everyday experiences, and we are designing interfaces and experiences to make human-to-human communication seamless and exciting.

Our research in software development spans all aspects of making developers more productive and software more trustworthy. It includes programming-language design, compilers, specification and verification, development environments and tools, runtime environments, formal models of systems, performance monitoring and optimization, and quality improvement.

We are working in several emerging fields within theoretical computer science. One is game theory and economics, which includes pricing algorithms and market equilibriums. A second is privacy in statistical databases, and a third is quantum computing.