Keynote Speaker: Craig Mundie

Our keynote speaker for SIGCSE 2009 will be Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer for Microsoft. Craig is one of the six Chief Officers of Microsoft who report to Bill Gates, and he will be playing a larger role in the company as Bill Gates transitions away from the company over the next few months. When we're talking about engaging in a conversation about computing education, it's pretty cool to have such a top name in one of the world's top IT companies who wants to come tell us what he thinks.

I heard about his views on computing education when he visited Georgia Tech for our "New Face of Computing" Symposium last year. One of the striking statements that Craig made in his talk at the Symposium was that Computer Science is as important "as electricity" in our new information-based economy. Craig is also an advocate for the role of open source software as an important component in technology education.

I'm completely confident that Craig's talk is going to be fascinating, filled with interesting new insights into the role of computing education and how to make it better. I'm also thrilled that Craig recognizes that CS Education and SIGCSE are important enough to warrant a trip to join us all in Chattanooga next March.