1 Building Bridges and Getting Over Them Priscilla Nelson Senior Advisor Directorate for Engineering SBE Broadening Participation Workshop September 29-30,

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Building Bridges and Getting Over Them

Priscilla NelsonSenior Advisor

Directorate for Engineering

SBE Broadening Participation WorkshopSeptember 29-30, 2004

Key Opportunities in NSF Priority Areas

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FOUNDATION-WIDE PRIORITY AREAS

Human and Social DynamicsBiocomplexity in the EnvironmentMathematical SciencesNanoscale Science and EngineeringITR and CyberinfrastructureWorkforce for the 21st Century

Most are described through http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/

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Human and Social Dynamics Priority Area: Focus/Goals

HSD supports interdisciplinary approaches to understanding change and complex dynamics within and among human and social systems, and their natural and constructed environments, at scales ranging from the cellular to the global.

For more HSD informationsee http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/hsd/start.htm

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Human and Social DynamicsFY04 Competition Highlights & Beyond

• FY04 HSD Competition yielded a portfolio of 37 interdisciplinary research, education, infrastructure, and exploratory projects

– Out of about 700 projects (>800 proposals) submitted by April 1

– Reviewed by 23 panels composed of ~260 reviewers from June 14 to 30 within 3 months of submission deadline.

• FY05 HSD Solicitation

• Anticipated for release soon (October 2004).

• Expect continued emphasis on topical areas: Agents of Change, Dynamics of Human Behavior, Decision-Making and Risk.

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HSD FY04 Proposal Information

Institution TypeInstitutions Submitting %

Proposals Submitted %

EPSCoR 52 18.1% 95 11.9%PUI 58 20.2% 84 10.5%Minority Serving 16 5.5% 54 6.7%Other Institutions 161 56.1% 567 70.9%

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HSD Priority Area: Additional Information

Contacts:– Rachelle Hollander, co-Chair, HSD Implementation Group

Phone: 703-292-7272 Email: [email protected]

– Priscilla Nelson, co-Chair, HSD Implementation Group

Phone: 703-292-7018 Email: [email protected]

– Keith Crank, Competition Coordinator, HSD FY2005

Phone: 703-292-8440 Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/hsd/start.htm

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Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE)

The Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE) Priority Area promotes comprehensive, integrated investigations (usually involving research groups) of environmental systems using advanced scientific and engineering methods. Between 2001 and 2003, 6% of the BE PIs were from minority groups.

• Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems(CNH) Deadline: 11/17/04

• Materials Use: Science, Engineering, and Society

(MUSES) Deadline: 2/8/05

ERE homepage with links to environmental programs, andto the BE awards list and solicitation: http://www.nsf.gov/ere

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Mathematical Sciences

Fundamental mathematical and statistical sciences

Interdisciplinary research linked to mathematics

Modeling and managing uncertainty

Modeling complex nonlinear systems

Critical investments in math education

Special competition on Mathematical Social and Behavioral Sciences

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Nanoscale Science and Engineering

• Research and Education Themes: Biosystems at the Nanoscale Nanoscale Devices, Architectures, Structures, Novel Phenomena,

and Quantum Control Nanoscale Processes in the Environment Multi-scale, Multi-phenomena Theory, Modeling and Simulation Manufacturing Processes at the Nanoscale Societal and Educational Implications of Scientific and

Technological Advances on the Nanoscale

• Modes of Support and Deadlines: Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT) 11/12/04 Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER) 11/18/04 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSEC) 03/01/05

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NS&E Center for Integrated Nanopatterning and Detection TechnologiesNSF 01-18025, Northwestern (PI: Mirkin)

Two summer research programs for undergraduates - the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and the Minority Internships in Nanotechnology (MIN) programs.

An innovative Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program provides participants with hands-on nanoscale research during the first summer, and guidance and support to develop teaching units introducing nanotechnology in high school classrooms during the second summer.

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INTEGRATING DIVERSITY INTO NSF PROGRAMS, PROJECTS, AND ACTIVITIES:

From the FY04 ITR Announcement:A significant portion of the ITR budget this year will be

used to fund proposals that include major activities integrating research and education or fostering the development of a diverse IT workforce. 

Examples of possible activities include: offering summer research sites for faculty or graduate students from institutions that serve underrepresented groups; and reaching diverse populations to promote diversity in the IT workforce.

Information Technology Research

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Research and Education are Changing

Geographically dispersed resources and collaborations are the new foundations of science and engineering research and education

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These Resources and Collaborations Are Enabled by Cyberinfrastructure

Vision is encapsulated in “the Atkins report.”

Calls for a national, reliable and dynamic, interoperable and integrated system of hardware, software, and data resources and services.

This new infrastructure would open the door to new types of scientific/engineering research and education.

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Working Definition for CI

Cyberinfrastructure is a national network of resources that:

• provides broad and easy access to shared and maintained repositories for data, models, and tools.

• includes connectivity with shared resources for experimentation and computation.

• enables reliable visualization and information extraction from multimedia data resources and libraries.

• supports real-time data flows and distributed collaboration.

• ensures that applications and domain communities can form and grow, and that efforts develop with interoperability.

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Challenging Context

Cyberinfrastructure Ecology - Research on CI– Technological change more rapid than organizational

change– Disruptive technology promises unforeseen

opportunitySeamless Integration of New and Old

– Balancing upgrades and creation of new resources– Legacy instruments, models, data, methodologies

Broadening ParticipationCommunity-BuildingCross-agency coordination

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Focus on Policy and Social Dynamics

Policy issues must be considered up front

Social engineering will be at least as important as software engineering

Well-defined interfaces will be critical for successful software development

Application communities will need to participate from the beginning

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Workforce for the 21st Century (W21) in the FY 2005 Budget Request to Congress

The FY 2005 budget requests $20 million for the W21 priority area:– Strengthen the nation’s capability to produce world-class

scientists and engineers and

– Develop a general workforce with the STEM skills to thrive in the 21st Century workplace.

This investment will support innovations to improve education at all levels, from K-12 through postdoctoral, as well as attract more U.S. students to science and engineering fields and broaden participation.

Workforce for the 21st Century will encourage institutions and partnerships to integrate them into broader, innovative programs.

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Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

Emphasis is on providing a meaningful, pedagogical research experience with significant student-faculty interaction

REU Sites are typically: 10-12 week summer programs 8-12 students Total project costs around $600-$650 per student per week

REU Supplements Support research activities for 1-2 undergraduates as a

supplement to a new or existing NSF grant Supported by the various disciplinary education and

research programs throughout the Foundation REU supplements also used with priority area awards

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Partnerships for Innovation: What is PFI?

Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) promotes innovation by bringing together colleges and universities, State and local governments, private sector firms, and nonprofit organizations.

Back-up Slides

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The objective of PREM is to enhance diversity in materials research and education by stimulating the development of formal, long-term, collaborative research and education partnerships between minority-serving institutions and awards through the MPS Division of Materials Research (DMR) (groups, centers, and facilities).

In FY04, four PREM awards went to California State University at Los Angeles (CalTech), Florida A&M (CMU), U. Of Puerto Rico at Humacao (Penn), U. Of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (Wisconsin).

Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM)

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Human and Social DynamicsFY04 HSD Panels

• Globalization, Conflict / Conflict Resolution

• Social and Political Change • Science, Technology & Change • Environmental Change• Spatial Dynamics• Organizational Dynamics • Lifespan Development/Learning• Language Dynamics• Cognitive Dynamics• Technology and Human

Dynamics• Technology for HSD

• Social Networks • Social Behavioral Dynamics• Hazards, Extreme Events,

Disasters, Critical Infrastructure• Environmental Decisions & Risks• Risk Assessment & Management• Risk Perception / Communication• Individual Decision Making• Decision Analysis and Policy• Games, Conflict, Markets• Dynamic Behavior of Markets• Infrastructure for HSD• Innovative Models for HSD

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Institutional Diversity among the 106 FY04 HSD Collaborative Proposals

Type of Institution Lead Non-Lead TotalEPSCoR 8 10 18PUI 10 10 20Minority Serving 3 2 5

Number of Proposals

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Human and Social DynamicsHSD: An Exploratory Space-Time Data Analysis Toolkit for Spatial Social Science Research PI: Sergio Rey, San Diego State University

Intellectual MeritA toolkit that integrates both spatial

and temporal dimensions of socioeconomic phenomena.

– examine the implications of spatial clustering and spatial heterogeneity for the application of exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques in a dynamic context;

– develop new statistical methods for exploratory space-time data analysis (ESTDA); and

– implement in an Open Source package for exploratory space-time analysis of social processes.

Broader Impact implications for studies of urban

segregation patterns, space-time epidemiology and public health, criminology, housing market dynamics, socioeconomic inequalities, among others

new spatially explicit measures for planners and analysts to design policy interventions targeted at key individual geographical areas

leverage the impact of such policy programs across the boundaries of a single area, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the policy

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HSD FY 2005 Competition: Topical Emphasis Areas

Agents of Change (AOC) Dynamics of Human Behavior

(DHB) Decision Making, Risk and

Uncertainty (DRU)

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FY 2005 HSD Competition:Agents of Change

Focus: large-scale transformational changesMight include more focused systemic,

organizational, or policy changes: political, economic, environmental and educational systems or subsystems

Examples: globalization, population migration, democratization, economic transformations, scientific and technological developments, epidemics, etc.

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FY 2005 HSD Competition:Dynamics of Human Behavior

Focus: change in human behavior over time Interdisciplinary: informed by biology,

mathematics, physical and information sciences, and engineering (e.g. complexity theory; cognitive, agent-based, or animal models; dynamical systems theory, etc.)

Examples: dynamics of growth, learning, change, evolution, and action; cognitive, computational, linguistic, developmental, social, biological, and other processes as dynamic evolving systems

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FY 2005 HSD Competition:Decision Making, Risk, and Uncertainty

Focus: human decision making in the context of risk and uncertainty

Both strategic and informational uncertainty

Both individual and collective

Examples: Risk assessment evaluations, information transmission, spatial/temporal influences, small-group dynamics, etc.

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Mathematical SciencesMathematical Foundation for Matching EconomiesPI: Charalambos Aliprantis Purdue University

Intellectual Merit Fully integrated mathematical

approach to matching mechanisms by formalizing and studying the following: – the mechanics of matching in bi-

and multi-lateral settings (deterministic and stochastic);

– the links between matching and trade frictions, providing exact mappings between technologies and informational constraints;

– the allocative implications of different matching mechanisms in general monetary and non-monetary economies.

Broader Impacts Advance our understanding of

how to construct sophisticated economic models whose central trait is markets with impaired functioning.

Results will have applications to other disciplines, such as biology (spread of diseases), sociology (formation of social groups), and engineering (network communication).

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Biocomplexity in the Environment “BE/CNH: Land-Use and Landscape Socioecology in the Mediterranean Basin: A Natural Laboratory for the Study of the Long-Term Interaction of Human and Natural Systems”PI: Barton, C. Michael, Arizona State University

Intellectual Merit Agropastoral land use remains

the most significant way in which humans impact natural landscapes, and the recursive social effects of these impacts are important global issues.

This information will be integrated with recent advances in geospatial modeling and agent simulation to create a natural laboratory for investigating the long-term social and ecological consequences of alternate land-use practices.

Broader Impact New knowledge about long-term

consequences of alternative land-use practices that can help communities make more responsible and effective decisions about land use today.

Integrated archaeological and paleoenvironmental datasets, and dynamic land use-landscape modeling algorithms

Integrated educational program for K-12, undergraduate and graduate students especially geared towards hands on training in the research process, and collaborative transdisciplinary work.

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NS&E Center for Directed Assembly of NanostructuresNSF 01-17792, RPI (Siegel PI) and UIUC

RPI’s Lally School of Management and Technology will consider strategies for managing the many radical innovations of nanotechnology, starting with a study of how nanotechnology compares with other megatrends in effects on required core competencies, training, and education; and how organizations came to invest in nanotechnology and the impact such investments.

Summer Outreach to Undergraduate colleges (Morehouse, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Spelman, and Williams Colleges) come to RPI and actively work in nanotechnology research.

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Consortium for Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) REU Site

California State, Los Angeles collaborates with Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Southwest College, East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Valley College, Pasadena City College, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the Consortium for Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) REU Site.

• 42 undergraduates enrolled in CURE between 1999 and 2002. 64.3% of them were from underrepresented minorities. 35.7% were women.

• 80% of these transferred to or intend to transfer to a four-year college.

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MPS/CHE Undergraduate Research Centers

Research for 1st and 2nd Year College Students

= MSI PG Lead

= MSI PG Participants

= States proposing to URC Program

= Full Project Lead

= Other PG Participants

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Undergraduate Research Centers

In FY03: Workshop for Chemical Sciences

In FY04: announcement NSF 03-595 generated proposals from 700 institutions, including partners!

• One Full Project award (Purdue)• 10 Planning Grant awards

For FY2005:• Program announcement: Fall 2004

• Deadline: late Spring 2005• Awards: late Summer 2005