Title: Current Developments in the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
1Current Developments in the NSF Directorate for
Computer and Information Science and
Engineering(CISE)
- Brett D. Fleisch
- Division of Computer and Network Systems
- bfleisch_at_nsf.gov
2Outline
- Context
- Mission, organization strategic objectives
- CISE 2004 2005 Reorganization
- Divisions, Clusters, Programs
- FY 2005 activities FY 2006 plans
- Highlighted Emphasis Areas/Program
- CAREER
- Cybertrust
- Science of Design
- Broadening Participation
- GENI Initiative
- Awareness Resources at NSF
- Pointers on proposal writing
3National Science Foundation
Dr. Arden L. Bement Director
Dr. Kathie L. Olsen Deputy Director
4National Science Foundation
- 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 fields of science and
engineering and, - A knowledge base for science and engineering
appropriate for development of national and
international policy
5NSF Strategic Mission
- 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 Excellence
- to develop an agile, innovative organization that
fulfills its mission through leadership in
state-of the-art business practices
6CISE Mission
- CISE has three goals
- To uphold a position of world leadership in
computing, communications and information science
and engineering - To promote the understanding of the principles
and advance uses of computing, communications and
information systems in service to society - To contribute to universal, transparent and
affordable participation in an information-based
society
7Current CISE Organization
Office
of the
Dr. Peter A. Freeman Assistant Director
Assistant
Director
Computing and
Information and
Computer and
Communications
Intelligent
Network
Foundations
Systems
Systems
(CCF)
(IIS)
(CNS)
Dr. Michael Foster CCF
Dr. Michael Pazzani IIS
Dr. Wei Zhao CNS
No picture available
8CISE Strategic Objectives
- Enhance research portfolio
- Strengthen the core e.g.,
- Cyber Trust (cybersecurity)
- Science of Design
- Emerging models of computation
- Networking and Computer Systems
- Broaden participation
- Improve organizational effectiveness
9CISE BudgetFY05 Current Plan (M)
10Funding Outlook
- NSF funds available to support computing have
nearly doubled in the past five years - However, proposals have almost tripled
- lt 1 per yr per CS faculty member to
- gt 1 per year
- CISE budget outlook for near future
- slow growth or small decline likely
- transition of ITR funds into core programs
11CISE 2004 and 2005 Reorganization Drivers
- Scientific changes to the field
- The same organization from 1985 to 2003
- Administrative proposal pressure as described
earlier - Previously Cyberinfrastructure part of CISE
- Financial end of ITR
- How to invest those funds
12CISE Reorganization Goals
- Align divisions to reflect the field
- Group similar programs into clusters
- Sharpen focus
- Increase flexibility
- Eventually increase grant size duration
- Develop and support cross-cutting emphasis areas
- Integrate education and research
- Build on success of ITR
13Key Concept Clusters
- 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
- One program solicitation per cluster
- Funds associated with solicitation
14CISE Organization
Clusters
15Computer Systems Cluster
- Program Directors
- Dr. Frederica Darema High-Performance Software
- Dr. Brett D. Fleisch Distributed Systems OS
- Dr. D. Helen Gill - Embedded and Hybrid Systems
- Dr. Carl Landwehr - Trusted Computing
- My Current Activities
- Distributed Systems and Operating Systems
Proposals - Prepare Solicitation Announcement for Cluster
- Community Outreach Activities
- Continuing Grant Oversight Annual Reports
- Workshop, Strategic Planning and Conference
Outreach - CAREER Proposal Management
16Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF)
- Theoretical Foundations
- Computer science theory numerical computing
computational algebra and geometry signal
processing and communications - 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
17CCF Competitions
- FY 2004
- Responsible for about 1900 proposals
- Heavy mortgages and commitments
- Competitive proposal success rate 18
- FY 2005 and FY 2006 One solicitation per cluster
- CAREER competition (16 success in 2005)
- Theoretical Foundations January 2005 due date,
received about 440 proposals 2006 competition
TBD - Emerging Models for Technology and Computation
February 2005 due date, received 150 proposals.
2006 competition TBD - Foundations of Computing Processes and Artifacts
Due Date June 20, 2005 - FY 2007 Fall deadlines for all three clusters
18Computer and Network Systems (CNS)
- Computer Systems
- Distributed systems embedded and hybrid systems
Next Generation system - Network Systems
- General networking wireless systems sensor
networks - 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)
19CNS Competitions
- FY 2004
- Responsible for about 2035 proposals
- Success rates CAREER Infrastructure 18,
others 10-15 - FY 2005 One solicitation per cluster
- CAREER 2005 competition complete, success rate
25 - Computer Systems November 2004 due date,
received 440 proposals. - Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS)
December 2004 due date, received 500 proposals - Computing Research Infrastructure July/August
2004 due date, received 250 proposals - Education and Workforce REU Site competition
complete, IGERT ongoing - FY 2006 - similar deadlines see CISE web site
20CSR Cluster Competition
- Program Directors
- Dr. Frederica Darema, Senior Science and
Technology Advisor - High-Performance Software
- Dr. Brett D. Fleisch
- Distributed Systems Operating Systems
- Dr. D. Helen Gill
- Embedded and Hybrid Systems
- Dr. Carl Landwehr -
- Trusted Computing
- 37 Million solicitation
21FY 2005 CSR Program Results
22Information 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 - Driven by a computer science agenda and
application domains
23IIS Competitions
- FY 2004
- Responsible for about 2590 proposals
- Success rates CAREER 17, regular 5
- Heavy mortgages and committments
- FY 2005
- CAREER almost complete, awards still being made
- Science Engineering Informatics December 2004
due date, 200 proposals received, merit review
ongoing. - Universal Access December 2004 due date,
received 50 proposals, merit review ongoing - Data, Inference, and Understanding and Systems in
Context Combined solicitation, with proposals
due in May 2005. - FY 2006 Same deadlines as in FY 2005
24Cross-Foundational Programs
- IGERT preliminary proposals by Feb 2005
- The Integrative Graduate Education and Research
Traineeship (IGERT) program seeks to train PhD
scientists and engineers with the
interdisciplinary background and the technical,
professional and personal skills needed to
address the global questions of the future - REU Sites August 2005, tell students about
summer opportunities, post flyer - ADVANCE spring 2005, institutional
transformation and leadership - GK-12 - May, June, great fellowships and outreach
- CAREER spring 2005, recognized starting place
for new faculty
25CAREER Program
- Foundation-wide activity that offers the National
Science Foundations most prestigious awards for
new faculty - NSF supports the early career development
activities of those faculty members who are most
likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st
century - CAREER awards have a 5-year duration
- In FY06, the minimum CAREER award (including
indirect costs) is 400,000 for all NSF
directorates
26Cross Cutting Emphasis Areas
27 Cross-Cutting Emphasis Areas
- Characteristics
- Cuts across clusters and divisions
- Addresses scientific or national priority
- Has a program solicitation and funds
- FY05 Emphasis Areas Cyber Trust, Science of
Design, Information Integration, DDDAS Dynamic
Data Driven Application Systems - FY 2006 Emphasis Areas
- Cyber Trust February 6 2006
- Science of Design Waiting for New Solicitation
- Information Integration December 2005
- Broadening Participation April 06
28Cyber Trust
29CyberTrust 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
30CyberTrust
- On July 19, 2001, more than 359,000 computers
were infected with the Code-Red worm in less than
14 hours - This worm infects computers running Microsoft's
Internet Information Server web server software - It starts with a 19-day infection cycle
- it seeks out new machines to infect
- It goes through an eight-day attack cycle during
which all infected servers attack the same IP
address or host name - Each server devotes 99 threads to attacking the
target with a massive Distributed Denial of
Service attack, delivering something on the order
of 20 gigabits-per-second on a single target
31National Cyber Security Context
Homeland Security Critical Infrastructure
Protection Cyber Security Cyber Trust
Trust
CIP
CS
32Cyber Trust Emphasis
- Center-scale up to 10M over 5 years
- Teams up to 2M over 3 years
- Single investigators up to 500k over 3 years
- FY 2004 competition
- 30M available in FY 2004
- 390 projects proposed
- 32 awards with success rate 8
- FY 2005 competition
- 500 proposals received in February 2005, no data
available yet on project s
33Science of Design
34Science of Design
- Considers formal theories and computational
methods for the representation, synthesis, and
evaluation of designs and requirements - Design processes supporting compositionality,
maintainability, adaptability and evolution - The role of requirements and specifications in
design - Computer-aided design for software-intensive
systems - Studies of designs, designers and design
methodologies - Development of design education and the
integration of knowledge about design
methodologies into educational curriculum and - Training for computer scientists, software
engineers and systems engineers.
35Science of Design
- FY 2004 competition
- Proposals received in May 2004
- Projects up to 300,000k/year for 3 to 5 years
- Received 190 proposals (160 projects)
- Made 16 awards, project success rate of 10
- 10 million invested
- FY 2005 competition
- New solicitation to be released in summer of
2005
36Solicitation Information
- Information about the 2nd Science of Design
solicitation will appear in September on the CISE
web page - This years competition will be significantly
different than last years - It will encourage team projects to bring new
thinking and people into the effort - It will lay a fundamental basis for the creation
of software-intensive systems - An informational meeting for potential PI's is
being planned for late September/early October
37Broadening Participation in Computing Program
38BPC Program
- The Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC)
program aims to significantly increase the number
of students who are U.S. citizens and permanent
residents receiving post secondary degrees in the
computing disciplines. - New Program FY05
- Available Funds 14 Million
- Full Proposal April 5, 2006
- Check CISE web site concerning which proposals
require a Letter of Intent and due dates
39BPC Program
- Initial Emphasis will be on students from
communities with longstanding under-representation
in computing - Women, persons with disabilities, and
- Minorities African Americans, Hispanics,
American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. - Develop and implement innovative methods to
improve recruitment and retention of these
students at the undergraduate and graduate levels - Develop effective strategies for identifying and
supporting members of the targeted groups who
want to pursue academic careers in computing
40BPC Program Components
- Alliances (up to 1M/year for up to 3 years)
- Comprehensive programs that address
under-representation in the computing disciplines - Join academic institutions of higher learning
with secondary schools, government, industry,
professional societies, and other not-for-profit
organizations - Demonstration Projects(average 200k/year for
2-3yrs) - Demonstration Projects (DPs) are smaller in scope
and narrower in focus than Alliance projects. - DPs will be pilots that could be incorporated
into the activities of an Alliance - Supplements
41GENI Initiative
42GENI Initiative
- New Initiative called Global Environment for
Networking Investigations or GENI - Explore new networking capabilities that will
advance science and stimulate innovation and
economic growth. - Advance significantly the capabilities provided
by networking and distributed system
architectures. - Intended to catalyze a broad community effort
that will engage other agencies, other countries,
and corporate entities. - GENI comprises two components
- 1) the GENI Research Program and
- 2) the experimental GENI Facility
43GENI Initiative
- The GENI Initiative envisions the creation of new
networking and distributed system architectures
that, for example - Build in security and robustness
- Enable the vision of pervasive computing and
bridge the gap between the physical and virtual
worlds by including mobile, wireless and sensor
networks - Enable control and management of other critical
infrastructures - Include ease of operation and usability and
- Enable new classes of societal-level services and
applications.
44GENI Initiative
- The GENI Initiative will support research,
design, and development of new networking and
distributed systems capabilities by - Creating new core functionality Going beyond
existing paradigms of datagram, packet and
circuit switching designing new naming,
addressing, and overall identity architectures,
and new paradigms of network management - Developing enhanced capabilities Building
security into the architecture designing for
high availability balancing privacy and
accountability
45GENI Initiative (contd)
- Deploying and validating new architectures
Designing new architectures that incorporate
emerging technologies (e.g., new wireless and
optical technologies) and new computing paradigms
enabled by pervasive devices - Building higher-level service abstractions
Using, for example, information objects,
location-based services, and identity frameworks - Building new services and applications Making
large-scale distributed applications secure,
robust and manageable developing principles and
patterns for distributed applications and - Developing new network architecture theories
Investigating network complexity, scalability,
and economic incentives
46GENI Outreach
- In planning for GENI CISE has supported numerous
community workshops - CISE is supporting on-going planning efforts,
including needs assessment and requirements for
the GENI Facility. - CISE will hold town meetings and continue to
support future workshops to broaden community
participation. - CISE will work with industry, other US agencies,
and international groups to broaden participation
in GENI beyond NSF and the US government.
47Resources at your Disposal
- Keeping Aware Resources
- Proposal Preparation
- Grant Management
- Hurricane Katrina Updates to Awardees
48Resources at your DisposalKeeping Aware
- Funding Opportunities Calendar at NSF
- Guide to Programs/Browsing of Funding
Opportunities at NSF Web site - Funding Search Engine at NSF web site
- Upcoming Due dates/Events and Events Calendar
- Example On Sept. 16 the National Science
Foundation (NSF) will host more than a dozen
robots and their creators to showcase advanced
robotics technology from across the nation
49Proposal Preparation
- Grant Proposal Guide
- Frequently Ask Questions
- Regional Grants Conferences
50Award Management
- Grant Policy Manual
- Grant General Questions
- Cooperative Agreements Conditions
- Federal Demonstration Project
- NSF Policy Office Website
51 Hurricane Katrina Information for Awardees
52NSF Response to Katrina
- NSF pledges strong and continuing sponsorship of
research and education in affected areas - NSF is committed to minimize disruption to our
grantees, to the academic science and engineering
enterprise, and to the valuable federal
investment in colleges, universities, faculty and
students in the region
An unmanned aerial vehicle operated by Safety
Security Rescue Research Center (SSRRC) team
members captured this image of devastation in
Pearlington, Miss., during a search for survivors
of Hurrican Katrina. SSRRC is one fo the National
Science Foundation's Industry-University
Cooperative Research Centers.
53Observations on Proposal Preparation
54NSF Merit Review Process
55NSF Merit Review Criteria
- Criteria include
- What is the intellectual merit and quality of the
proposed activity? - What are the broader impacts of the proposed
activity?
56What is the intellectual merit of the proposed
activity?
- Potential Considerations
- How important is the proposed activity to
advancing knowledge and understanding within its
own field or across different fields? - How well qualified is the proposer (individual or
team) to conduct the project? - To what extent does the proposed activity suggest
and explore creative and original concepts? - How well conceived and organized is the proposed
activity? (Management plan) - Is there sufficient access to resources?
57What are the broader impacts of the proposed
activity?
- Potential Considerations
- How well does the activity advance discovery and
understanding while promoting teaching, training
and learning? - How well does the activity broaden the
participation of underrepresented groups (e.g.,
gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)?
- To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure
for research and education, such as facilities,
instrumentation, networks and partnerships? - Will the results be disseminated broadly to
enhance scientific and technological
understanding? - What may be the benefits of the proposed activity
to society?
58Seven Deadly Sins of Proposal Writing
- Fail to focus on the problems and payoffs
- No persuasive structure
- No clear differentiation competitive analysis
- Fail to offer a compelling value proposition
potential impact - Key points are buried no highlights, no impact
- Difficult to read full of jargon, too long, too
technical - Credibility killers misspellings, grammatical
errors, wrong client name, and inconsistent
formats
59Ingredients for a Good Proposal
- Educate the reviewers and the Program Director
- What problem(s) does you work address?
- Why is this problem important?
- What will you do to contribute to a solution?
- What unique ideas/approaches do you have? Put in
context - Why are you the best person to do this work?
- How will you evaluate your results?
- How will we know if you were successful or if you
failed? - How will you assure that the work has an impact?
60Conclusion
- NSFs role is fundamental to all areas of our
society - the most basic future investment - Computer science and related disciplines are very
important in their own right and essential to
advancement in all areas of SE - NSF is the acknowledged leader in funding
Computer Science and Engineering - NSF and our field are facing unprecedented
pressures that can only be overcome by concerted,
cooperative action
61Help from the Community
- Submit High Quality Proposals
- Innovative, but achievable
- Well-written Address broader impacts
- Participate in Reviewing/Panels
- Keep an open mind to alternative approaches
- Give Constructive Reviews
- Keep Program Manager informed of findings
- Nuggets
- CISE Newsletter
- Joint Press Releases
- PowerPoint of Conference Presentations
- Participate in NSF Workshops
62(No Transcript)
63Contact Information
- Dr. Brett D. Fleisch
- Program Director, Computer Systems Cluster
- Computer and Network Systems Division
- CISE Directorate
- Phone 703-292-8950
- bfleisch_at_nsf.gov
- visit NSF at www.nsf.gov
64My proposal wasnt accepted. Should I resubmit?
YES, but
- Rated Highly Competitive but not funded Ã
Update proposal (6 months to a year have passed),
address concerns and resubmit if proposal still
timely. - The reviewers didnt get it
- Was the proposal clear? Especially abstract
how it is a significant advantage over state of
art broadly defined. - Was it sent to the right program? We almost
always fix within CNS, sometimes with CISE and
rarely across NSF. - Too preliminary Do some initial work and
resubmit. - Constructive Criticism in reviews. Fix, update,
make sure its clear
65My proposal wasnt accepted. Should I resubmit?
YES, but
- Multidisciplinary but the other discipline didnt
like it. Are you dabbling or doing
multidisciplinary work? If the other discipline
is more of an inspiration than an application,
keep it out of the title and abstract or mention
several in the abstract - Didnt address broader impacts à Mention outreach
programs at university and/or help dept, school
create some. Will your software and DATA be
available to others, etc - Multi-investigator Integrate research topics
rather than append them. Be critical of each
other.