Microsoft Research

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Microsoft Research (MSR) is a division of Microsoft created in 1991 for researching various computer science topics and issues. It is one of the top research centers worldwide currently employing Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare and Butler Lampson, Fields Medal winner Michael Freedman, MacArthur Fellow Jim Blinn, Dijkstra Prize winner Leslie Lamport and many other highly recognized experts in computer science, physics, and mathematics, including Jim Gray up until his highly publicized disappearance while sailing.

Contents

[edit] Research areas

MSR research is categorized into the following broad areas:[1]

  1. Algorithms and theory
  2. Hardware development
  3. Human–computer interaction
  4. Machine learning, adaptation, and intelligence
  5. Multimedia and graphics
  6. Search, retrieval, and knowledge management
  7. Security and cryptography
  8. Social computing
  9. Software development
  10. Systems, architectures, mobility, and networking
  11. Computational and Systems Biology[2]

One of the stated goals of Microsoft Research is to "support long-term computer science research that is not bound by product cycles."[3] MSR sponsors the Microsoft Research Fellowship for graduate students and the New Faculty Fellowship for new faculty members.

[edit] Laboratories

There are laboratories around the world in Bangalore, Beijing, Cambridge, Mountain View, Redmond, and San Francisco.

  • Microsoft Research Redmond was founded on the Microsoft Redmond campus in 1991 working in buildings 112 and 113.
  • Microsoft Research Cambridge was founded in 1997 by Roger Needham and now numbers over 100 employees. It maintains close ties to the University of Cambridge.
  • Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) was founded in Beijing in November 1998. Advanced Technology Center was initially a group of MSRA until it became an independent R&D group of Microsoft.
  • Microsoft Research Silicon Valley, located in Mountain View, California, was founded in August 2001. In January 2006, the Silicon Valley lab merged with Microsoft's Bay Area Research Center (BARC) in San Francisco.
  • Microsoft Research India was established in January 2005 in Bangalore.
  • Microsoft Cairo Innovation Center was established in 2006 in Egypt.
  • Microsoft Innovation Center Greece was established in 2008 in Athens, Greece.

[edit] Collaborations

Microsoft Research also collaborates with and jointly operate research centers at Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Trento.[4][5][6] There are also nine jointly-operated labs in China and Hong Kong. [7]

Microsoft Research also supports research centers at many other universities.

[edit] Notable achievements

Microsoft Acceptance rates at ACM SIGGRAPH since 2002
Year Total papers MSR Papers  %
2007 108 14 13
2005 86 16 17
2004 83 10 16
2003 83 11 10
2002 67 7 11
Total 427 58 -
Mean 85 12 14

At the prestigious ACM SIGGRAPH 2007 conference Microsoft Research presented fourteen papers, which was more than any other organisation [8][9]. The total number of conference papers presented at SIGGRAPH was 108 [10], meaning Microsoft Research' contribution constituted 13% of the conference papers [8][9]. Historically, Microsoft has performed well in getting papers accepted in SIGGRAPH, typically presenting an average of 14% of the papers [11].

[edit] Research projects

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Research Areas
  2. ^ A Centre of Excellence in Scientific Research is founded in Trento. Centre for Computation and Systems Biology. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  3. ^ Microsoft Research Overview
  4. ^ Microsoft to create research center at CMU - Pittsburgh Business Times:
  5. ^ Microsoft, CMU team up - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
  6. ^ Microsoft's East Coast alliance - The Boston Globe
  7. ^ Research
  8. ^ a b New papers launched at Siggraph
  9. ^ a b SIGGRAPH 2007: Microsoft Research Leads the Way
  10. ^ SIGGRAPH 2007, Papers
  11. ^ Microsoft Research Contributions to SIGGRAPH
  12. ^ Internal code-name, not directly related to the official, Windows SideShow auxiliary display feature in Windows Vista.
  13. ^ A Brief History of Windows Sidebar. Microsoft (September 15, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
  14. ^ The first new feature of Internet Explorer 8?. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.

[edit] External links

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