# Presentation: 922442

## The IT2 Initiativeand NSF

**Stephen Elbert**
**program director**
**NSF/CISE/ACIR/PACI**

## Reports directly to the President's Advisor for Science and Technology
Director of the National Science Foundation, 
Director of the National Institutes of Health
Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology).
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Administrator of NASA
Under Secretary of Energy

**Director of the National Science Foundation, **
**Director of the National Institutes of Health**
**Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology).**
**Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere**
**Administrator of NASA**
**Under Secretary of Energy**

**Senior Management Team**

- includes senior officials
- from OMB and the
- National Economic Council

## Working Group

**Chaired by the Assistant Director of the NSF for Computer and Information Science and Engineering**
**Ruzena Bajcsy**
**Members appointed by each of the six principal agencies**
**Charged with**
**preparing research plans and budgets**
**preparing annual reports**
**facilitating coordination (NCO to assist) **

## IT2 initiative to support 3 activities

**Long-term information technology research**
**Advanced computing for science, engineering, and the Nation**
**Research on the economic and social implications of the Information Revolution**

## Proposed FY 2000 Budget

## NSF Guiding Principles

**investment in long-term, high-risk activities**
**an interdisciplinary approach to complex information-based issues and problems**
**a recognition that future programs must evolve rapidly to take advantage of promising new windows of opportunity**

## NSF’s Investment

**$100M to CISE for research in**
**basic IT systems (software, high confidence sys.)**
**human-computer interaction and IM**
**large scale networking & scaleable infrastructure**
**high-end computing**
**$10M for research in**
**Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications and Workforce Programs**
**$36M for development of Terascale computing systems**

## Basic IT Systems Research

**Software development process**
**languages and tools**
**Theoretical foundations of algorithm design**
**High-performance processor architecture**
**Communications systems and signal processing **
**Billion-transistor chip design methodologies**
**Digital Government**
**High capacity data storage systems**

**Notes:**
Software engineering: Currently, we lack the understanding of how to design and test complex software systems with millions of lines of code in the same way that we can verify whether a bridge is safe. Research in this area could increase software productivity, make software more reliable and easy to maintain, and automatically discover errors. Research is also needed to reduce the cost and time penalties currently required to make systems safe and reliable. Progress on safety and reliability is particularly important for critical systems such as the telecommunications network, medical devices, the electric power grid, and the air traffic control system.
End-user programming: One way to address the shortage of programmers is to make programming so easy that users with little or no programming expertise can do it. An example of this is the spreadsheet, which allows business and financial analysts to manipulate numbers or conduct “what if” scenarios in a way that previously required customized programs. Making end-user programming more widespread will require advances in areas such as intelligent templates, domain-specific languages, and programming-by-example.
Component-based software development: Research is needed to make it easier to find the right software component, to predict accurately the behavior of a software system assembled from smaller components, and to support an electronic marketplace in software components.
Active software: Active software participates in its own development and deployment.

## Basic Research Goals

**Scalable, “no-surprise”, performance-engineered software**
**functionality, predictability, security**
**Co-design of hardware/software**
**vertically integrated electronic systems**
**Building high-confidence systems**
**predictability, reliability, security**

## Human-Computer Interaction and Information Management

**Knowledge repositories**
**Multimodal interfaces**
**Visualization, virtual reality, 3-D tools**
**Collaboratories **
**knowledge sharing, group decision making, instrument control**
**Cognitive and perceptual impact**
**Multilingual, speech and audio tools**
**Sensor based databases and systems**

## HCI & IM Goals

**Multiplying individual physical and mental capabilities**
**Meeting, working and collaborating in cyberspace**
**Building a ubiquitous content infrastructure  **

## LSN and Scalable Infrastructure

**Collaborative development of national and international networks**
**Network access and control research**
**Wireless access**
**Image and video compression**
**Monitoring of complex networks**
**Network design, architecture, and management**
**Database access and mining**

**Notes:**
Deeply Networked Systems: Such systems, allowing a dramatic increase in the number of devices that can be attached to the network, will result in compelling new applications. For example: low-cost wireless sensors could give us real-time information on air and water pollution, improving our ability to monitor the environment and respond to man-made disasters. “Guardian angels” could monitor the health and safety of individuals (e.g., firemen, law enforcement officials, soldiers, home health care patients). Crisis management centers could use sensors carried by response teams and airplanes to improve responses to forest fires, floods, and hurricanes. Enabling this to occur requires advances such as new mechanisms for naming, addressing, and network configuration, and much cheaper network interfaces.
Anytime, anywhere connectivity: Improvements in wireless technology could bring high-speed “anytime, anywhere” connectivity to all U.S. citizens. One of the major benefits of higher-speed wireless networks is their ability to expand access and reduce the “cost penalty” associated with deploying advanced telecommunications in rural areas. This is critical to rural economic development, since companies are increasingly basing site selection on the quality of the telecommunications infrastructure. Wireless networks could also extend services such as distance learning and telemedicine to remote rural areas in the U.S. and to the markets of developing countries.
Network modeling and simulation: Since we have no experience in building a network that is as complex as the future Internet, we need better tools – proven through experience – to model the behavior of networks. The capability for “faster than real-time” simulation that allows network operators to prevent congestion or collapse is also needed.

## LSN and SI Goals

**Broadband tetherless communications**
**Understanding, modeling and predicting networks**
**Creating adaptive networks**
**Integrating end-to-end performance components**

## High-End Computing

**Terascale Opportunities for Promoting Science (TOPS)**
**a multidisciplinary program to accelerate advances in simulation and modeling**
**Large Scientific and Software Data Set Visualization**
**Information storage on persistent media**
**Algorithms for models of physical phenomena**

## HEC Goals

**Solve computer science-related problems to accelerate the effective use of parallel and distributed systems**
**Empower computational discovery across science and engineering**

## Basic Research Execution Plan

**Single Investigator Grants - $30M**
**$150,000 standard grants**
**Team Awards - $40M**
**$1M/year for 3-5 years to 3-5 senior PI’s**
**Center Awards - $30M**
**$3M/year for 5 years as cooperative agreements, possible extension**
**local and virtual distributed centers**

## Basic Research Milestones

## Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications and Workforce Programs

**Increase pool of workers**
**New course and curriculum development**
**Collaborative research opportunities for undergraduates**
**PACI - Education, Outreach & Training (EOT)**
**Learning and intelligent systems**

- Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
- Directorate for Education and Human Resources

## Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications and Workforce Programs Goals

***Expanding understanding of the impact of social, ethical, economic, political, and legal factors***** **
***Developing a more skilled American workforce***** **

## Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications and Workforce Programs Milestones

## Terascale System

**Deploy 5 Teraop system in FY2000**
**Allocations will be fully merit-based and competitive**
**Solicitation is being developed in coordination with DOE **

## Terascale System Milestones