Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure
Training-based Workforce Development for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CyberTraining)
CONTACTS
| Name | Phone | Room | |
| Sushil K. Prasad | sprasad@nsf.gov | (703) 292-5059 | |
| Almadena Y. Chtchelkanova | achtchel@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8910 | |
| Victor P. Piotrowski | vpiotrow@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8670 | |
| Ronald Joslin | rjoslin@nsf.gov | (703) 292-7030 | |
| Joanne D. Culbertson | jculbert@nsf.gov | (703) 292-4602 | |
| Chengshan Xiao | cxiao@nsf.gov | (703) 292-4753 | |
| Eva Zanzerkia | ezanzerk@nsf.gov | (703) 292-4734 | |
| Bogdan Mihaila | bmihaila@nsf.gov | (703) 292-8235 |
PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Solicitation
17-507
Important Information for Proposers
A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 17-1), is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 30, 2017. Please be advised that, depending on the specified due date, the guidelines contained in NSF 17-1 may apply to proposals submitted in response to this funding opportunity.
DUE DATES
Full Proposal Deadline Date
October 9, 2017
Second Monday in October, Annually Thereafter
SYNOPSIS
The overarching goal of this program is to prepare, nurture and grow the national scientific workforce for creating, utilizing, and supporting advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) that enables cutting-edge science and engineering and contributes to the Nation's overall economic competiveness and security. For the purpose of this solicitation, advanced CI is broadly defined as the resources, tools, and services for advanced computation, data handling, networking and security. The need for such workforce development programs are highlighted by the (i) National Strategic Computing Initiative announced in 2015 (NSCI), which is co-led by NSF and aims to advance the high-performance computing ecosystem and develop workforce essential for scientific discovery; (ii) 2016 National Academies' report on Future Directions for NSF Advanced Computing Infrastructure to Support U.S. Science and Engineering in 2017-2020; and (iii) Federal Big Data Research and Development Strategic Plan, which seeks to expand the community of data-empowered experts across all domains.
This solicitation calls for developing innovative, scalable training programs to address the emerging needs and unresolved bottlenecks in scientific and engineering workforce development of targeted, multidisciplinary communities, at the postsecondary level and beyond, leading to transformative changes in the state of workforce preparedness for advanced CI in the short and long terms. A primary goal is to broaden CI access and adoption by (i) increasing or deepening accessibility of methods and resources of advanced CI and of computational and data science and engineering by a wide range of institutions and scientific communities with lower levels of CI adoption to date; and (ii) harnessing the capabilities of larger segments of diverse underrepresented groups. Proposals from and in partnership with the aforementioned communities are especially encouraged. For student training, a key concern is not to increase the time to degree; hence the emphasis shall be on out-of-class, informal training.
Prospective principal investigators (PIs) are encouraged to engage all relevant stakeholders by forging alliances, and forming backbones for collective impact, which is particularly necessary in order to address unresolved bottlenecks (John Kania & Mark Kramer, “Collective Impact,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011). PIs may seek public-private partnerships for relevance, enrichment, pursuit of national and international dimensions, and sustainability. All projects shall include training activities. In the short term, the projects shall result in innovative, scalable, informal training models and pilot activities, complementing and leveraging the state of art in curricular offerings, material, and best practices in academia and elsewhere. In the long term, the projects should contribute to the larger goals of an educational ecosystem enabling “Computational and Data Science for All,” with an understanding of computation as the third pillar (President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee Report, Computational Science: Ensuring America’s Competitiveness, 2005) and data-driven science as the fourth pillar of the scientific discovery process (2016 National Academies report), in addition to the traditional first and second pillars, respectively, of theory and experimentation. Furthermore, in the long term, projects should contribute toward an ubiquitous educational cloud infrastructure for online, dynamic, personalized lessons and certifications in CI and other multidisciplinary areas (Continuous Collaborative Computational Cloud in Higher Education, Chapter 1, NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure Task Force on Cyberlearning and Workforce Development Report, 2011).
There are three tracks for submissions:
(i) CI Professionals (CIP): aimed at the training and career pathway development of research cyberinfrastructure and professional staff who develop, deploy, manage, and support effective use of advanced CI for research;
(ii) Domain science and engineering (DSE): aimed primarily at the communities of CI Contributors and sophisticated CI Users, and aligned with the research and education priorities of the participating domain directorates; and
(iii) Computational and data science literacy (CDL): aimed at the CI User community at the undergraduate level.
The communities of CI Professionals, Contributors, and Users supported by the above three tracks are defined in Section I - Introduction.
Each CyberTraining award shall range from $300,000 to $500,000 per award and shall be up to 3 years in duration. Based on the community response and needs, the CyberTraining solicitation may be expanded to accommodate larger projects in the future.
Programmatic Areas of Interest
The CyberTraining program includes all divisions within the Directorates of Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), and Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), as well as the Divisions of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (ACI) and Computing and Communication Foundation (CCF) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), and the Division of Graduate Education (DGE) in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The appropriate contact for the CyberTraining program in any directorate/division is the Cognizant Program Officer (PO) for the respective directorate/division listed.
All projects must advance cyberinfrastructure training and education goals as described in the full text of this solicitation, in addition to addressing specific domain needs. Not all directorates/divisions are participating at the same level and some have specific research and education priorities as described below. Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to contact the Cognizant Program Officers in CISE/ACI and in the participating directorate/division(s) relevant to the proposal to ascertain whether the focus and budget of the proposed activities are appropriate for this solicitation. Such consultations should be completed at least one month in advance of the submission deadline. PIs should include the names of the Cognizant Program Officers consulted in their Project Summary as described in Section V(A) - Proposal Preparation Instructions.
The Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) supports the development of a diverse and well-prepared workforce of scientists, technicians, engineers, mathematicians and educators. EHR is interested in engaging the CI and education research communities to use advanced cyberinfrastructure and other approaches to analyze, visualize, and harness data to better understand issues of workforce development in science and engineering. Topics of particular interest include preparation of the workforce in areas of data security and privacy in connection with EHR’s investment in the CyberCorps(R): Scholarships for Service (SFS) and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) programs, as well as the other aspects associated with preparation of the technical workforce for proficiency in using advanced cyberinfrastructure, which is supported by EHR’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. In this context, EHR is interested in supporting: (a) innovations in formal and informal educational settings that lead to the broadest participation by all learners; (b) advances in pedagogical curricular design, and introduction of research and internship opportunities; and (c) assessments of training, learning and program evaluation. Prospective PIs may wish to separately submit proposals to the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which welcomes proposals seeking to advance basic research on the learning of challenging CI content in formal and informal settings, exploring the evaluation of models for broadening participation such as collective impact, and studying the development of the STEM professional workforce.
The Directorate for Engineering (ENG) is interested in training students, postdocs and educators in the areas of reusable, sustainable high-performance computing software tools, models and algorithms; Big Data management and analytics tools to advance research across the domain areas of ENG; fluidic processes and materials; catalysis and biocatalysis; and those supported by the Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS), Understanding the Brain (UtB), and Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE) programs. Proposals are also invited to address training and education needs in advanced multi-scale, multi-physics computational models and simulations for engineering for natural hazards mitigation suitable for community sharing on the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) cyberinfrastructure (http://DesignSafe-CI.org). In support of the broader goals of this solicitation, proposals for workshops and summer institutes are encouraged; lectures, problem sessions, and hands-on activities are expected to achieve the intended impact.
The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) is interested in supporting workshops and summer schools focused on training students and postdocs in computational methods on advanced computing architectures. High-performance computing and data analytics methods are to be introduced in the context of specific scientific applications relevant to the MPS communities. Lectures must be accompanied by problem sessions and hands-on activities on the actual machines. Online sharing of workshop materials and recorded presentations on dedicated websites is strongly encouraged.
The Directorate of Geosciences (GEO), and the Divisions of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (ACI) and Computing and Communication Foundation (CCF) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) are not highlighting specific areas in the context of this solicitation. Rather, they welcome proposals that broadly enhance the communities of CI Professionals, Contributors, and Users in consultation with the Cognizant POs.
Investments through this solicitation at the undergraduate and graduate levels complement NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) and graduate education strategic frameworks, respectively. IUSE is NSF's comprehensive, Foundation-wide framework for an integrated vision of the agency's investments in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Similarly, NSF has recently published a Strategic Framework for Investments in Graduate Education (https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16074/nsf16074.pdf).
Prospective PIs contemplating submissions that primarily target communities relevant to those directorates/divisions that are not participating in this solicitation are directed to instead explore the education and workforce development programs of the respective directorates/divisions.
RELATED URLS
CyberTraining Webinar - November 10, 2016 - 2pm - Register Here!
REVISIONS AND UPDATES
THIS PROGRAM IS PART OF
What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)
