CDI Workshop: Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation

The SAMSI Workshop
Application
Highlights of the Solicitation
Schedule

On September 28, 2007, the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a solicitation for proposals under a major new initiative, called Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI). See the formal solicitation for the precise description of the program; some highlights are given below. The NSF has budgeted a minimum of $26M in 2008 for CDI, with substantial increases in funding anticipated over the next five years. CDI seeks to support ambitious, transformative, multidisciplinary research that, through computational thinking, promises radical, paradigm-changing research findings, within or across the following three thematic areas:

• 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
• Building Virtual Organizations: enhancing discovery and innovation by bringing people and resources together across institutional, geographical and cultural boundaries.

The SAMSI Workshop

At the Radisson RTP, on November 1, 2007, a one-day workshop will be held to introduce participants to the CDI initiative and suggest possible roads for development of proposals. The activities will include:

• A presentation by NSF officers concerning the new initiative, followed by a question & answer session.
• Overview discussions by panels on issues and challenges in the three areas listed above.
• Presentations on CDI-type problems from industry, national laboratories, or other sciences that might suggest interesting roads towards collaboration with mathematical and statistical scientists to pursue the problems.

This is part of a coordinated effort of the NSF Mathematical Sciences Institutes to inform the mathematical and statistical communities about this initiative and to facilitate the development of research proposals; see the website for activities at the various institutes. The Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation is strongly supportive of the involvement of mathematical and cross-disciplinary groups in research projects connected with CDI.

Application

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Highlights of the Solicitation

For the first round,

• A letter of intent must be submitted between October 30 and November 30, 2007;
• A preliminary proposal is due between December 7, 2007 and January 8, 2008;
• Full proposals will be by invitation only based on review of the preliminary proposal, and must be submitted between March 28 and April 29, 2008.
• In this first round of the competition CDI smaller grants will fund summer support for 2 investigators along with support for 2 graduate students, and materials, supplies and travel for 3 years; larger grants will fund summer support for 3 investigators along with support for 3 graduate students, 1-2 postdocs or research staff, and materials, supplies and travel for 4 years.

Larger grants are anticipated in future rounds, starting with letters of intent due by September 30, 2008 and annually thereafter.

Proposals may only be submitted by U.S. universities and colleges and certain non-profits such as museums and observatories. Shared cost partnerships with industrial and other organizations, domestic and international, are encouraged.

Schedule

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