Today was a good day for National Science Foundation-funded cross-disciplinary research. NSF announced it will provide $17.7 million in funding for 12 Transdisciplinary Research in Principles of Data Science (TRIPODS) projects, “which will bring together the statistics, mathematics and theoretical computer science communities to develop the foundations of data science.” Conducted at 14 institutions in 11 states, these projects will promote long-term research and training activities in data science that transcend disciplinary boundaries.
NSF also issued the first set of Convergence awards, part of its Growing Convergent Research portfolio intended to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. These first awards support workshops, summer institutes, and Research Coordination Networks (RCNs). Noted in the announcement was that NSF has a focus on tackling grand challenge problems and that converged research is an increasingly critical component for solving these challenges. Three of the TRIPODS project received $1.1 million in funding from the Convergence portfolio.
Speaking about TRIPODS, Jim Kurose, NSF assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), said, “Data is accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and innovation. These new TRIPODS projects will help build the theoretical foundations of data science that will enable continued data-driven discovery and breakthroughs across all fields of science and engineering.”
Here quick listing of award titles, principal investigators and institutions for the TRIPODS Phase I projects:
- UA-TRIPODS: Building Theoretical Foundations for Data Sciences: Hao Zhang, University of Arizona
- Foundations of Model Driven Discovery from Massive Data: Jeffery Brock, Brown University (Convergence and EPSCoR co-funding)
- Berkeley Institute on the Foundations of Data Analysis: Michael Mahoney, University of California, Berkeley
- TRIPODS: Towards a Unified Theory of Structure, Incompleteness and Uncertainty in Heterogeneous Graphs: Lise Getoor, University of California, Santa Cruz
- From Foundations to Practice of Data Science and Back: John Wright, Columbia University
- TRIPODS: Data Science for Improved Decision-Making: Learning in the Context of Uncertainty, Causality, Privacy, and Network Structures: Kilian Weinberger, Cornell University (Convergence co-funding)
- Transdisciplinary Research Institute for Advancing Data Science (TRIAD): Xiaoming Huo, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Collaborative Research: TRIPODS Institute for Optimization and Learning: Katya Scheinberg, Lehigh University; Han Liu, Northwestern University; Francesco Orabona, State University of New York at Stony Brook
- Institute for Foundations of Data Science (IFDS): Piotr Indyk, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Topology, Geometry, and Data Analysis (TGDA@OSU): Discovering Structure, Shape, and Dynamics in Data: Tamal Dey, The Ohio State University
- Algorithms for Data Science: Complexity, Scalability, and Robustness: Sham Kakade, University of Washington
- Institute for Foundations of Data Science: Stephen Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Convergence co-funding)
The Convergence portfolio activities reflect NSF’s ongoing efforts to stimulate cross-disciplinary collaboration.
“NSF has supported cross-disciplinary collaboration for decades,” said NSF Director France Córdova. “Convergence is a deeper, more intentional approach to the integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple disciplines in order to address the most compelling scientific and societal challenges.”
The 23 newly awarded projects will foster “Convergence to address grand challenges in the context of five of NSF’s “10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments,” a set of cutting-edge research agendas uniquely suited for NSF’s broad portfolio of investments. Those five ideas are: Harnessing the Data Revolution; Navigating the New Arctic; The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution; Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Shaping the Future; and Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype.
The awards in the 2017 Convergence portfolio, arranged according to their associated Big Ideas:
Harnessing the Data Revolution
- TRIPODS: Foundations of Model Driven Discovery from Massive Data
- TRIPODS: Data Science for Improved Decision-Making: Learning in the Context of Uncertainty, Causality, Privacy, and Network Structures
- TRIPODS: Institute for Foundations of Data Science
- Social Science Insights for 21st Century Data Science Education (SSI)
Work at the Human Technology Frontier
- Collaborative: Workshop on Convergence Research about Multimodal Human Learning Data during Human Machine Interactions – North Carolina State University, Vanderbilt University
- Future Workforce Implications of Autonomous Trucks: Workshop on the Sociotechnical Research Challenges, Benefits, and Opportunities
- A Workshop Shaping Research on Human-Technology Partnerships to Enhance STEM Workforce Engagement
- From Making to Micro-Manufacture: Reimagining Work Beyond Mass Production
- Workshop on Converging Human and Technological Perspectives in Crowdsourcing Research
- Making “The Future of Work” Work: A Convergence Workshop on Experiments in Tech Work-Maker Culture, Coworking, Cooperatives, Entrepreneurship & Digital Labor
- A Research Coordination Network to Converge Research on the Socio-Technological Landscape of Work in the Age of Increased Automation
- RCN: Enhancing small and mid-level farm viability through a systems-based research network: Linking technology and sustainable development and practice
Navigating the New Arctic
- Navigating the New Arctic – Understanding Future Systems of Transportation in Arctic Regions, a Workshop Proposal
- Adaptive Capacity and Resilience in the New Arctic: Identifying Pathways to Equitable, Desirable Outcomes for People and Nature Through Convergence
- Preparing for a Northwest Passage, a Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic
- Networking Indigenous Arctic and U.S. Southwest Communities on Knowledge Co-Production in Data Sciences
- Coordinate a Transdisciplinary Research Network to Identify Challenges of and Sollutions to Permafrost Coastal Erosion and its Socioecological Impacts in the Arctic
- ANCHOR – Arctic Network for Coastal Community Hazards, Observations, and Integrated Research
The Quantum Leap
- Collaborative: NSF/DOE Quantum Science Summer School – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University
- Workshop Series: Cross-Sector Connections in Quantum Leap
- Workshop on Quantum Elements of Secure Communication
Understanding the Rules of Life
Link to TRIPODS announcement: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=242888&org=NSF&from=news
Link to Convergence announcement: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=242889&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click