[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[atlarge-discuss] NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RELEASES NEW REPORT FROM ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE
All,
I would advise and think that this info would be advisable for all to
read...
From: NSF
FYI:
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
"Where discoveries begin"
For Immediate Release
Feb. 3, 2003
Cyberinfrastructure report is available from:
<http://www.communitytechnology.org/nsf_ci_report/>
http://www.communitytechnology.org/nsf_ci_report/
NSF Media Contact: David Hart, 703-292-8070, dhart@nsf.gov
<mailto:dhart@nsf.gov>
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RELEASES NEW REPORT FROM ADVISORY
COMMITTEE FOR CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE
Report envisions a future cyberinfrastructure that will "radically
empower"
the science
and engineering community
ARLINGTON, Va. - The critical needs of science and rapid progress
in information technology are converging to provide a unique
opportunity to create and apply a sustained cyberinfrastructure
that will "radically empower" scientific and engineering research
and allied education, according to the National Science
Foundation (NSF)'s Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure.
The committee details its recommendations in a report, released
today, entitled Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through
Cyberinfrastructure.
Like the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, power grids,
telephone lines, and water systems that support modern society,
"cyberinfrastructure" refers to the distributed computer,
information and communication technologies combined with the
personnel and integrating components that provide a long-term
platform to empower the modern scientific research endeavor.
Cyberinfrastructure is "essential, not optional, to the
aspirations of research communities." For scientists and
engineers, the report states, cyberinfrastructure has the
potential to "revolutionize what they can do, how they do it, and
who participates." The seeds of this revolution are seen in
community-driven efforts, supported by NSF and other agencies,
such as the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations
(NEES), the Grid Physics Network (GriPhyN) and the National
Virtual Observatory (NVO).
"We've clearly documented extensive grass-roots activity in the
scientific and engineering research community to create and use
cyberinfrastructure to empower the next wave of discovery," said
Dan Atkins, chair of the advisory committee and professor in the
University of Michigan School of Information and the Department
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "NSF has been a
catalyst for creating the conditions for a nascent
cyberinfrastructure-based
revolution. We're at a new threshold where technology allows people,
information, computational tools, and research instruments to be
connected
on a global scale."
While identifying the opportunities, the committee warned that
the cyberinfrastructure that is needed cannot be created today
with off-the-shelf technology. As a result, they called for
increased fundamental research in computer science and
engineering.
In addition to NSF's support for projects such as NEES, GriPhyN
and NVO, the report calls out NSF's leadership in the
Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI)
program, the TeraGrid effort, the NSF Middleware Initiative
(NMI), the Digital Libraries Initiative and the Information Technology
Research program as providing a solid foundation for the future
cyberinfrastructure.
Its unique breadth of scientific scope and prior investments
position NSF to lead an interagency program to develop an
advanced cyberinfrastructure for the nation, according to the
report. To reach critical mass, an advanced cyberinfrastructure
activity would require interagency partnerships as well as
collaboration between the physical and life sciences, computer
science, and the social sciences.
"On behalf of NSF, I want to extend a strong thanks to the
Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure for the excellent job
they have done in highlighting the importance of cyberinfrastructure
to all of science and engineering research and education," said Peter
Freeman, NSF Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science
and Engineering and NSF's coordinator for cyberinfrastructure. "The
extensive efforts they have made in bringing together in one place the
ideas and visions of all segments of the science and engineering
community will be extremely useful to NSF as we move forward to
exploit the opportunities they have identified."
The report recommends that a cyberinfrastructure program
encompass fundamental cyberinfrastructure research, research on
science and engineering applications of the cyberinfrastructure,
development of production-quality software, and equipment and
operations.
The report emphasizes the importance of acting quickly and the
risks of failing to do so. The risks include lack of coordination,
which
could leave key data in irreconcilable formats; long-term failures to
archive and curate data collected at great expense; and artificial
barriers between disciplines built from incompatible tools and
structures.
The opportunity is evidenced by both progress from developments
in information technology and the mushrooming of cyberinfrastructure
projects for specific fields, initiated by scientists in those fields.
The
NSF has a once-in-a-generation opportunity," according to the committee,
to lead the scientific and engineering community in the coordinated
development and expansive use of cyberinfrastructure.
###
For more on the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure:
http://www.cise.nsf.gov/evnt/blu_rbbn/
<http://www.cise.nsf.gov/evnt/blu_rbbn/>
NSF Cyberinfrastructure Coordinator: Peter Freeman, 703-2928900,
pfreeman@nsf.gov <mailto:pfreeman@nsf.gov>
Advisory Committee Chair: Dan Atkins, 734-647-7312,
atkins@umich.edu <mailto:atkins@umich.edu>
NSF PR03-18
NSF is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental
research and education across all fields of science and
engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5 billion. NSF
funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000
universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about
30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000
new funding awards. NSF also awards over
$200 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Receive official NSF news electronically through the e-mail
delivery system, NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message
to <mailto:join-nsfnews@lists.nsf.gov> join-nsfnews@lists.nsf.gov. In
the
body of the message, type
"subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. (Ex.: "subscribe
nsfnews John Smith")
Useful NSF Web Sites
NSF Home Page: <http://www.nsf.gov> http://www.nsf.gov
Newsroom: <http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/> http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/
Science Statistics: <http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm>
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm Awards
Searches: <http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a6/A6Start.htm>
http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a6/A6Start.htm
---
You are currently subscribed to nsfnews as: jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-nsfnews-21011I@lists.nsf.gov
Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 129k members/stakeholders strong!)
================================================================
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de
For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de