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A Message from CISE Leadership
We have been busy this month raising awareness about the exciting research that all of you are doing. On April 30, for example, NSF participated in the "Robotics for a Better Tomorrow" Hill event in Washington, D.C. The event was intended to inform national decision makers on the pivotal role of robotics in bolstering U.S. productivity and regional economic development, and we highlighted the critical role that foundational robotics research plays in shaping the future of technology that serves everyone.
On May 6, CISE participated in a White House event alongside the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to celebrate the announcement of the first awards supported by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot. These awards represent a first step to enhancing U.S. AI research capacity through robust government partnerships and we look forward to upcoming projects benefiting from our government-industry partnerships through the NAIRR Pilot. On this note, I want to remind all of you that a second opportunity for researchers and educators to access NAIRR pilot resources is now open at nairrpilot.org.
In addition, CISE participated in this year’s "AI Expo for National Competitiveness" in Washington, D.C. This event enabled the opportunity to showcase some of our investments that are strengthening the nation’s AI innovations and competitiveness for a prosperous future. Two AI Institutes of the NSF-led National AI Research Institutes program—the National AI for Exceptional Education and USDA-NIFA AI Institute for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management, and Sustainability—presented on the collaborative work among several institutions across the U.S. to advance AI-powered solutions. Specifically, they demonstrated how AI can benefit universal early screening interventions for children with speech and language related learning disorders, and how AI advances are addressing challenges faced by farmers. Thank you to the researchers for their participation at this event, and to everyone who stopped by our NSF booth to learn more about our programs.
In other exciting news, CISE recently announced the latest Expeditions in Computing awards. The recent $36 million investment will support groundbreaking projects that explore clean-slate approaches to system design, computational decarbonization and foundations of sustainable computing. Congratulations to the visionary teams leading these projects, whose research will undoubtedly pave the way for future advancements in our field.
Finally, on June 3, Greg Hager will take over as the new CISE Assistant Director and I will be returning to my role as the Division Director for CISE’s Computing and Communication Foundations Division. As we transition to a new CISE leadership, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the opportunity to serve as Acting Assistant Director for nearly six months. It has been a privilege and honor to collaborate with such a vibrant and dynamic community of researchers, educators, and innovators dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in our field. I look forward to working under Greg’s leadership and direction.
I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter.
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Dilma Da Silva
NSF Acting Assistant Director for CISE
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Funding Opportunities and Deadlines
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 Computer Science for All.
Supports partnerships and research that helps equip high school teachers to teach computer science, K-8 teachers to incorporate computer science and computational thinking in their classes, and school districts to create computing pathways across all grades.
Full proposal deadline:
June 4, 2024.
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Data Science Corps.
Supports data science education and training by engaging students in real-world implementation projects in partnership with organizations and communities — helping to build a strong national data science infrastructure and workforce.
Full proposal deadline:
June 21, 2024.
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News & Announcements
The U.S. National Science Foundation is awarding $36 million to three projects selected for their potential to revolutionize computing and make significant impacts in reducing the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of computers.
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Time awarded on advanced computers will tackle deepfake detection, advance AI safety, enable next-generation medical diagnoses and further other critical AI priorities.
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The $9-million award to Northeastern University will support the investigation of how large language models and generative AI operate, focusing on the computing process called deep inference and AI’s long-term societal impacts.
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Made possible by a $10 million NSF award, Stampede3 will enable computational and data-driven science and engineering research and education with a modern foundation and new capabilities for thousands of projects and users nationwide.
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NSF honored three researchers with the Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation's highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers, including CISE-funded Muyinatu Bell.
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The collaboration stems from a shared recognition of the critical role that robotics can play in addressing challenges in agriculture and food production, such as increased demand for food and the need for precision agriculture practices.
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NSF and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering have initiated a joint research training opportunity through the NSF Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students program.
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Syracuse Physics Professor Simon Catterall recently used an ACCESS allocation on the Expanse supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego to simulate a theory of elementary particles that will help scientists better understand quantum gravity.
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Chattopadhyay and Zuckerman’s groundbreaking work on randomness extraction and Ramsey graph construction has advanced theoretical computer science.
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Get more CISE News
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Events
NSF Grants Conference – Philadelphia.
The conference is designed for new faculty, researchers, educators and administrators who want to gain insight into a wide range of important and timely issues at NSF.
June 3-5, 2024. Philadelphia, PA.
BIO-CISE Distinguished Lecture: Tanya Berger-Wolf.
Professor Berger-Wolf from The Ohio State University will introduce a new field of science, imageomics, and present a vision and examples of AI as a trustworthy partner in science and biodiversity conservation.
June 6, 2024. 11am-12pm, ET.
Informational webinar: Addressing Insurance Risk Modeling for Terrorism and Cyber Risks Research.
Join NSF program officers for an informational webinar on the recently published DCL: IUCRC Proposals for Research and Thought Leadership on Insurance Risk Modeling and Underwriting Related to Terrorism and Catastrophic Cyber Risks.
June 6, 2024. 12-1pm, ET.
CAREER Proposal Submission Logistics Webinar.
Representatives from NSF's Division of Enterprise Services will hold a technical webinar on system-related information to assist with CAREER proposal submission.
June 7, 2024. 2-3:30pm, ET.
Aligning the Supply and Demand of Cybersecurity Professionals Workshop.
This event will provide information about supply-demand mismatch challenges and recommendations for addressing them.
June 11, 2024. 1-3pm, ET.
28th NSF EPSCoR National Conference.
Join researchers, students, and staff from EPSCoR jurisdictions in Omaha, Nebraska to connect, collaborate and keep science flowing.
October 13-16, 2024. Omaha, NE.
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Jesse Thaler, Ph.D., is a theoretical particle physicist and professor in the Center for Theoretical Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who fuses techniques from quantum field theory and artificial intelligence AI to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics. Thaler is an expert in jets, which are collimated sprays of particles that are copiously produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). By developing AI algorithms with built-in physics principles, Thaler aims to illuminate the microscopic realm of particle physics and enhance the search for new phenomena at the LHC.
In 2020, Thaler became Director of the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI), a collaboration between physicists and computer scientists from MIT, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. IAIFI researchers are developing custom AI tools for scientific discovery that are having an impact across theoretical and experimental physics, including at flagship NSF-funded projects like the LHC and the Laser Interferometer Gravity-wave Observatory. The team uses physics-inspired principles, such as space-time symmetries and phase transitions, to develop a foundational understanding of AI and accelerate progress toward more robust and interpretable AI systems. In this way, Thaler and his IAIFI colleagues are fusing the deep learning revolution with the time-tested strategies of “deep thinking” in physics to better understand our universe and the principles underlying machine intelligence.
AI is transforming the process of scientific discovery, but fully validating AI decisions is a challenging task. Therefore, Thaler emphasizes the importance of teaching AI to “think like a physicist” to ensure that it embraces best practices for scientific rigor. “At the same time, physicists need to learn how to ‘think like a machine’ to capitalize on recent eye-popping advances in computer science,” he said. “Going forward, the most impactful physics results are likely to arise from a dialogue between human intelligence and artificial intelligence.”
Thaler is also a co-principal investigator on an NSF Expanding AI Innovation through Capacity Building and Partnerships award, which supports a partnership between the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM) and IAIFI to expand established research and education programs at UPRM. The collaboration focuses on developing AI with societal benefits in mind and nurturing the next generation of AI talent, with research targeting AI breakthroughs for particle physics experiments.
Thaler received his doctoral degree in physics from Harvard University in 2006, where he was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and physics from Brown University in 2002, where he pursued research into the formation of black holes. From 2006 to 2009, he was a fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)
Supports research and education on the interrelated roles of people, computers, and information to advance knowledge of artificial intelligence, data management, assistive technologies, and human-centered computing.
Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
Supports the conceptualization, design, implementation, and operation of research cyberinfrastructure to advance and transform research and education in science and engineering.
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