More than ever, computer-science research is instrumental in
addressing the challenges of life in the 21st century. Whether it
be the explosive growth of social media or broad advances in
human-computer interaction, technologyand research into its new and
varied formsis delivering new possibilities and bringing an array
of future vistas into focus. Its an exciting scenario to
behold.

Thats what Microsoft Researchs
Faculty Summit 2012, to be held July 16 and 17, is all about.
The event, in its 13th year, enables academic researchers and
educators to meet and mingle with researchers, engineers, and
architects from Microsoft to discuss the myriad of new
opportunities that greet us. A record number of more than 420
academics from the worlds most prestigious universities will
convene at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, Wash., to
share ideas, hear from some of the best and brightest voices
extant, and join forces to change the world anew.

Intrigued, but cant make it? Thats not an issue for this years
event.
Microsoft Research Connections has arranged for selected
keynotes and panel discussions to be streamed live each day. Check
the
virtual-event page for details.

Computing is growing inits ability to address important
technical, social, and societal challenges, says Tony
Hey, vice president of Microsoft Research Connections, who will
be welcoming participants to the event on the morning of July 16.
The Faculty Summit provides an opportunity for Microsoft and the
academic research community to exchange ideas, collaborate, and
recognize the significant advances and breakthroughs that are
occurring.

Heys welcome will be followed by an opening keynote by Eric
Horvitz, Microsoft distinguished scientist and deputy managing
director of
Microsoft Research Redmond. Horvitzs talk is entitled
Predictions, Decisions, and Intelligence in the Open World, and it
will discuss how machine learning and inference are leading to a
confluence of techniques that can provide integrative solutions
that operate over time, including reliance on big data, one of the
main themes of the event.

The Faculty Summits other theme will be explored by Rick
Rashid, Microsoft chief research officer and head of Microsoft
Research, who will deliver a keynote to open the second day of the
event, with the title Blending of Physical and Virtual WorldsFrom
Research to Reality. That talk will present research advancing the
state of the art in natural user interfaces and augmented
reality.

No less fascinating will be the closing keynote, Rivers of Ice:
Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya. Renowned
filmmaker, adventurer, and mountaineer David
Breashears will discuss his 11 expeditions to the
Greater Himalaya to document the world’s highest and least
studied glaciers. Using comparative photography, Breashears
and the GlacierWorks team have recorded the loss of
glacial mass and other changes that have occurred over the
past century. 

Technology can play a critical role, Breashears says, in
creating rich, interactive digital-media stories.

This years Faculty Summit
agenda, for which Susan
Dumais and Judith
Bishop are serving as program chairs, features a variety of
breakout sessions21 in all. Attendees also will get an opportunity
to browse through the 25 cutting-edge technology projects that
constitute
DemoFest 2012.

This years agenda, says Harold Javid, general chair for the
event, reflects current, in-the-news topics such as developments in
social media, Internet governance, and the use of technology to
combat criminal activity.

One breakout session of note, Faculty Fellows Inspiring the Next
Generation of Computer Scientists, will be chaired by
Rane Johnson-Stempson, principal research director of Education
& Scholarly Communication for Microsoft Research Connections,
and Lucy Sanders, CEO and co-founder of the National Center for
Women & Information Technology. The latter organization has
launched a campaign called Sit with Me, which
encourages the recognition of the important role women play in
creating future technology. Supporters of the initiative sit in a
red chair to share their stories, and among those who have done so
are the members of the Microsoft Research leadership team and top
women researchers from Microsoft.

Research shows that women aged 40 to 60 are the biggest users of
technology, Johnson-Stempson says. Women influence 80 percent of
consumer spending decisions, and yet 90 percent of technology
products and services are designed by men. By 2018, there will be
1.4 million open roles in the computing industry, and currently,
only 1,800 women graduate from computer-science Bachelor of Science
programs annually. When I speak to parents and educators, they dont
realize the issue and the opportunity.

I am super-passionate about technology, education, STEM
[science, technology, engineering, and mathematics], and how young
women can change the world and make a huge impact in computing.

Johnson-Stempson will also join danah
boyd of
Microsoft Research New England to discuss a recent Microsoft
Research request for proposals designed to
combat human trafficking and demonstrate the role technology
can play.

Another breakout session, addressing the big-data theme, is
called Big Heritage, Big Quilts, and Big Canvases, chaired by
Donald Brinkman, who manages external programs in digital
humanities, digital heritage, and games for learning for Microsoft
Research Connections. He will join
Anne Balsamo of the University of Southern California, Andries van Dam of
Brown University, and Ethan
Watrall of Michigan State University to discuss the importance
of visualization of large data collections to the domain of
cultural heritage.

Included in the discussion will be the technological and social
challenges of creating interactive exhibits around the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the
largest community-created piece of folk art in the world.

During Faculty Summit, the
2012 Microsoft Research Faculty Fellows, recognized by
Microsoft Research as representing the best and brightest in their
fields, will be introduced, as will the winners of the
2012 Software Engineering Innovation Foundation Awards, which
support academic research in software-engineering technologies,
tools, practices, and teaching methods.

Microsoft Research Connections also will unveil a new ebook,

Science@Microsoft – The Fourth Paradigm in Practice, a
collection of vignettes that illustrate the assistance Microsoft is providing to scientists to
hasten progress on some of the great problems facing our
society. Following its release during the Faculty Summit,
the book will be available for download.

For live updates as the 2012 Faculty Summit proceeds, visit the
Microsoft Research
Connections Blog.