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This July 27-29, 2008, the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit will once again bring together more than 400 thought leaders from academia, government, and Microsoft to reflect on how the maturing of the computing disciplines has opened an exciting range of opportunities for research and development.
An Exciting Time for Computing
The range of problems that today’s rapidly advancing computational methods address is increasing dramatically. Computing researchers are investigating new and promising approaches in such diverse disciplines as biology, astronomy, physics, economics, medicine, healthcare, film, photography, information storage and access, teaching, commerce, and social improvement. We have come a long way. It is an exciting time to work in the field of computing.
This year’s faculty summit will explore such questions as:
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How are advances in program analysis, verification, and compiler technologies measuring up to the challenges of the next generation of computing architectures (e.g., multicore computing, virtualization, etc.)?
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What are the technological and societal drivers to enable an "intelligent Web"? What is required to transform the current Web of data into an "Information Highway" that goes beyond Search to include tasks, accounts for the shift from consumers to producers of information, and supports information integration and reasoning?
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Where are we with the status, goals, and promise of artificial intelligence?
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In which new directions is the quest for scientific discovery taking the field of computing research?
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Technology impacts education in both positive and negative ways. In this era of globalization and technological advancement, how can technology be leveraged to improve education? |
We’ve organized break-out sessions by technology themes.
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eScience (computationally-intense science, simulations, web services, scientific workflows, scholarly communication) |
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Manycore and Concurrency (languages, frameworks, runtimes, operating systems, verification)
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Intelligent Web (search, semantic technologies, digital imaging and smart visualization) |
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Geographic Programs (research in Latin America,
technology for emerging markets) |
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Artificial Intelligence (covering diverse applications including sensing, ecommerce, interaction, language)
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Computing Contributions to Education (computer gaming, Tablet PC, future of technology in education, contexts, Phoenix for education) |
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Gender Pipeline Initiatives |
On Tuesday, brown bag lunch sessions will provide an opportunity for discussion and networking. They’re designed
to be less formal than the break-out sessions and emphasize audience participation and discussion.
The wide variety of projects supported by
Microsoft Research will be displayed throughout the conference center.
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