State of NSF and CISE

1
State of NSF and CISE
Jeannette M. Wing Assistant DirectorComputer and
Information Science and Engineering
NSF, October 19, 2007
2
Outline

• NSF news
• Transformative Research
• Major Research Infrastructure (MRI)
• Merit Review (session later)
• Broadening Participation (session later)
• CISE
• Budget and staff
• FY08 initiatives
• What Ive been up to
• Community support

3
Transformative Research

• What is the intellectual merit of the proposed
  activity?
• 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? (If appropriate, the
  reviewer will comment on the quality of prior
  work.) To what extent does the proposed activity
  suggest and explore creative, original, or
  potentially transformative concepts? How well
  conceived and organized is the proposed activity?
  Is there sufficient access to resources?
• Important Notice No. 130 Transformative Research
  from Director Arden Bement was sent on Sept 24,
  2007 to Presidents of Universities and Colleges

4
Major Research Infrastructure (MRI)

• Effective FY08, the Major Research Infrastructure
  (MRI) Program will require 30 cost-sharing on
  all proposals.
• Title VII of the America COMPETES Act dictates
  this change to NSF.
• Non PhD-granting institutions are exempt.
• Upper limit on budget per project has increased
  to 4M.
• Anything between 2M and 4M must be for the
  acquisition of a single instrument.

5
State of CISE
6
Federal Budget Update

• FY08 (FY began 10/1/07)
• Presidents Request for CISE 574M (9)
• Continuing Resolution (CR) through 11/16
• CR likely to be extended through 12/07
• Cautiously optimistic that appropriations will be
  made
• FY09 (FY begins 10/1/08)
• NSFs Request to OMB submitted 9/07
• Pass-back at Thanksgiving
• Presidents Request released 2/08
• FY10 (FY begins 10/1/09)
• Planning begins with visioning today

7
(No Transcript)
8
Funding Rates for All CISE Proposals
9
CISE Workforce

• Filling CISE Leadership Positions
• Ty Znati, CNS Division Director
• Gwen Owens, CNS Operations Manager
• Searching for CCF Division Director
• CISE of CISE Workforce
• 89 positions allocated (IPA federal)
• Compare with ENG (140 positions) and BIO (129
  positions)
• CISE position allocations increasing
• Positioning CISE to fill more positions if they
  are allocated
• Constant Search for Division and Program
  Directors
• Now or coming up software foundations,
  bio-inspired computing, nano/quantum computing,
  robotics, vision, graphics, distributed systems
  and ubiquitous computing, networking, education
  and outreach
• Role of CISE AC
• Beating the Bushes subcommittee help create a
  pool of viable candidates

10
Reminders From May AC Meeting

• Vision Computational Thinking For All
• 5 Deep Questions in Computing
• P NP?
• What is computable?
• What is intelligence?
• What is information?
• How can we build complex systems simply?
• 5 Broad Themes
• Math ? Computing
• Parallel and Distributed Thinking
• Software for Complex Systems
• Human-in-the-Loop
• Understanding the Brain

11
CDI Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation

• Computational Thinking for science and
  engineering
• Paradigm shift
• Yesterday metal tools (transistors and wires)
• Today mental tools (abstractions and methods)
• Algorithms is becoming a household word, e.g.,
  NY Times, Forbes magazine, Harvard Business
  Review, Economist,
• Its a partnership.
• To advance BOTH computer science and the other
  science/engineering discipline.
• Three dimensions
• Extracting knowledge from data
• Understanding complexity in natural, built, and
  social systems
• Virtual organizations
• FY08 52M agency-wide, 20M CISE

This is a big deal both for the community and for
NSF.
12
FY08 CISE Specific New Initiatives

• Expeditions in Computing
• Goal Fund teams long enough to pursue a bold
  vision.
• Software for Real-World Systems complexity, SCS,
  CPS
• Challenge Address How can we build complex
  systems simply?
• Foundations of Data and Visual Analytics
  information, intelligence, foundations,
  data-intensive
• Challenge Algorithms for the first step in
  Data -gt Knowledge -gt Visualization
• OCI lead Sustainable Digital Data Preservation
  and Access Network Partners (DataNet)
  information, data-intensive
• Challenge Stewardship of digital data in
  perpetuity
• CreativeIT intelligence, human-in-the-loop
• Dual challenges How can IT foster creativity and
  how does innovation happen in IT?

- SGER sugars - Small Grants for
Exploratory Research
13
Education

• CISE Pathways to Revitalize Undergraduate
  Education (CPATH)
• Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC)
• Focus Women, underrepresented minorities, people
  with disabilities

14
What Ive Been Doing (Across CISE)

• All-hands meeting
• Meetings with everyone in CISE
• Met one-on-one with each PD (47) and DD (4)
• Met with all staff (8 OAD, 37 divisional)
• Three division and one cross-division reviews
• Re-affirmed mentoring of new PDs
• Starting monthly CISE-ALL meetings
• Back to science
• Encouraging clusters to do scientific strategic
  planning
• Started internal Science Talk Series, interleaved
  with external Distinguished Lecturer Series

including those who left and those who just
arrived
15
What Ive Been Doing (Across NSF)

• Getting to know Director, Deputy Directory,
  fellow ADs and ODs
• OCI, MPS, ENG, BIO, GEO, OPP, EHR,
• Getting to know National Science Board
• Lunch presentation
• Getting to know the budget process, e.g., OMB
• Getting to know the MREFC process
• Getting to know NITRD

16
What Weve Been Doing (For You)

• Communicating with the Community
• Dear Colleague Letter (October 2, another to
  come)
• De-confusing CISE
• Networking News Item (to come)
• CRN (November 2007 issue)
• Column 5 Deep Questions
• CDI article with Sirin Tekinay
• External talks/presentations
• ISAT, CSTB, NAE Section 5, European eScience,
  European CRA (ECCS), Grace Hopper, technical
  workshops, universities and colleges (scheduled)
• CDI outreach
• Highlights

17
Enlisting Community Engagement
18
Back to Basics
Transformative Research

• NSF is about basic science and engineering.
• Preserve CISE core.
• Its all about good ideas and good people.
• Its about high risk long term impact.
• Impact may be far in the future.
• Impact is long-lasting (that is real science).
• Impact can create new economies and change
  societal behavior.

• Promote new, emerging areas of computing.

19
NSF Needs Good People

• Quality of program directors
• Affects quality of reviewers chosen on panels
  and ad hoc
• Affects quality of reviews PIs receive
• Affects funding decisions
• Affects the nature and content of our research
• Affects the frontiers of our discipline!
• Collective effort
• We are all part of the solution.
• We are in this together!
• CSTB, CRA, ACM, CCC,
• GovernmentAcademiaIndustry ecosystem

20
What You Can Do for NSF, for Computing

• In increasing order of comfort
• Service counts Discuss at your institution how
  to include service as part of the evaluation,
  promotion, and tenure process.
• Names, names, names Have your department
  head/dean/lab director send us (1) a list of
  qualified reviewers, (2) a list of potential
  program directors, division directors, assistant
  directors.
• Support the field, support your colleagues Our
  self-hypercriticalness hurts us when we compete
  at the foundation level (e.g., MRI, PECASE,
  STCs, ERCs, IGERT, CDI).
• Most importantly Do great research!
• Be creative, innovative, bold, visionary. As
  senior members of the community, set an example
  for and mentor the junior members.
• Send us your good ideas!

21
Engaging the AC

• Beating the Bushes Subcommittee
• Mission To help name and recruit potential PDs,
  DDs, and ADs
• Volunteers?
• Education Subcommittee
• Goal To help advise CISE on computing education
  programs and more broadly engage the community on
  issues such as my CT K-12 QuestionChallenge
• Harriet Taylor, Brian Blake, Alan Kay, Annie
  Anton (?)
• Broadening Participation Subcommittee
• Goal To help CISE development its own BP plan
  and more broadly to advise CISE on how to
  effectively invest in BP.
• Jan Cuny, Richard Ladner, Jorge Diaz-Herrera,
  Melissa ONeill
• International Subcommittee
• Goal To help advise CISE on what makes sense for
  CISE to do internationally
• Suzi Iacono, Randy Bryant, Stu Feldman, Martha
  Pollack, Marc Snir

22
Engaging Industry

• Your suggestions welcome!
• Learn from ENG report out on Industry
  subcommittee Oct 24
• ERC, I/UCRC, SBIR
• Idea Academia-Industry-Government Imagine the
  Future Forum
• Drivers of our field come from society,
  technology, and science. How are we responding
  in both research and education? How should we be
  leading (creating our future)?
• Forum 6-8 speakers from academia and industry.
  30 additional participants. One-day meeting.
• Idea Industry-Academia-Government Summit on the
  Future of Computing Education
• Focus on undergraduate education, meeting
  industry and national workforce needs
• Splash event in DC, organized by CCC?, working
  with CISE and CPATH, with help from NSF Office of
  Legislative and Public Affairs
• Questions for You Should CISE facilitate
  Visioning Forum and/or Education Summit (say for
  Spring 2008)?
• Yes/Yes, but on a different topic/No/No, leave it
  to the CCC/Other
• I will ask this question again after the
  Visioning Exercise.
• If yes then please give us names of people who
  should participate

23
Engaging the AC Today!

• Visioning Exercise
• Goals To inform CISE on research trends based on
  your visions of the future for computing.
• Plan
• Today
• Lunchtime Share with your colleagues your
  visions for the future and what CISE might want
  to do.
• 130-230 10-minute presentation per breakout
  group
• Between now and the Spring AC meeting
• Prepare a short (2-5 page) write-up of each
  vision.
• Spring AC meeting
• Give a short presentation of each vision and what
  CISE might do
• Your output will feed into
• CISEs DD retreat (November)
• FY08 and FY09 spending (now)
• FY10 budget planning (Spring, Summer 2008)
• CCC

24
Breakout Groups

• Room 1120 Brian Blake, Randy Bryant, Yolanda Gil
  (phone in), Rico Malvar, Ellen Zegura
• Room 1105.09 Bill Dally (phone in), Andrea
  Arpaci-Dusseau, Dave Clark, John King, Richard
  Ladner
• Room 1235 (this room) Dave Farber (phone in),
  Stu Feldman, Alan Kay, Antonio Lopez, Martha
  Pollack
• Room 1105.13 Jorge Diaz-Herrera, Stephanie
  Forrest, Dick Karp, David Tennenhouse, Roz Picard
• Between now and the spring AC meeting, feel free
  to engage
• Al Aho, Annie Anton, Vint Cerf, Andrew Chien,
  Arnold Douglas, Dwight Gourneau, Melissa ONeill,
  Joe ORourke, Cherri Pancake, Marc Snir, Margaret
  Wright

25
Working with the CCC (Running List)

• Research Visioning
• Academia-Industry-Government Imagine the Future
  Forum
• Outcome of CISE AC Visioning Exercise
• Education
• Industry Summit on the Future of Computing
  Education
• Top 25 Universities and Educational
  Transformation
• ltYour ideas go heregt

26
Thanks to CISE!

• CISE works as a team
• Debbie Crawford, Frederica Darema, Laura Gent,
  Rita Koch, Joe Koss, Suzi Iacono, Gracie Narcho,
  Timothy Pinkston (January), Jason Soleil, Maggie
  Whiteman
• Michael Foster and all PDs and admin staff in CCF
• Ty Znati and all PDs and admin staff in CNS
• Haym Hirsh and all PDs and admin staff in IIS

27
Thank You!