Toward New Computing Paradigms – Perspectives On Leading National Efforts

Abstract: In the last several years,several national efforts, including the Nanotechnology Initiative, BRAIN Initiative, and National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI), have sought to transform the computing industry in light of the anticipated end of Moore’s law. For example, just last year, a federal grand challenge in computing was launched, seeking to possibly involve new kinds of “beyond silicon” devices and novel non von-Neumann computing architectures. While the nature and demands of computing in the future may be shifting away from traditional applications, much of the thinking behind this grand challenge draws inspiration from the fact that the human brain can perform amazingly complex tasks with orders of magnitude lower power consumption unmatched by present day computing machines. In this talk, we will provide an overview of the National Science Foundation’s ongoing efforts to lead these national efforts toward new computing paradigms, including the current status and some potential solutions being pursued by several groups spanning academia, industry, and government.