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Dear CISE community,
These past months have been a remarkable period of excitement for members of our community, as we advanced multiple initiatives that directly support the priorities in the White House AI Action Plan — accelerating innovation, building American artificial intelligence infrastructure and ensuring U.S. leadership in this critical field.
We announced a $100 million investment in five new and continuing National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes and their central coordination hub. These institutes are delivering breakthroughs in areas ranging from materials discovery to human-AI collaboration and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, while preparing an AI-ready workforce that reflects the full talent of our nation.
In partnership with NVIDIA ($75 million from NSF and $77 million from NVIDIA), we launched the Open Multimodal AI Infrastructure to Accelerate Science (OMAI) — a public-private effort led by the Allen Institute for AI. OMAI will develop fully open, science-focused AI models to help U.S. researchers accelerate discovery in fields like biology and materials science.
To contribute to strengthening the nation's AI infrastructure, we announced the new NSF Integrated Data Systems and Services (NSF IDSS) program and selected ten datasets for the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot. These datasets span areas from microbiome research to terrain mapping and will be integrated into the NAIRR Pilot's operations through the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) — the central organizing and governance structure that connects federal partners, researchers and educators, ensures interoperability across resources, and guides how data, tools and training are made available to the community. Together with IDSS, the new datasets and NAIRR-OC will expand access to the resources needed for cutting-edge AI research and education.
Finally, we awarded planning grants for AI-ready test beds — real-world environments where researchers can safely and effectively evaluate AI systems in contexts such as disaster response, smart transportation and precision agriculture. These living labs will help translate research into practice, ensuring that AI solutions are reliable, scalable and built to serve the public good.
While these milestones underscore the extraordinary ingenuity of our community, we are also mindful of the challenging fiscal environment. The achievements of the past month are a testament not only to the U.S. National Science Foundation's investments but also to the resilience, creativity and collaborative spirit of CISE researchers nationwide and the incredible CISE staff. Together, we are building the foundations for discoveries that advance science, strengthen competitiveness and benefit society — today and for years to come.
We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter, and please share it with your communities.
Ellen Zegura
NSF Acting Assistant Director NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
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