[hpc-announce] Call for Book Chapter Proposals: CDER Book Project on Parallel and Distributed Computing Instruction in Undergraduate Curricula

[Alan L. Sussman]

Call for Book Chapter Proposals:
CDER Book Project on Parallel and Distributed Computing Instruction in
Undergraduate Curricula: Volume 3, Springer, 2025.

Book Title: Topics in Parallel and Distributed Computing: From
Concepts to the Classroom

Motivation and Goals:
Basic undergraduate computing courses taught in most colleges are
still based on the 20th century conceptual model of computation,
predating the distribution of computing across the Internet and
widespread use of parallel processing. Learning to reason about
computational problem solving, without considering the powerful
capabilities offered by parallelism and distribution, creates a
foundational mindset that limits creative insights and handicaps
students in furthering their education and potential productivity in
their careers.

The Center for Parallel and Distributed Computing Curriculum
Development and Educational Resources (CDER) initiated a book series
to help overcome some of the key impediments that have prevented
educators from updating introductory (and advanced) computing
curricula to address the reality of current systems. The series
provides instructional resources and guidelines to instructors as well
as students to incorporate Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC)
topics in the undergraduate courses as part of the NSF/IEEE-TCPP
Curriculum Initiative. The first two volumes were published in 2015
and 2018, respectively, and can be found at the CDER website
(https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://tcpp.cs.gsu.edu/curriculum/?q=CDER_Book_Project__;!!G_uCfscf7eWS!aqPpUmqAt_YYKltQ3sg52da8uLrzZOsTH33omDTHEYW_36kSTfDgN87BOFDGF4RmxhIFz2TGKzhjZdkP4afVCGc_$ ).

CDER is now seeking proposals for chapters in Volume 3 of its book
series on PDC instruction in undergraduate curricula, possibly also
addressing modern aspects of AI, Big Data, and Cybersecurity.

Volume 3 will focus on how the early adopters of the NSF/IEEE-TCPP
curriculum guidelines or ACM/IEEE 2013 and related curricula and the
computing community at large have integrated PDC topics in specific
courses in their local contexts. These are intended to provide
instructors of specific modules or courses with material ready to be
incorporated into their classes with advice on how to teach based on
prior experiences. The chapters are expected to include how the PDC
topics at hand were taught and how they were integrated into the
current courses. Possible courses include early computing courses such
as CS0, CS1, CS2, Discrete Math, Data structures and Algorithms,
Systems/Computer Organization, and Digital Logic as well as upper
level/advanced courses such as Networking, Operating Systems, Computer
Architecture, Software Engineering, and Databases.

The published chapters are expected to be supplemented with
ready-to-adopt instructional materials in an Appendix (full topic or
even full course exemplars, slides, assignments, quizzes, online/video
material, if any; a manual on how to teach alongside existing topics,
etc.) which will be kept live on the CDER website for periodic updates
by the authors. Authors are also expected to share teaching
experience/evaluation in their local institutional context.

What and how to submit:
Please submit a 2-3 page informal proposal specifying your goals and a
brief outline of your proposed chapter by November 30, 2024 via this
EasyChair portal
(https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=cderbook2024__;!!G_uCfscf7eWS!aqPpUmqAt_YYKltQ3sg52da8uLrzZOsTH33omDTHEYW_36kSTfDgN87BOFDGF4RmxhIFz2TGKzhjZdkP4XTF7y-N$ ). Employ
keywords specifying the core/advanced course that is the primary
target of your chapter and the PDC topics covered. Multi-author teams
are welcome.

The proposals will be reviewed by the CDER center investigators, and
the authors will be notified by December 15, 2024.  The chapter
submissions will be due by Feb 28, 2025 and will be reviewed by the
NSF/TCPP curriculum working groups and other experts. This volume will
be published by Springer and preprints will be made available for free
downloads at the CDER site (past chapters’ download count is about
60K).

Resources:
NSF/IEEE-TCPP Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed
Computing - Core Topics for Undergraduates: Version 2.0
(https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://tcpp.cs.gsu.edu/curriculum/?q=home__;!!G_uCfscf7eWS!aqPpUmqAt_YYKltQ3sg52da8uLrzZOsTH33omDTHEYW_36kSTfDgN87BOFDGF4RmxhIFz2TGKzhjZdkP4XRC4Bh8$ ).

Editors:
Anshul Gupta, IBM Research, anshul at ibm.com
Sushil Prasad, UT San Antonio, sushil.prasad at utsa.edu
Alan Sussman, U. Maryland, asussman at umd.edu
Ramachandran Vaidyanathan, LSU, vaidy at lsu.edu
Charles Weems, UMass, weems at cs.umass.edu