NSF Issues IGERT Solicitation Focused on Big Data

Logo of the National Science Foundation (NSF). For NSF logo information visit: http://www.nsf.gov/policies/logos.jsp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Erwin Gianchandi, the Computing Community Consortium blog, April 23, 2012

The National Science Foundation (NSF) last week issued a new solicitation under its Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program, providing a specific track for training the next generation of researchers in computational and data-enabled science and engineering. The solicitation is part of the Foundation’s (and Administration’s) Big Data Initiative, which was announced last month.

According to the new solicitation (emphasis added):

“Building upon the IGERT platform, the purpose of this IGERT solicitation is to support new models in graduate education in which students are engaged in an environment that supports innovation to learn through hands-on experience how their own research may contribute in new ways to benefit society and to learn the processes for the successful implementation of such contributions.

Within the Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) and IGERT, NSF recognizes the need to educate and support a next generation of researchers able to address fundamental challenges in 1) core techniques and technologies for advancing big data science and engineering; 2) analyzing and dealing with challenging computational and data enabled science and engineering (CDS&E) problems, and 3) researching, providing, and using the cyberinfrastructure that makes cutting-edge CDS&E research possible in any and all disciplines.

Pentagon Contest to Develop Robots to Work in Disaster Areas

by John Markhof, New York Times, April 9, 2012

The Pentagon’s research and development agency is to announce a competition on Tuesday to design specialized robots that can work in disaster zones while operating common tools and vehicles. And while such tasks may well inspire humanoid designs, roboticists say they may also lead to the robotic equivalent of the Minotaur — a hybrid creature that might have multiple arms and not just legs but treads. ….

For full text of this article, visit Pentagon Contest to Develop Robots to Work in Disaster Areas – NYTimes.com.

Find the official details of the competition at the IEEE Spectrum Blog by clicking here.

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• Iron soldier: Pentagon launches quest for Terminator? (rt.com)
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• National Robotics Week (makezine.com)

President’s FY13 Research and Development Budget Released

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has responsibility, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for advising the President on the Federal Research and Development (R&D) budget and shaping R&D priorities across those Federal agencies that have significant portfolios in science and technology. OSTP also has responsibility—with the help of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which is administered out of OSTP—for coordinating interagency research initiatives. It is OSTP’s mission to help develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets that reflect Administration priorities and make coordinated progress toward important national policy goal.

OSTP is pleased to release the following information on the science, technology, innovation, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education components of the President’s FY 2013 Budget.  Click here for webcast of budget briefing and PDF of R&D Budget.

The full President’s FY 2013 budget can be found here.

Related articles

• President’s FY13 Budget Release Info Posted for DOE, NOAA, NSF (geodatapolicy.wordpress.com)
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New CRS Report on Federal Networking and IT Research and Development Program

The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development  Program: Background, Funding, and Activities

by Patricia Moloney Figliola, Congressional Research Service, January 13, 2012

SUMMARY: In the early 1990s, Congress recognized that several federal agencies had ongoing high performance computing programs, but no central coordinating body existed to ensure long-term coordination and planning. To provide such a framework, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) to enhance the effectiveness of the various programs. In conjunction with the passage of the act, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released Grand Challenges: High-Performance Computing and Communications. That document outlined a research and development (R&D) strategy for high-performance computing and a framework for a multiagency program, the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. The HPCC Program has evolved over time and is now called the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, to better reflect its expanded mission.

PCAST Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Report

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Networking and Information Technology R&D Report

On December 16, 2011 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report entitled “Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development Networking and Information Technology.”

• Press Release (pdf)
• “Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology” (pdf)
• Webcast

 

Related Articles

• President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Releases Report on Networking and Information Technology (bespacific.com)
• Federal Support for Networking and IT R&D: Much Less than Meets the Eye (innovationandgrowth.wordpress.com)
• PCAST Report: Supercomputing “Arms Race” May be the Wrong Path Forward (insidehpc.com)
• PCAST eyes a $10-billion boost for energy innovation (blogs.nature.com)
• President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee Discussion (geodatapolicy.wordpress.com)
• White House Urges $1B In Fed IT R&D (informationweek.com)
• Thoughts on the PCAST Report (thehealthcareblog.com)
• Science in the Obama White House: An Interview With John Holdren (news.sciencemag.org)
• National Nanotechnology Initiative Opens Its Strategy to Public Input (spectrum.ieee.org)

OSTP FY 2011 Budget Briefing

Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) FY 2011 Budget Briefing

Date: February 1, 2010,  Time: 1:00pm to 2:00pm, AAAS Auditorium

Speakers:

• John P. Holdren – Director and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
• Aneesh Chopra – Chief Technology Officer and Associate
• Director, Technology Shere Abbott – OSTP Associate Director, Energy & Environment
• Arden Bement – NSF Director
• Jane Lubchenco – NOAA Administrator
• Lori Garver – NASA Deputy Administrator

Briefing Memos can be found at: http://www.ostp.gov/cs/rd_budgets/fy_2009_budget/2011_budget

OMB President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2011: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

Agency FY 2011 Budget Briefing Schedule

The schedule of other agency FY 2011 budget briefings can be found at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy2011/

Stay on top of the FY 2011 budget process with Twitter updates from the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program: http://twitter.com/AAAS_RDBudget

Highlights:

• “The Obama Administration’s FY2011 Budget calls for $66 billion investment in nondefense research and development (R&D) – an increase of $3.7 billion or 5.9 percent above the FY2010 enacted level – reflecting the Administration’s firm belief that investment in science, technology, and innovation is the key to building the American Economy of the future.”
• “The President’s Budget maintains, as promised, a path to double the budgets of three key science agencies – the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories – by providing them a combined $13.3 billion, an increase of $824 million or 6.6 percent above the 2010 enacted total;”
• “The Presiden’ts Budget provides almost $1 billion t the R&D budget of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration – a substantial increase over 2010 – and also calls for $2.6 billion – an increase of $439 million or 21 percent – to multi-agency U.S. Global change Research Program (USGCRP), affirming the Administration’s commitment to understanding the risks posed by climate change and developing appropriate strategices to mitigate and adapt to those risks.”
• “The President’s Budget provides $679 million for the Interior Department’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).”