The nation's universities and industrial research labs are facing continuing budget pressure as part of the international financial crisis. The result is a significant shortage of computing research and teaching positions. Moreover, as our society faces challenges in energy, healthcare, education, and a host of other IT-reliant areas, the need for new talent grows. With fewer opportunities to obtain the intellectual renewal and diversity that promising new scholars can inject into institutions engaged in research and teaching, we risk creating a "hole" in the talent pool that will last for decades. This, in turn, puts at risk our nation's ability to use technological innovation for remaining globally competitive. Hundreds of our brightest and best-trained computing researchers are suddenly unable to find adequate opportunities to do advanced research and teach future generations. As a nation, we have invested time, energy, and funding in the training of these Ph.D.s. It is absolutely essential that we find ways to realize a payoff for that investment.
The Second NSF Computing Innovation Fellows (CIFellows) project will enable newly graduated computing Ph.D.s to obtain one-to-two year positions at academic institutions and industrial research organizations. It will support a new cohort of Fellows as well as second-year funding for many of the Fellows funded under the NSF Computing Innovation Fellows project last year. The aim is to forestall a permanent loss of research talent that is likely to occur if new Ph.D. graduates are forced to seek employment outside of the field due to the sharp cuts brought about by the continuing budget crisis. It will also allow new Ph.D.s to develop experience to make them more effective researchers and/or teachers.
