CrossDisciplinary Programs at the US National Science Foundation

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Cross-Disciplinary Programs at the US National
Science Foundation

• Fahmida N. Chowdhury
• Program Director
• Cross-Directorate Activities
• Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
• fchowdhu_at_nsf.gov

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NSF Has Many Cross-Disciplinary Programs

• Outline
• Brief overview of NSF and our understanding of
  the term cross-disciplinary
• Some examples, plus details of two major NSF
  initiatives
• Possible mechanisms for non-U.S.
  scientists/researchers to participate in
  NSF-funded projects
• Brief discussion of emerging multi-agency
  cross-disciplinary research fields/opportunities
  that NSF is starting to engage in.

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NSF Structure
National Science Board (NSB)
Director Deputy Director
Welcome to the world of TLA
Social, Behavioral Economic Sciences (SBE)
Computer Information Sci Eng (CISE)
Mathematical Physical Sciences (MPS)
Biological Sciences (BIO)
Engineering (ENG)
Geo- Sciences (GEO)
Office of Cyber-infrastructure
Office of Budget, Finance Award
Management (BFA)
Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
Office of International Sci Engr (OISE)
Office of Integrative Activities (OIA)
Office of Information Resource Management (OIRM)
TLAThree-letter acronyms
Education Human Resources (EHR)
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National Science Foundation (NSF)

• U.S. federal agency to support basic research and
  education
• Supports all fields of Science/Engineering
• Peer review based on intellectual merit and
  broader impacts
• Discipline-based structure, but provides many
  cross-disciplinary mechanisms for collaborative
  research funding
  

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From the NSF Strategic Plan

• Discovery increasingly requires the expertise
• of individuals with different perspectivesfrom
• different disciplines and often from different
• nationsworking together to accommodate the
• extraordinary complexity of todays science and
• engineering challenges.

• The convergence of disciplines and the cross-
• fertilization that characterizes contemporary
• science and engineering have made collaboration a
  
• centerpiece of the science and engineering
  enterprise.

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Many models for doing science across
disciplinary boundaries!Cross-Disciplinary
Programs
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Recommendations for Advancing Interdisciplinary
Research Universities Recommendations for
Advancing Interdisciplinary Research Funding
Agencies

• IGERT WORKSHOP REPORT
• May 2008
• Impact of Transformative Interdisciplinary
  Research and Graduate Education on Academic
  Institutions

IGERT Integrative Graduate Education, Research
and Training
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A Few Examples of NSF Cross-disciplinary Programs

• Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems
  (CNH) BIO, GEO, SBE
• Virtual Organizations as Socio-Technical Systems
  (VOSS) OCI, SBE
• Creative IT CISE, SBE
• Sandpit on Synthetic Biology BIO, SBE, ENG, MPS,
  CISE
• Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation
  (EFRI) ENG, MPS, SBE, CISE
• Social Computing Systems (SoCS) SBE, CISE
• Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation CDI -
  NSF-wide
• Partnerships for International Research and
  Education (PIRE) OISE NSF-wide

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Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI)

• NSFs Bold Multi-Disciplinary Initiative
• For Transformative Research

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CDI

• Contributions to more than one area of science or
  engineering, by innovation in, or innovative use
  of computational thinking
• Computational thinking refers to computational
• Concepts
• Methods
• Models
• Algorithms
• Tools

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CDI is Unique within NSF

• five-year initiative
• all directorates, programmatic offices involved
• to create revolutionary science and engineering
  research outcomes
• made possible by innovation in, or innovative use
  of computational thinking
• emphasis on bold, multidisciplinary activities

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Business as Usual??

• Business as usual need not apply
• Projects that make straightforward use of
  existing computational concepts, methods, models,
  algorithms and tools to significantly advance
  only one discipline should be submitted to an
  appropriate program in that field instead of to
  CDI.  
• No place for incremental research
• Nontraditional approaches and collaborations
  welcome

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NSF Review Criteria

• Intellectual Merit
• Broader Impacts
• New on Transformative Research to what extent
  does the proposed activity suggest and explore
  creative, original, or potentially transformative
  concepts?

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Additional CDI Review Criteria

• potential for extraordinary outcomes, such as,
• revolutionizing entire disciplines,
• creating entirely new fields, or
• disrupting accepted theories and perspectives
• as a result of taking a fresh,
  multi-disciplinary approach. 

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Three CDI Themes

• CDI seeks transformative research in the
  following general themes, via innovations in,
  and/or innovative use of, computational thinking
  
•  
• From Data to Knowledge enhancing human cognition
  and generating new knowledge from a wealth of
  heterogeneous digital data
• Understanding Complexity in Natural, Built, and
  Social Systems deriving fundamental insights on
  systems comprising multiple interacting elements
   and
• Effective Virtual Organizations enhancing
  discovery and innovation by bringing people and
  resources together across institutional,
  geographical and cultural boundaries.   

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More Information on CDI

• Contact members of CDI Working Group (I am one of
  them!)
• Contact the CDI Co-chairs or members of the team
  listed in the solicitation (CDIWG)
• cdi_at_nsf.gov [phone]
• http//www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/cdi/

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International Collaborations Strongly Encouraged
for CDI

• involve true intellectual partnership in which
  successful outcomes depend on the unique
  contributions of all partners, U.S. and foreign
• engage junior researchers and students in the
  collaboration, taking advantage of cyber
  environments to prepare a globally-engaged
  workforce
• create more systematic knowledge about the
  intertwined social and technical issues of
  effective Virtual Organizations, changing both
  the practice and the outcomes of science and
  engineering research and education.

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How?

• All NSF programs can include international
  components
• NSFs Office of International Science and
  Engineering (OISE) can provide co-funding
• OISE has its own programs also
• There are MOUs between NSF and many international
  funding agencies

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Important Note

• NSF awards are, in principle, limited to support
  of the U.S. side of an international
  collaboration. In almost all cases, international
  partners should obtain their own funding for
  participation.
• However, I would like to offer

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Tips for Non-U.S. Researchers To Participate in
NSF Programs

• Develop research teams and project plans with
  U.S. counterparts
• Contact NSF OISE Program Director (by
  country/region) AND disciplinary Program Director
  with your idea
• Have concrete plans/ideas for the scientific part
  of the project, while being flexible on the exact
  mechanisms for financing/funding. If the project
  is meritorious, Program Directors will help you
  find appropriate funding mechanisms for you to
  target.
• Explore funding possibilities with the NSF
  counterpart in your country also. The NSF OISE
  web site has a list of these agencies.

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Office of International Science and Engineering
(OISE) Objectives

• Develop a globally engaged US workforce
• Advance research excellence through
• new collaborations
• Scale up partnerships international
• networks

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OISE Overview

• OISE serves all NSF programs
• Co-funds international research education
  projects
• Regional organization - program managers have
  country portfolios in four regions
• Americas
• East Asia and Pacific (EAP)
• Africa, Near East, and South Asia (ANESA)
• Europe and Eurasia (EE)
• Three NSF overseas offices Tokyo, Paris, Beijing
  
• Relatively small budget (lt1 of NSF total)

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OISE Activities

• OISE supports international activities
  Foundation-wide
• Co-fund new proposals submitted to NSF
• disciplinary programs
• Co-fund supplements to existing NSF grants
• New proposals to OISE

• Key elements for OISE co-funding
• Intellectual collaboration
• Leverage expertise and resources
• US junior researchers and students

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Key OISE Programs

• PIRE - Partnerships for International Research
  and Education flagship program for US groups
  collaborating with international teams
• Planning Visits and Workshops small grants to
  help initiate international work
• PASI - Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes
  short courses for advanced graduate students and
  postdocs
• International Research Fellowships overseas
  research opportunities for young scientists
• IRES International Research Experiences for
  Students small groups of students work on
  focused research projects overseas
• DDEP Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Program
  perform graduate research overseas
• EAPSI East Asia Pacific Summer Institutes two
  month Asian research experiences

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Partnerships for International Research
Education (PIRE)

• Program solicitation NSF 09-505 new
  solicitation expected summer 2010 check OISE
  web page
• Objectives
• Enhance research excellence through international
  partnership and collaboration with typical awards
  of 2.5 million over five years to support group
  activities
• Develop a diverse, globally engaged US SE
  workforce
• Strengthen international engagement by US
  institutions

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PIRE

• Applicant requirements suggestions
• US academic institutions that granted at least
  one Ph.D. in a science or engineering field since
  2006
• A maximum of three preliminary proposals per
  institution
• Lead institutions strongly encouraged to partner
  with two- and four-year colleges, industry,
  museums, and others

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Planning Visits

• NSF 04-035
• Supports short-term travel by small teams of US
  researchers to plan new collaborations
• Assess expertise, sites, facilities, data,
  experimental protocols, etc.
• Plan next steps
• Intended outcome Proposal to NSF disciplinary
  program with input from program
• 20,000 maximum

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Workshops

• NSF 04-035
• Small-scale, focused meetings
• Identify areas of joint research interest
• Develop new collaborations
• NSF support for US faculty and students
• Intended outcome proposal to an NSF disciplinary
  program
• Disciplinary program input critical internal
  review and/or external review
• 60,000 max

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• International Research Fellowships
• Solicitation NSF 06-582
• Introduce young scientists to international
  research opportunities
• Intended to broaden participation and to
  encourage work in developing countries
• International Research Experiences for Students
  (IRES)
• Solicitation NSF 04-036
• Graduate and/or undergraduate students
• Supports small groups of students for focused
  research experiences overseas

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• East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI)
• Solicitation NSF 08-603
• Individually tailored graduate student (US or
  permanent residents) overseas research experience
  for 8 weeks
• Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand,
  Singapore and Taiwan
• Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Program
  (DDEP)
• Solicitation NSF 04-036
• Provides travel support for doctoral research
  overseas
• US faculty mentor is PI on proposal

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Emerging Cross-disciplinary Research Areas
Health-related Topics

• NSF working at grassroots levels with
  NIH/NCI/OBSSR to reach out to engineering,
  computing, and applied math communities to form
  health-related research teams in
• system theory applications, including modeling
  and simulation
• advanced computational approaches
• feedback control concepts
• computational intelligence and signal processing
  methods

NIH National Institutes of Health NCI
National Cancer Institute OBSSR Office of
Behavioral and Systems Science Research
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Joint NSF/NIH Events or Special Events on Health
Research Related Issues

• Joint NSF/NCI/OBSSR session in IEEE CIBCB
  Symposium, April 2009
• American Control Conference, joint NSF/OBSSR
  special session, June 2009
• WCCI 2010 Joint NSF/NIH Funding Workshop on
  Research Funding for Data Infrastructure and
  Computational Methods

NIH Contacts Bradford Hesse, NCI
hesseb_at_mail.nih.gov Patricia Mabry, OBSSR
mabryp_at_od.nih.gov
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Interagency EventInformatics for Consumer
Health Summit on Communication, Collaboration,
and Quality Nov 5-6, 2009, Potomac MD, USA

• Department of Health and Human Services
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH)
• National Library of Medicine (NLM/NIH)
• Office of the National Coordinator for Health
  Information Technology (ONC)
• Department of Commerce
• National Institute of Standards and Technology
  (NIST)

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Other Cross-disciplinary Topics with
Multi-agency Interest

• Climate Research (NSF, DoE)
• Computational Neuroscience (NSF, NIH)
• Health IT (NSF and a few others )
• Stay Tuned!
• Interest is bubbling up from multiple sources and
  new areas of research are taking shape.
• Intelligent controls and signal processing
  communities have much to offer in, and much to
  gain from, participating in these
  cross-disciplinary fields.

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Useful Links

• CDI http//www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/cdi/
• PIRE http//www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims
  _id12819orgOISEfromhome
• OISE http//www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?divOISE
• OISE Programs and Program Managers
  http//www.nsf.gov/od/oise/country-list.jsp
• NSF Award Search http//www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

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Questions?
Thank You For Your Attention
11/21/2009
fchowdhu_at_nsf.gov