LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., 01 April 2022 – The IEEE Computer Society (IEEE CS) announces ten innovative and impactful Emerging Tech Programs for 2022 and beyond, covering a wide range of topics that include the expansion of education in Egypt, a quantum machine intelligence research network, technology focused on the repair of tornado damage, human-robot swarm competitions, and many others.
The IEEE CS Planning Committee invited proposals for projects, programs, and events that further its mission to grow and foster emerging technologies within the computing community.
The Ten Emerging Tech Programs Are as Follows:
- Forums on Societal Harms in Digital Platforms: Building on the 2021 IEEE CS tech forum “Mitigating Societal Harms in a Social Media World,” two more tech forums will run in 2022, covering “Hate Speech, Extremism & Exploitation” and “Misinformation & Disinformation.” Each event will consist of a panel of invited speakers, as well as breakout groups to encourage thought-provoking discussion.
- IEEE Quarter Tech Talk Table Series: A broad, collaborative group of young professionals and “impact creators” will share their insights on cutting-edge technologies with a wide audience through panel discussions.
- Technology against Tornado (TaT) Student Competition and Expo: Last December, at least six states were hit by tornados that left devastation in many communities. The TaT student competition is envisioned to inspire and engage more students in the computing field by transforming their innovative ideas into real-world functional products for the empowerment of their communities against tornados. TaT will be a team-based, open-source competition for the application of emerging technology in the battle against tornados.
- A Research Network for Quantum Machine Intelligence: This interdisciplinary network will bring researchers and innovators together in the emerging area of quantum machine intelligence. This innovative network will act as the main discussion forum to share knowledge in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, a pre-portal to funding instruments, and a career accelerator for young researchers.
- IEEE CS Young Professional Lecture Program 2022: This platform will encourage early-career researchers to interact and explore new areas of research, which is important to the sharing of technical knowledge. The program includes talks delivered by two IEEE CS young professionals each month, which will be recorded and posted on IEEE TV for future reference.
- A Hardware Security Hackathon for Region 2: This two-day hardware security competition for collegiate teams will be based on the University of Florida’s “Hardware Hacking” or “HaHa” Board. Ohio University currently uses these boards in the lab section of its “Hardware Security” course, and the intent is to transition these exercises into problems for a competition.
- Cooperative Human-Robot Swarm Computation: This project aims at developing computing methods for designing and operating cooperative human-robot swarm systems, placing emphasis on algorithms for solving problems including system configuration, task allocation, and human-robot cooperation scheduling. The evaluation process includes a set of test instances in two scenarios: human-drone cooperation in earthquake rescue and cooperation of human firefighters and firefighting robots.
- Economies of Scale for FPGA Education: The idea is to do for FPGAs what Raspberry Pi and Arduino have done for microprocessor education: reduce the cost of ownership by an order of magnitude. Instead of $100+ FPGA boards, this program will utilize an under-$20 board with free public-domain software and tools. To achieve economies of scale and community support, trial runs will take place in high schools or universities on existing FPGA kits and free software.
- Annual Competition on Emerging Issues of Data Security and Privacy: Machine learning (ML) relies on and is programmed by training data, yet the majority of the attention and efforts regarding ML and artificial intelligence (AI) security have been primarily concerned with test time (evasion attacks). Such neglect in upstream data, security, and privacy has left many unsolved but paramount issues. This annual adversarial competition includes both attack and defense, covering the abovementioned emerging but overlooked security and privacy topics.
- Extending Education with Extended Reality in Egypt: The program will encourage the community in Egypt to include augmented and spatial reality in educational programs. These technologies aim to enhance student engagement and learning.
About the IEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is the world’s home for computer science, engineering, and technology. A global leader in providing access to computer science research, analysis, and information, the IEEE Computer Society offers a comprehensive array of unmatched products, services, and opportunities for individuals at all stages of their professional careers. Known as the premier organization that empowers the people who drive technology, the IEEE Computer Society offers international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, a unique digital library, and training programs. Visit computer.org for more information.
