Not all that money you spend on Vista and other Microsoft products is going into Bill Gates’ pockets. Some of it is helping the software company fund initiatives like the new Center for Computational Thinking it is funding at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Microsoft said it is granting Carnegie Mellon $1.5 million over three years to create the center, which will evolve through a partnership between Microsoft Research and the school’s Computer Science Department. The goal will be to develop ways computer science can influence other fields of study and involve exploration of topics such as e-commerce, privacy, multicore computing and embedded medical devices.
“Increasingly, scientists and researchers rely on computer science to enable them to sift through massive amounts of data and find breakthroughs that could provide new insights into the human body, the earth we live on and even the universe,” said Rick Rashid, Microsoft Research senior vice president, in a statement.
Annual “Mindswaps” will be held between Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon researchers to further research.
