What’s New in CISE:
Status Report and
Reflections
Gregory R. Andrews
Professor, Computer Science, Univ. of Arizona
Former Division Director, Computer and Network
Systems, National Science Foundation
February 2005
Outline
•
•
•
•
NSF context
The CISE Directorate
Programs, trends, and plans
Reflections and lessons learned
2
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
3
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
4
Pasteur’s Quadrant
Basic research (Bohr)
NSF
1950
…
2005
Use-inspired basic research
(Pasteur)
NIH
Applied research (Edison)
Mission Agencies
5
NSF Organization
National Science
Board
Office of the Director
Administrative Offices
Directorate for Biological
Sciences
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
6
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
7
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
8
CISE Responsibilities
• Support basic research and education in
computer and information science and
engineering
• Support a shared cyberinfrastructure for all of
science and engineering
9
New CISE Organization
Office
of the
Assistant
Director
Computing and
Communications
Foundations
(CCF)
Computer and
Network
Systems
(CNS)
Information and
Intelligent
Systems
(IIS)
Shared
Cyberinfrastructure
(SCI)
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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
11
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
12
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
13
Computer and Network
Systems (CNS)
• Computer Systems
– Distributed systems; embedded and hybrid systems; nextgeneration 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 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
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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; data-driven
science
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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
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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
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History of NSF CI Investments
Cyberinfrastructure
TCS, DTF,
ETF
Terascale
Information Technology Research
ITR
NSF Middleware Initiative
NMI
NPACI and
Alliance
PACI
NSF Networking
Prior
Computing
Investments
Supercomputer Centers
|
1985
SDSC, NCSA,
PSC, CTC
|
|
|
|
|
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
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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
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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
21
FY 2004 Emphasis Areas
• Cyber Trust
– Develop computing systems that operate securely and
protect sensitive information
– Received 488 proposals; made 50 awards; got $5M in cofunding from DARPA
• Information Integration
– Integrate and “mine” large data repositories to support datadriven science
– Received 238 proposals; made 33 awards
• Science of Design
– Develop a body of theoretical and empirical knowledge to
facilitate creation of a science of software design
– Received 182 proposals; made 24 awards
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FY 2005 Emphasis Areas
• Information Integration: December 2004
• Cyber Trust: February 2005
• Science of Design: Spring 2005
• Broadening Participation: June 2005
– Support alliances and projects that have the potential
significantly to increase the number of underrepresented
students achieving college and graduate degrees
• Probably one more on High-End Computing
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700
6000
600
5000
500
4000
400
3000
300
2000
NSF
200
1000
CISE
100
CISE Budget ($M)
7000
0
0
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
9
19 7
98
19
9
20 9
0
20 0
01
20
02
20
03
2
20 0
05 04
Re
q
NSF Budget ($M)
NSF and CISE Annual Budgets ($M)
Actuals
FY
24
Funding Rate for Competitive Awards in CISE
100%
90%
6,000
80%
5,000
70%
60%
4,000
50%
3,000
40%
Funding Rate
Number of Proposals and Awards
7,000
30%
2,000
20%
1,000
10%
0
0%
1994
1995 1996 1997
1998 1999 2000
Competitive Proposal Actions
2001 2002 2003
Competitive Awards
2004
Funding Rate
25
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
NSF
CISE
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
Funding Rates
NSF and CISE Funding Rate Trends
FY
26
CISE FY 2005 Budget
Request ($M)
CISE Budget Lines
FY 2005
CCF
$91.41
CNS
$132.39
IIS
$92.54
SCI
$123.60
ITR
(cross-CISE)
CISE Total
$178.11
$618.05
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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Further Information
• CISE Web site: www.cise.nsf.gov
• Computing Research News bimonthly
columns: www.cra.org
• Contact: greg@cs.arizona.edu
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