Information and Communications Technology R&D in the U.S Federal Government

1. Information and Communications Technology R&D in the U.S Federal Government Suzi Iacono, Ph.D. National Science Foundation Co-Chair Social, Economic, and Workforce Implications of IT (SEW) and IT Workforce Development National Information Technology Research and Development Expedition Workshop, NSF September 23, 2005

2. Federal role in networking and information Technology R&D • Federally-sponsored research builds the technology base on which the information technology industry has grown • Federal government funds basic research not funded by industry • High risk, innovative ideas whose practical benefits may take years to demonstrate • Networking and Information Technology R&D program (NITRD) helps focus interagency ICT R&D: • Identify common research needs • Plan inter-agency research programs • Coordinate and collaborate on research announcements and funding • Promote application of research successes • Review research results and adjust accordingly • NITRD Program authorized by Congress in Public Laws 102-194 and 105-305 • National Coordination Office for IT R&D (NCO) coordinates planning, budget, and assessment activities for the NITRD Program • NCO Director reports to the Director of the White House Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) and co-chairs the Subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology R&D in the National Science and Technology Council

3. NITRD Program Coordination WHITE HOUSE President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) U.S. Congress Executive Office of the President Office of Science and Technology Policy National Science and Technology Council NITRD Authorization and Appropriations Legislation Subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology R&D Participating Agencies: AHRQ, DARPA, DOE/NNSA, DOE/SC, EPA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, NSA, NSF, OSD National Coordination Office (NCO) for Information Technology Research and Development High Confidence Software and Systems Coordinating Group (HCSS) Human Computer Interaction & Information Management Coordinating Group (HCI & IM) Social, Economic and Workforce Implications of IT and IT Workforce Development Coordinating Group (SEW) Software Design and Productivity Coordinating Group (SDP) High End Computing Interagency Working Group (HEC) Large Scale Networking Coordinating Group (LSN)

4. NITRD Participating Agencies and Departments • Department of Defense • Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) • National Security Agency (NSA) • Department of Energy • Office of Science (DOE/SC) • National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) • Department of Health and Human Services • National Institutes of Health (NIH) • Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) • Department of Commerce • National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) • National Science Foundation (NSF) • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • Observers • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

5. HISTORY OF NITRD FUNDING

6. Program Highlights for 2005-2006 • Implementation of Federal Plan for High-End Computing • Joint Planning and funding of research in software for high-end computing • Continuation of High Productivity Computing Systems Program • Installation and use of new computing systems • Opening Federal computing resources to wider user communities • Networking Research and Development • Optical Network Testbeds • Grid and Middleware Computing Technologies • Reinvention of the Internet • Information integration technologies • Prototype real-time, high-confidence operating system • Cyber security, information assurance, authentication • Technology transfer to applications areas • Computer-based medical devices • National Health Care Information Network • Communities of practice

7. SEW Coordinating Group The activities funded under the SEW PCA focus on the nature and dynamics of IT impacts on technical and social systems as well as the interactions between people and IT devices and capabilities; the workforce development needs arising from the growing demand for workers who are highly skilled in information technology; and the role of innovative IT applications in education and training. SEW also supports efforts to transfer the results of IT R&D to the policymaking and IT user communities in government at all levels and the private sector. Amid today's rapid global transformations driven by IT, SEW research aims to provide new knowledge to help society anticipate, identify, understand, and address the diverse issues of the digital age.

8. CG Member Agencies • NSF • NIH • NASA • DOE/SC • DOE/NNSA • GSA (non-NITRD agency)

9. Summary of Individual Agency Activities • NSF • NSF-wide Information Technology Research (ITR) program: Multiyear SEW-related research efforts (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • Continuation of about 120 ITR awards in FY 2005, including many SEW projects related to current national priorities (IT for economic prosperity and a vibrant civil society, IT advances in science and engineering) • Health Informatics; Infectious Disease Informatics • Globablization and the Distribution of Knowledge Work • Socio-technical Systems for Management of Biohazardous Emergencies • Complexities of Election Systems • CISE/IIS: Systems in Context Cluster: Digital Government, Digital Society and Technologies (DST), and Universal Access programs ( FY 2005 - FY 2006) • FY 2005 SIC focus: Collaboration in the sciences and for emergency preparedness; distributed innovation and learning for economic prosperity; socio-technical issues in intelligence informatics; collaboration with the EC • CISE/CNS: New Broadening Participation in IT Program (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • CISE/Combined Research and Curriculum Development and Educational Innovation Program (FY2005 - FY 2006)

10. Summary of Individual Agency Activities • NIH • NIH graduate and postdoctoral fellowship programs in bioinformatics (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • NASA • Learning Technologies Program (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • DOE/NNSA • Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Program (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • DOE/SC • Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Program (FY 2005 - FY 2006) • GSA (non-NITRD agency) • Collaborative Expedition Workshops (FY 2005)

11. Summary of Individual Agency Activities • GSA (non-NITRD agency) • Collaborative Expedition Workshops (FY 2004) key findings: • Emerging components not easily discovered by e-government managers, resulting in lost or delayed opportunities. http://componenttechnology.org • Apply emerging technologies (web services, grid computing, and semantic web) to tune up innovation pipeline with better linkages among business incubators (state economic development programs), innovation diffusion networks (SBIR, angel investors, etc.) and business intelligence centers with quality information about e-government and e-commerce gaps. • Results Highlights • Frontier Outpost opens up quality conversations, augmented by IT, to leverage collaborative capacity • Faster formation of Communities of Practice (CoPs) and leveraging of assets among CoPs (i.e. planned and conducted Semantic Web Applications and National Security conference with DARPA – April 7-8) • Eleven Workshops and Quarterly Emerging Components Conferences, attended by 763 people with 117 Emerging Trend presentations archived at: http://colab.cim3.net

12. The Interdisciplinary Research Challenge Adapted from Sara Kiesler’s NSF CISE Distinguished Lecture June 12, 2003

13. Study of KDI OutcomesSara Kiesler and Jonathon Cummings • KDI was a two-year NSF research program whose goal was to foster multidisciplinary research • Highly competitive • 40 / 697 (6%) proposals funded in 1998 • 31 / 163 (19%) full proposals funded in 1999 • Study shows distance is a more important obstacle than multidisciplinarity • Attainment of research outcomes depended on coordination among non-colocated project members

14. Predicting Outcomes Knowledge Multidisciplinarity: Number PI disciplines Tools + -.38 Geographic dispersion: Number universities -.18 Training + -.16 Controls (year, budget, # PIs & students, univ R & D expend.) Outreach OLS estimates

15. Role of Coordination • PIs who are more active in coordinating their projects are more successful. • Number of coordination mechanisms used is correlated positively with • Knowledge outcomes (r = .52) • Tools outcomes (r = .18) • Training outcomes (r = .30) • Outreach outcomes (r = .44)

16. For Further Information Please contact us at: nco@nitrd.gov Or visit us on the Web: www.nitrd.gov