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Professor Denning Tapped by NSF Friday, July 13, 2007 By Barbara Honegger, Senior Military Affairs Journalist
Prof. Peter Denning, chairman of the Naval Postgraduate School Department of Computer Science and director of the Cebrowski Institute, has been named one of two inaugural National Science Foundation Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Distinguished Education Fellows. The new fellowships are part of the agency’s Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH) program to improve the quality of undergraduate computer science education nationwide. The awards are made to national leaders in computing science who have achieved distinction, are committed to transforming undergraduate computing education and have specific innovative ideas for how to do so. Recipients are encouraged to engage in projects focused on original and even untested ideas that will benefit undergraduate computing education. CISE Assistant Director Jeanette Wing presented Denning with the prestigious award, accompanied by a two-year $250,000 grant, at a ceremony at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Va., July 13. "We need to inspire the best and the brightest to go into computing," Wing said in presenting the award. "The United States is the world leader in computer science and engineering, but other nations are quickly catching up as enrollment in traditional U.S. computer science programs is declining. To ensure the U.S. remains globally competitive in computing, communications and information systems, NSF has developed a number of initiatives including the CISE CPATH program to stimulate innovative new ways to attract and engage the next generation of computer science students." "These fellowships are part of a bold vision to challenge colleges, universities, businesses and other stakeholders committed to advancing the field of computing to transform undergraduate computer education on a national scale," Wing said. "NSF established this program because strengthening computer science and engineering education, particularly among undergraduates, is a critical priority for our country, both economically and for national security," said NSF spokesman Dana Cruikshank. "These first CDEF awards were juried by a blue ribbon panel of experts even more distinguished than the selection panels for most NFS grants," Cruikshank noted. "So in addition to endorsing his vision for revitalizing computer science education and choosing him as a national ambassador for change, it’s also a peer recognition that Prof. Denning is an creative and accomplished national leader in the field." Denning’s NSF proposal focused on three workshops as high-leverage ways to re-spark innovation in computing education. "The first is a summit to review our NPS draft of the great principles of computing, which is a common language for computation across all sciences," Denning explained. "In particular, it recognizes that computing is the study of natural and artificial information processes. Natural information processes have been discovered in biology, in DNA transcription; in physics, in quantum waves; in materials science, designing materials from Schroedinger equations; and others. This framework is needed because computer science is definitely not just a 'science of the artificial.'" "The second initiative is a summit to recognize education innovators and give them the tools our NPS Cebrowski Institute team has recognized on the foundational practices of innovation," Denning continued. "We want their innovative work to be highly visible and recognized by all universities." "The third will be a partnership with Neumont University of Salt Lake City to promote their successful, project-based software engineering learning initiatives to high schools and other colleges and universities nationwide," Denning explained. "Eighty percent of Neumont’s curriculum involves students doing team projects and only 20 percent traditional classroom learning. Students are attracted to project-based learning, do well and test high, and get top salaries immediately upon graduating with a B.S. degree." "The bottom line is, we need to get back to the excitement of inventing," Denning stressed. "Getting people to change how they do things won’t be easy, but having NSF behind this gives it the recognition and cache it needs to succeed." Also announced as one of the two inaugural CISE Distinguished Education Fellows was Dr. Owen Astrachan of Duke University, whose proposal focused on integrating problem-based learning into computing education. The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 1,700 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives approximately 40,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes nearly 10,000 new funding awards. CISE supports investigator-initiated research in all areas of computer and information science and engineering, helps develop and maintain cutting-edge national computing and information infrastructure for research and education, and contributes to education and training of the next generation of computer scientists and engineers. The NSF directorate’s goal is universal,
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