• New Computing Research Center at University of Virginia - Center for Research in Intelligent Storage and Processing-in-Memory (CRISP) sponsored by DARPA and Semiconductor Research Corporation.
• US Department of Energy Announces Plans to Acquire 3 Exascale Computers - Systems to be delivered by 2023 at Oak Ridge, Livermore, and Argonne National Laboratories.
• Patterson and Hennessey win Turing Award for RISC Processors - Approach developed in 1980s still dominates modern microprocessors.
• IARPA program on Molecular Information Storage - New US government research program in nanoscale data storage and retrieval, including biological systems.
• Stochastic Computing in a Single Device - Minnesota researchers demonstrate magnetic tunnel junction which processes logic using random bits.
• Continuing progress internationally in moving toward exascale computers - Approaches to reduce power requirements include improved memory architectures and GPUs.
• Microsoft Announces Quantum Development Kit - Microsoft has publicly released a Quantum Development Kit, a software environment for developing applications of quantum computing.
• Green500 Drives Power Efficiency for Exascale - List of most power efficient supercomputers shows continued improvement in Gigaflops/Watt.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Applied to Cybersecurity: New IEEE Trend Paper Based on RC-Sponsored Confluence Summit

Cybersecurity is a critical issue in information technology throughout the world. IEEE has identified Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) as key technologies that will impact cybersecurity in both positive and negative ways. The IEEE Rebooting Computing Initiative, together with the IEEE Industry Engagement Committee, sponsored a Confluence Summit last October in Philadelphia, and 19 distinguished experts were charged with developing a Trend Paper on this topic. The Trend Paper has just been issued, and is available online here. Comments on the report are welcome.

The co-chairs of this Confluence Summit and Report were Dejan Milojicic and Barry Shoop. Dr Milojicic is a Distinguished Technologist at Hewlett Packard Labs, past president of the IEEE Computer Society, and chair of the IEEE Industry Engagement Committee. Dr. Shoop is a professor and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and served as 2016 IEEE president.

In addition to addressing issues in Hardware, Software, and Data, the report also discusses legal issues, human factors, and implementation, in the context of industry, academia, government, standards bodies, and the general public. Key recommendations include the following:

• The future needs of cybersecurity will require advances in technology, legal and human factors, and mathematically verified trust.
• Coordinated business efforts will be required to establish market-accepted products, certified by established regulatory authorities
• AI/ML-fueled cybersecurity must be based on standardized and audited operations.
• Regulators will need to protect research and operations and establish internationally recognized cooperative organizations.
• Data, models, and fault warehouses will be essential for tracking progress and documenting threats, defenses, and solutions.

A brief video of Dr. Milojicic discussing the Confluence Summit is also available here. IEEE Spectrum also has an article featuring this Trend Paper here.

Thomas Sterling on the Current State of High-Performance Computing

Prof. Thomas Sterling of Indiana University is the Chief Scientist and Associate Director of the Center for Research in Extreme Scale Technologies (CREST), and a longtime authority in high-performance computing. Dr. Sterling was interviewed in March 2018 at the Supercomputing Frontiers Europe Conference in Poland, where he was a keynote speaker.

In the interview, Dr. Sterling discusses the US National Strategic Computing Initiative, development of Exascale Computing in various countries, a new class of intelligent computing, and limitations of classic von Neumann architectures. The interview with Dr. Sterling is available here.

• Rebooting Computing Video Overview
• IEEE Future Directions
• ICRC 2018 Call for Papers
• Computing in Science and Engineering on the End of Moore's Law
• IEEE Journal of Exploratory Solid-State Computational Devices and Circuits (JXCDC)
• Arch2030 Workshop Report
• TTM 2016 Videos
• Workshop on Neuromorphic Computing
• Workshop on Beyond CMOS Technology
• Update on National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI)
• RC White Paper on Nanocomputers
• IEEE Computer Magazine on Rebooting Computing
• RC-ITRS Report on the Foundation of the New Computer Industry Beyond 2020