About the Subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD Subcommittee)
(Updated June 2008)
The Subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and its Committee on Technology (CT) serves as the internal deliberative organization of the NSTC for NITRD policy, program, and budget guidance and direction for the Executive Branch. On February 14, 2005, the Subcommittee succeeded the Interagency Working Group on IT R&D.
The NITRD Subcommittee provides hands-on coordination for the multiagency NITRD Program. The Subcommittee is made up of representatives from each of the participating NITRD agencies and from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the NSTC, and the National Coordination Office for NITRD (NCO/NITRD). The Subcommittee coordinates planning, budgeting, and assessment activities of the multiagency NITRD enterprise.
The major research emphases of the NITRD effort are called Program Component Areas (PCAs). The work of each PCA is guided by an Interagency Working Group (IWG) or a Coordinating Group (CG) of agency program managers. These groups, which report to the Subcommittee, meet monthly to coordinate planning and activities of the multiagency projects in their specialized research areas. The PCAs evolve in response to changing research needs.
The NCO provides the technical and administrative support for the Subcommittee, the PCA IWG, and CGs, and the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). The cost of operating the NCO is shared by the participating agencies in proportion to their NITRD budgets. The High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) as amended by the Next Generation Research Act of 1998 (105-305) authorizes the functions performed by the NCO to support the Subcommittee, IWG, and CGs. Executive Order 13035 authorizes NCO support for the PITAC. The National Science Foundation (NSF) serves as the host agency for the NCO.
The PCAs are:
- Cyber Security and Information Assurance (CSIA). R&D to protect computer-based systems from actions that compromise or threaten to compromise the authentication, availability, integrity, or confidentiality of these systems and/or the information they contain
- High Confidence Software and Systems (HCSS). R&D to enable the routine production of reliable, safe, and certifiably dependable systems by developing robust scientific foundations and technology for innovative systems design, systems and embedded application software, and assurance and verification
- High End Computing Infrastructure and Applications (HEC I&A). R&D to extend the state of the art in high-end computing systems, applications, and infrastructure
- High End Computing Research and Development (HEC R&D) R&D to optimize the performance of high-end systems and to develop future generations of high-end systems
- Human Computer Interaction and Information Management (HCI&IM). By focusing on information interaction, integration, and management R&D _ to develop and measure the performance of new technologies, agents, cognitive systems, and information systems that support the hierarchy and refinement of data from discovery to decision and action by both humans and computers working together and separately
- Large Scale Networking (LSN).
R&D to develop leading-edge networking technologies, services, and enhanced performance, including programs in new networking architectures, optical network testbeds, infrastructure, middleware, end-to-end performance measurement, and advanced components; grid and collaboration networking tools and services; and engineering, management, and use of large-scale networks for scientific and applications R&D; and network security applied to R&D networks, applications, and infrastructure
- The Joint Engineering Team (JET) coordinates the network architecture, connectivity, exchange points, and cooperation among Federal agency networks (FedNets) and other high performance research networks, and provides close coordination of connectivity, interoperability, and services among Government, academia, and industry to improve end-to-end user performance and avoid duplication of resources and efforts. The JET also coordinates international connectivity and interoperability. The JET cooperates with the academic community's gigabits per second points of presence (Gigapops), Regional Optical Networks (RONs), and the Abilene network (a consortium among Qwest, Cisco, Nortel, and Indiana University), and the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development's (UCAID's) Internet2 (I2)
- The Middleware And Grid Infrastructure Coordination (MAGIC) Team coordinates cooperation among researchers, Federal agencies, and commercial entities to research, develop, widely deploy, and use interoperable Grid and middleware technologies, tools, and services and to provide a forum for effective international coordination
- The Networking Research Team (NRT) coordinates agency networking research programs and shares networking research information among Federal agencies. It provides outreach to end users by disseminating networking research information and coordinating activities among applications developers and end users
- Social, Economic, and Workforce Implications of IT and IT Workforce Development (SEW). R&D to study the co-evolution of IT and social and economic systems; develop the IT workforce, and develop innovative IT applications in education and training
- Software Design and Productivity (SDP). R&D to advance concepts, methods, techniques, and tools that improve software design, development, and maintenance to produce more usable, dependable and cost-effective software-based systems
