Strategic Directionsof the

National Science Foundationand the

CISE DirectoratePeter A. Freeman

Assistant Director U.S. National Science Foundation

for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)

August 2004

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Agenda

• NSF context • The CISE Directorate• Focus for Computing Research in 2004• Long-term Challenges for Computing

Research

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)

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NSF Mission

National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (Public Law 810507):

• To promote the progress of science; • to advance the national health,

prosperity, and welfare; • to secure the national defense; • and for other purposes.

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NSF Organization

Directorate for BiologicalSciences

Directorate for Mathematical& Physical Sciences

Directorate for Computer &Information Science and Engineering

Directorate for Social, Behvioral& Economic Sciences

Directorate for Education& Human Resources

Directorate for Geosciences

Directorate for Engineering Office of Polar Programs

Office of Integrative Activities

Office of the Director

National ScienceBoard

Administrative Offices

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NSF Organization:Directorates

• Office of the Director– Acting Director – Arden Bement– Deputy Director – Joe Bordogna– Office of Integrative Activities – Nathaniel Pitts– Office of Polar Programs – Karl Erb

• Biological Sciences – Mary Clutter

• Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) – Peter Freeman

• Education & Human Resources – Judith Ramaley • Engineering – John Brighton

• Geosciences – Margaret Leinen

• Mathematics & Physical Sciences – Michael Turner

• Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences – Wanda Ward (acting)

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NSF Activities

• basic scientific research & research fundamental to the engineering process;

• programs to strengthen scientific and engineering research potential;

• science and engineering education programs at all levels and in all the various fields of science and engineering; and

• an information base for science and engineering appropriate for development of national and international policy.

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NSF Strategic Focus

• People: to develop a diverse, internationally competitive and globally-engaged workforce of scientists, engineers, and well-prepared citizens

• Ideas: to provide a deep and broad fundamental science and engineering knowledge base

• Tools: to provide widely accessible, state-of-the-art science and engineering infrastructure

• Organization: to develop an agile, innovative organization that fulfills its mission through leadership in state-of the-art business practices

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NSF Crosscutting Initiatives for 2005

• Biocomplexity in the Environment• Nanoscale Science and Engineering• Mathematical Sciences• Human and Social Dynamics

• Information Technology Research - ended as an initiative in 2004

The NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering

(CISE)

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CISE Mission

 • to enable the United States to remain

competitive in computing, communications, and information science and engineering;

• to promote understanding of the principles and uses of advanced computing, communications, and information systems in service to society; and

• to contribute to universal, transparent, and affordable participation in an information-based society.

CISE has three goals:

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CISE Responsibilities

• Support basic computer and information science and engineering research & education

• Support a shared cyberinfrastructure for all of science and engineering

The New CISE

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New CISE Organization

Computing andCommunications

Foundations(CCF)

Computer andNetworkSystems(CNS)

Information andIntelligentSystems

(IIS)

SharedCyberinfrastructure

(SCI)

Officeof the

AssistantDirector

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Key Concept: Clusters

• Comprehensive activity in a coherent area of research and education

• Teams of Program Officers and Staff working closely with the community

• Initially: groups of existing programs• Eventually: one program per cluster

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Key Concept: Emphasis Areas

• Focused areas of research that cut across clusters and divisions

• Address scientific and national priorities• Have program announcements and

funds• Examples:

– Cybertrust– Education and workforce– Information Integration– Science of design

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Computing and Communication

Foundations (CCF)• Formal and Mathematical Foundations

– Computer science theory; numerical computing; computational algebra and geometry; signal processing and communication

• Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts– Software engineering; software tools for HPC;

programming languages; compilers; computer architecture; graphics and visualization

• Emerging Models for Technology and Computation– Computational biology; quantum computing; nano-scale

computing; biologically inspired computing

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CCF Competitions

• FY 2004– Responsible for about 2030 proposals– Heavy mortgages and commitments– Decent success rates for CAREER (15%) but terrible

success rates for clusters (5%) • FY 2005 and FY 2006

– CAREER competitions both years– Formal and Mathematical Foundations, and Emerging

Models for Technology and Computation: November 2004 but no competition in FY 2006

– Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts: May 2005 with funds from FY 2006 budget

• FY 2007: Fall deadlines for all three clusters

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Computer and Network Systems (CNS)

• Computer Systems– Distributed systems; embedded and hybrid systems; next-

generation software; parallel systems• Network Systems

– Networking research broadly defined plus focus areas in programmable wireless networks and networks of sensor systems

• Computing Research Infrastructure– Research infrastructure; minority institutional

infrastructure; research resources• Education and Workforce

– Curriculum development/educational innovation; IT workforce; special projects; cross-directorate activities (e.g., REU sites)

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CNS Competitions

• FY 2004– Responsible for about 2035 proposals– Good success rates on CAREER and infrastructure (30%)– Fair success rates on most other programs (10-15%)

• FY 2005 — One solicitation per cluster– CAREER: July deadline as usual– Computer systems: November 2004– Network systems: December 2004– Computing Research Infrastructure: late August deadline

(late July for letters of intent for large proposals)– Education and Workforce: January 2005

• FY 2006: Same deadlines as in FY 2005

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Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)

• Systems in Context– Human computer interaction; educational technology;

robotics; computer-supported cooperative work; digital government

• Understanding, Inference, and Data– Databases; artificial intelligence; text, image, speech, and

video analysis; information retrieval; knowledge systems

• Science & Engineering Informatics/Information Integration– Bioinformatics; geoinformatics; cognitive neuroscience; …

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IIS Competitions

• FY 2004– Responsible for about 2590 proposals– Success rates 17% CAREER, 5% regular.

• FY 2005– Raise acceptance rate of 2004 to 12-15%– CAREER in July as normal– Science & Engineering Informatics/Information Integration

and Universal Access: December 2004– Data, Inference, and Understanding and Systems in

Context: May 2005 with most funding from FY 2006

• FY 2006: Same deadlines as in FY 2005

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Shared Cyberinfrastructure (SCI)

• Infrastructure Development– Creating, testing, and hardening next-generation deployed

systems

• Infrastructure Deployment– Planning, construction, commissioning, and operations

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SCI Competitions

• FY 2004– NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI): 140 proposals; expected

success rate of 10-15%– International Network Connections: in panels

• FY 2005– Continuing support for centers (PACI, ETF)– Cyberinfrastructure Teaching, Education, Advancement,

and Mentoring (CI-TEAM): early 2005– NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI): spring 2005– Leveraging and coordinating shared and domain-specific

cyberinfrastructure: contact a program director if you have ideas for leveraging CISE research

– Some programs with other agencies/directorates

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Cross-Cutting Emphasis Areas

• Characteristics– cuts across clusters and divisions– addresses scientific or national priority

• FY04 Emphasis Areas– Cyber Trust: 488 proposals– Science of Design: 182 proposals– Information Integration: 250 proposals

• FY 2005 Emphasis Areas– Cyber Trust: January 2005– Science of Design: spring 2005– Information Integration: December 2004– Broadening Participation: late winter/early spring 2005– Possibly one more

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CISE BudgetFY05 Request ($M)

CISE - Divisions FY 2005

CCF $91.41

CNS $132.39

IIS $92.54

SCI $123.60

ITR (not a division; cross-

CISE) $178.11

CISE Total $618.05

Cyber Trust

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Homeland Security Critical Infrastructure ProtectionCyber Security Cyber Trust

National Cyber Security Context

HomelandSecurity

CIP CS

Trust

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Cyber Trust Theme

• Vision: A society in which– Computing systems operate securely and reliably– Computing systems protect sensitive information– Systems are developed and operated by a well-

trained and diverse workforce

• Research on foundations, network security, systems software, and information systems

• Integrated education and workforce activities

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NSF’s Cyber Trust Emphasis

• Coordinated effort for research and education in: – Security– Reliability– Privacy, etc.

• Essentially, all the attributes so that a computing, communication, or information system can be trusted

• First awards to be announced soon

Cyberinfrastructure

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Guiding Principles for Shared Cyberinfrastructure (SCI) at

NSF• Serve all of science & engineering• Firm and continuing commitment to providing

the most advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI), with high-end computing (HEC) at the core

• Encourage emerging CI while maintaining and transitioning extant CI

• Provide balance in CI equipment• Strong links to ongoing fundamental research

to create future generations of CI

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History of NSF CI Investments

PACI NPACI and Alliance

Terascale TCS, DTF, ETF

Cyberinfrastructure

Supercomputer Centers

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

| | | | | |

SDSC, NCSA, PSC, CTC

Prior Computing Investments

NSF Networking

NMINSF Middleware Initiative

ITRInformation Technology Research

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Looking to the Future

• Science frontiers as the drivers• Balance capability and capacity:

– the Extensible Terascale Facility (ETF)

• Emerging importance of data-intensive paradigms

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Cyberinfrastructure consists of:

• Computational engines (supercomputers, clusters, workstations – capability and capacity)

• Mass storage (disk drives, tapes, …) and persistence

• Networking (including optical, wireless, ubiquitous)• Digital libraries/data bases• Sensors/effectors• Software (operating systems, middleware, domain

specific tools/platforms for building applications)• Services (education, training, consulting, user

assistance)

All working together in an integrated fashion.

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Hardware

Integrated Cyberinfrastructure…

Grid Services & Middleware

DevelopmentTools & Libraries

Applications

Ed

uca

tio

n &

Tra

inin

g

Dis

cove

ry &

In

no

vati

on

Domain Specific Cybertools

Shared CI

Broadening Participation

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Vision• A discipline in which

– Graduates are well-prepared relative to a well-defined core of knowledge and are prepared for life-long learning

– There are no under-represented groups– There is a strong and productive mix of domestic and

foreign students– There is balance between demand and supply

• Educational institutions, government organizations, and private industry work together to achieve the vision

• NSF’s role is seed efforts, model programs, dissemination, and research into success factors

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Moving Forward

• Increased staff and dollars in CISE focused on EWF action

• Build on research results and encourage action• Help successful efforts mature• Focus new efforts on selected areas

sequentially• Encourage computing community to

participate in NSF-wide programs (ADVANCE, LS-AMP, etc.)

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Conclusion

• NSF’s role is fundamental to all areas of our society - the most basic future investment

• Computer science and related disciplines are hugely important in their own right and essential to advancement in all areas of S&E

• NSF and our field are facing unprecedented pressures that can only be overcome by concerted, cooperative action

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Contact Information

Dr. Peter A. FreemanNSF Assistant Director for CISEPhone: 703-292-8900Email: pfreeman@nsf.gov

Visit the NSF Web site at:www.nsf.gov

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Former CISE Organization

Information &IntelligentSystems

(IIS)

Experimental &IntegrativeActivities

(EIA)

Computer-Communications

Research(C-CR)

AdvancedNetworking

Infrastructure &Research (ANIR)

AdvancedComputationalInfrastructure &

Research (ACIR)

Officeof the

AssistantDirector

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CISE Reorganization:Drivers

• Scientific: changes to the field– Current organization is essentially the same

as in 1985

• Administrative: proposal pressure– Up 125% since 1997 (vs. 16% for NSF)

• Financial: end of ITR– How to invest those funds

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CISE Reorganization:Strategic Objectives

• Realign divisions for coherence and to mirror the field

• Cluster similar programs• Support cross-cutting themes• Build on success of ITR to invigorate the

CISE core

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CISE Reorganization:Goals

• Increase productivity and efficiency for investigators and program officers

• Increase grant size and duration• Sharpen focus of CISE programs• Increase agility in the CISE organization• Integrate education and research• Broaden participation in CISE activities