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The National Science Foundation's (NSF) investments
in priority areas reach across science and engineering
and bring new knowledge to bear on areas of great national
interest. NSF works with other Government agencies to
identify and support these priority multidisciplinary
areas. The goal is to accelerate scientific and technical
progress by identifying and addressing gaps in knowledge
and barriers that prevent progress.
The priority multidisciplinary areas that NSF has selected
for increased attention during the next several years
are
1.
Biocomplexity in the Environment
2. Information Technology Research
3. Learning for the 21st Century
4. Nanoscale Science and Engineering
The
priority multidisciplinary areas in this section address
NSF's three strategic goals:
1. People - A diverse, internationally competitive
and globally
engaged workforce of scientists,
engineers, and well-prepared
citizens.
2. Ideas - Discovery at and across the frontier
of science and
engineering, and connections to its
use in the service of society.
3. Tools - Broadly accessible, state-of-the-art,
and shared
research and education tools
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1.
Biocomplexity in the Environment
The environment is a subject of profound national importance
and scientific interest, making it a strategic priority
for NSF. The goals of the Foundation's increasing investment
in this area include enhancement of fundamental environmental
research in all relevant disciplines and in interdisciplinary
and long-term research; creation of educational opportunities
that build scientific and technological capacity; discovery
of innovative methods that avoid environmental harm
and inform the decisionmaking process; and support for
advanced physical, technological, informational, and
international infrastructure.
A centerpiece of NSF's Environmental Research and Education
portfolio is the Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE)
competition. Initiated in fiscal year 1999, this special
competition promotes comprehensive, integrated investigations
of environmental systems using advanced scientific and
engineering methods.
Biocomplexity refers to the dynamic web of often surprising
interrelationships that arise when components of the
global ecosystem--biological, physical, chemical, and
the human dimension--interact. Investigations of biocomplexity
in the environment are intended to provide a more complete
understanding in the areas of natural processes; human
behaviors and decisions in the natural world; and ways
to use new technology effectively to observe the environment
and sustain the diversity of life on Earth.
By placing biocomplexity studies in an environmental
context, this competition emphasizes research with the
following characteristics: strong interdisciplinary
nature; focus on complex environmental systems, including
interactions of nonhuman biota and humans; and focus
on systems with high potential for exhibiting nonlinear
or highly coupled behavior with other systems.
Beginning with the fiscal year 2001 competition, and
planned for the fiscal year 2002 competition as well,
four interdisciplinary areas are being emphasized:
- Dynamics
of Coupled Natural and Human (CNH) Systems-Emphasizes
quantitative understanding of short- and long-term
dynamics of natural capital. Also emphasized are how
humans value and influence ecosystem services and
natural resources, including consideration of landscapes
and land use; and the influence of uncertainty, resilience,
and vulnerability in complex environmental systems
on societal institutions.
- Coupled
Biogeochemical Cycles (CBC)-Focuses on the interrelation
of biological, geochemical, geological, and physical
processes at all temporal and spatial scales, with
particular emphasis on understanding linkages between
cycles and the influence of human and other biotic
factors on those cycles.
-
Genome-Enabled Environmental Science and Engineering
(GEN-EN)-Encourages the use of genetic information
to understand ecosystem functioning and the adaptation
of organisms to ecological roles.
- Instrumentation
Development for Environmental Activities (IDEA)-Supports
the development of instrumentation and software that
relies on and uses microelectronics, photonics, telemetry,
robotics, sensing systems, modeling, data mining,
and analysis techniques to bring recent laboratory
instrumentation advances to bear on the full spectrum
of environmental biocomplexity questions.
- Materials
Use: Science, Engineering, and Society (MUSES)-Supports
projects that study the reduction of adverse human
impact on the total interactive system of resource
use, and the design and synthesis of new materials
with environmentally benign impacts on biocomplex
systems, as well as maximizing the efficient use of
individual materials throughout their life cycles.
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For
More Information |
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See program announcement NSF 01-34 (or its successor);
or visit the NSF Environmental Research and Education
web site, http://www.nsf.gov/ere.
Additional information on anticipated multidisciplinary
BE activities in materials-use science and engineering;
environmental informatics; social adaptation to
hazards; and molecular scale and genomic studies
of subsurface processes will be posted on the web
site. |
2. Information Technology
Research (ITR)
Sustained leadership in the United States in information
technology requires an aggressive Federal program to
create new knowledge in a variety of areas. The U.S.
economy's robust growth has in part resulted from new
ideas that became the basis for new products. For example,
NSF contributed greatly to the development of today's
Internet. NSF's investments--in ideas, people, and tools--have
benefited greatly from the application of information
technology.
NSF faces two major challenges and opportunities with
respect to information technology. The first challenge
is to support the people, ideas, and tools that will
create and advance knowledge in all areas of information
science and engineering. Wholly new computational approaches
are needed for problems arising from the science and
engineering disciplines and the development of new learning
technologies for use in education.
The second challenge is to upgrade the computational
and computing infrastructures for all fields that NSF
supports. Researchers and educators in many areas need
to incorporate information technology and, in some cases,
revolutionize their experimental and collaborative processes
to attain new effectiveness and greater efficiency.
Also, the United States must address a range of access
and workforce issues. Overcoming inequities will require
innovative educational technologies such as highly interactive
computer science courseware that is both multicultural
and multimedia.
NSF is the lead agency for a multiagency 5-year research
initiative in information technology. Each agency participating
in the initiative will define specific programs in keeping
with that agency's mission. NSF is primarily responsible
for basic research to advance knowledge, and for education
and workforce development activities. The multiyear
Information Technology Research investment by NSF will
lead to the following outcomes:
- Advancement
of fundamental knowledge in techniques for computation,
the representation of information, the manipulation
and visualization of information, and the transmission
and communication of information.
- Enhanced
knowledge about how to design, build, and maintain
large, complex software systems that are reliable,
predictable, secure, and scalable.
- New
knowledge about distributed and networked systems
and interactions among component parts, as well as
the interaction of systems with both individuals and
cooperating groups of users. Such networks can empower
a broadly distributed scientific community to participate
fully in frontline research.
- Development
of a significantly advanced high-end computing capability
needed to solve myriad important science and engineering
problems.
- Increased
understanding of the societal, ethical, and workforce
implications of the information revolution.
- A
strong information technology workforce and a citizenry
capable of using information technology effectively.
3. Learning in the 21st Century
Leadership in the United States in the concept-based,
innovation-led global economy of the next century will
depend on the success of building and sustaining a competent
and diverse scientific, mathematics, engineering, and
technology (SMET) workforce, drawing on all elements
of the Nation's rich human resources.
The SMET education continuum extends from preK through
elementary and secondary, to undergraduate, graduate,
and continuing professional education. The level, quality,
and accessibility of SMET education depend on the following:
understanding the nature of learning; strategically
enabling an improved science- and technology-based educational
enterprise; and building an infrastructure to broaden
participation of all members of our society.
Across the NSF, organizations provide disciplinary and
interdisciplinary support to integrate research and
education, as well as new tools and models for K-12,
undergraduate, and graduate education. These activities
will recognize the importance of the SMET content of
educational programs for K-12 students and for the instructional
workforce.
A National Digital Library for SMET education will provide
ready access to the highest quality education materials,
pedagogy, and research on learning, and will enhance
the quality of graduate, undergraduate, K-12, and public
science education.
The outcome of NSF's sustained investment in research,
education, training, and human resource programs will
be
- enhanced
knowledge about how humans learn;
- enhanced
practices throughout the SMET education enterprise--especially
at the K-12 level--leading to improved teacher performance
and student achievement; and
- a
more inclusive and globally engaged SMET enterprise
that fully reflects the strength of America's diverse
population.
4. Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Nanoscale science and engineering promises to produce
a dominant technology for the 21st century. Control
of matter at the nanoscale level underpins innovation
in critical areas, from information and medicine to
manufacturing and the environment.
One nanometer (one billionth of a meter) is a magical
point on the dimensional scale. Nanostructures are at
the confluence of the smallest of human-made devices
and the largest molecules of living systems. Biological
cells such as red blood cells have diameters in the
range of thousands of nanometers. Microelectromechanical
systems are now approaching this same scale. This means
we are now at the point of connecting machines to individual
cells.
Twelve Federal agencies have joined together to promote
advances in nanotechnology, in which NSF has the largest
investment. NSF's nanoscale science and engineering
program is a multiyear investment whose goals include
the following:
- discovery
of novel phenomena, processes, and tools;
-
enhanced methods for the synthesis and processing
of engineered, nanometer-scale building blocks for
materials and system components;
- new
device concepts and system architecture appropriate
to the unique features and demands of nanoscale engineering;
- development
of a new generation of skilled workers who have the
multidisciplinary perspective necessary for rapid
progress in nanotechnology; and
- increased
understanding of societal, ethical, and workforce
implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology
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For
More Information |
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See the latest program solicitation, available on
the nano program web site, http://www.nsf.gov/nano/. |
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