What’s New in CISE: Status Report and Reflections

1. What’s New in CISE:Status Report andReflections Gregory R. Andrews Professor, Computer Science, Univ. of Arizona Former Division Director, Computer and Network Systems, National Science Foundation February 2005

2. Outline • NSF context • The CISE Directorate • Programs, trends, and plans • Reflections and lessons learned

3. National Science Foundation (NSF) • Created in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes” • Roles • Support basic research • Train the next generation • Educate the public • Advise the government on science policy

4. Federal Support for Research • National Science Foundation (NSF) • Curiosity-driven basic research • Long term • National Institutes of Health (NIH) • Use-inspired basic research • Long term • Mission Agencies: DARPA, DOE, NASA, etc. • Applied research • Shorter term

5. Pasteur’s Quadrant

6. NSF Organization Administrative Offices

7. 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

8. Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) • Created in 1985 (out of MPS) • Three research divisions • Two infrastructure divisions: supercomputing and networking • Office of cross-disciplinary activities • Minor reorganization in 1997 • 5 Divisions: CCR, EIA, IIS, ACIR, ANIR • Major reorganization in 2003 • 4 Divisions: CCF, CNS, IIS, SCI

9. CISE Responsibilities • Support basic research and education in computer and information science and engineering • Support a shared cyberinfrastructure for all of science and engineering

10. New CISE Organization

11. Key Concept: Cluster • Comprehensive activity in a coherent area of research and education • Team of program officers and staff working closely with the community • Initially: group of existing programs • By end of FY05: one program per cluster

12. 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

13. CCF Competitions • FY 2004 • Responsible for about 2030 proposals • Heavy mortgages and NSF-wide commitments • Decent success rates for CAREER (15%) but terrible success rates for clusters (6%) • FY 2005 • Theoretical Foundations: January 2005 • Emerging Models for Technology and Computation: February 2005 • Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts: May 2005 with awards in fall from FY 2006 budget • FY 2006 and 2007 • Possibly no competitions in FY 2006 • Fall deadlines for all three clusters in FY 2007

14. 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)

15. CNS Competitions • FY 2004 • Responsible for about 2035 proposals • Good success rates for CAREER and infrastructure (30%) • Fair success rates for research programs (18-20%) • FY 2005 — One solicitation per cluster • Computer Systems: November 2004 • Network Systems: January 2005 • Computing Research Infrastructure: July 2005 • Education and Workforce: Education with research programs; workforce subsumed by Broadening Participation emphasis area • FY 2006 • Same deadlines as in FY 2005, but Networking in December

16. 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; data-driven science

17. IIS Competitions • FY 2004 • Responsible for about 2590 proposals • Success rates 17% CAREER, 6% regular. • FY 2005 • Raise success rate of 2004 to 12-15% • Science & Engineering Informatics/Information Integration and Universal Access: December 2004 • Data, Inference, and Understanding and Systems in Context: May 2005 with awards in fall from FY 2006 funds • FY 2006 • Same deadlines as in FY 2005

18. Shared Cyberinfrastructure (SCI) Cyberinfrastructure: computational engines, storage, networking, data, sensors, software, and services to support advances in science and engineering • Infrastructure Deployment • Planning, construction, commissioning, and operations • Infrastructure Development • Creating, testing, and hardening next-generation deployed systems

19. History of NSF CI Investments

20. SCI Competitions • FY 2004 • Core funding for the PACI centers and expansion of the Extensible Terascale Facility (ETF) • NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI): 141 proposals; 20 awards • International Network Connections: recently decided • FY 2005 • Continuing support for PACI and ETF • Cyberinfrastructure Teaching, Education, Advancement, and Mentoring (CI-TEAM): Spring 2005 • NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI): Spring 2005 • Leveraging and coordinating shared and domain-specific cyberinfrastructure with other agencies and directorates

21. Key Concept: Emphasis Area • Focused area of research that cuts across clusters and divisions • Addresses a scientific and/or national priority • Has program announcement and funds

22. FY 2004 Emphasis Areas • Cyber Trust • Develop computing systems that operate securely and protect sensitive information • Received 488 proposals; made 50 awards; got $5M in co-funding from DARPA • Information Integration • Integrate and “mine” large data repositories to support data-driven science • Received 238 proposals; made 33 awards • Science of Design • Develop a body of theoretical and empirical knowledge to facilitate creation of a science of software design • Received 182 proposals; made 24 awards

23. FY 2005 Emphasis Areas • Information Integration: December 2004 • Cyber Trust: February 2005 • Science of Design: Spring 2005 • Broadening Participation: June 2005 • Support alliances and projects that have the potential significantly to increase the number of underrepresented students achieving college and graduate degrees • Probably one more on High-End Computing

27. CISE FY 2005 BudgetRequest ($M)

28. Reflections on Being at NSF • My Duties • Represent CISE in NSF and Interagency settings • Help set CISE directions and policies • Manage the development and execution of CNS programs and budget • Manage CNS staff: scientific and administrative • Program Officer Duties • Represent their discipline within CISE and NSF • Interact with community to get input and provide advice • Help define directions for their area of research • Manage competitions: core and cross-disciplinary

29. General Observations • Science Policy and Government Agencies • There are lots of smart, hardworking government employees • Each agency, including Congress, has its own point of view and its own agenda • Budget size matters • National Science Foundation • Widely respected throughout government, for good reason • There is an institutional ethic to provide service to the scientific community • It’s lots more fun when the budget is rising (2003) than when it is falling (2004 and 2005)

30. General Observations II • CISE Directorate • The importance of CISE is recognized within NSF • Funding decisions truly are guided by NSF’s dual roles: • Supporting good science • Training the next generation—throughout the country • The rapid increase in proposals has put CISE under tremendous pressure • The scientific staff is overworked • The peer review process is at the breaking point • Despite the above, panels and program officers are making good recommendations • However, few projects are adequately funded and lots of really good work is not getting funded

31. Advice • Attributes of winning proposals • Address important problem and have novel idea(s) • Well written project description, good technical depth, know the related work • Address broader impacts and describe (own) prior work — and read the proposal submission instructions! • Interact with program officers • Get feedback on proposals, ask for advice, provide input • Volunteer to be a reviewer • Consider working at NSF at some point

32. Conclusion • NSF’s role is fundamental to all areas of 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

33. Further Information • CISE Web site: www.cise.nsf.gov • Computing Research News bimonthly columns: www.cra.org • Contact: greg@cs.arizona.edu