Funding-Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering (BIGDATA); June 13, 2012 

 

Agency Name

 

National Science Foundation 

 

Synopsis

 

The Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering (BIGDATA) solicitation aims to advance the core scientific and technological means of managing, analyzing, visualizing, and extracting useful information from large, diverse, distributed and heterogeneous data sets so as to: accelerate the progress of scientific discovery and innovation; lead to new fields of inquiry that would not otherwise be possible; encourage the development of new data analytic tools and algorithms; facilitate scalable, accessible, and sustainable data infrastructure; increase understanding of human and social processes and interactions; and promote economic growth and improved health and quality of life. The new knowledge, tools, practices, and infrastructures produced will enable breakthrough discoveries and innovation in science, engineering, medicine, commerce, education, and national security -- laying the foundations for US competitiveness for many decades to come.

The phrase "big data" in this solicitation refers to large, diverse, complex, longitudinal, and/or distributed data sets generated from instruments, sensors, Internet transactions, email, video, click streams, and/or all other digital sources available today and in the future.

This solicitation is one component in a long-term strategy to address national big data challenges, which include advances in core techniques and technologies; big data infrastructure projects in various science, biomedical research, health and engineering communities; education and workforce development; and a comprehensive integrative program to support collaborations of multi-disciplinary teams and communities to make advances in the complex grand challenge science, biomedical research, and engineering problems of a computational- and data-intensive world.

Today, US government agencies recognize that the scientific, biomedical and engineering research communities are undergoing a profound transformation with the use of large-scale, diverse, and high-resolution data sets that allow for data-intensive decision-making, including clinical decision making, at a level never before imagined. New statistical and mathematical algorithms, prediction techniques, and modeling methods, as well as multidisciplinary approaches to data collection, data analysis and new technologies for sharing data and information are enabling a paradigm shift in scientific and biomedical investigation. Advances in machine learning, data mining, and visualization are enabling new ways of extracting useful information in a timely fashion from massive data sets, which complement and extend existing methods of hypothesis testing and statistical inference. As a result, a number of agencies are developing big data strategies to align with their missions. This solicitation focuses on common interests in big data research across the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This initiative will build new capabilities to create actionable information that leads to timely and more informed decisions. It will both help to accelerate discovery and innovation, as well as support their transition into practice to benefit society. As the recent President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) 2010 review of the Networking Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) [http://www.nitrd.gov/pcast-2010/report/nitrd-program/pcast-nitrd-report-2010.pdf] program notes, the pipeline of data to knowledge to action has tremendous potential in transforming all areas of national priority. This initiative will also lay the foundations for complementary big data activities -- big data infrastructure projects, workforce development, and progress in addressing complex, multi-disciplinary grand challenge problems in science and engineering. 

 

Announcement Number: NSF 12-499

Due Date: June 13, 2012 Mid-Scale Projects; July 11, 2012 Small Projects

 

Link to Full Announcement

 

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12499/nsf12499.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_179  

 

 

Contact Information

 

·         Vasant G. Honavar, NSF - CISE, telephone: (703) 292-7129, email: vhonavar@nsf.gov

·         Jia Li, NSF - MPS, telephone: (703) 292-4870, email: jli@nsf.gov

·         Dane Skow, NSF - OCI, telephone: (703) 292-4551, email: dskow@nsf.gov

·         Peter H. McCartney, NSF - BIO, telephone: (703) 292-8470, email: pmccartn@nsf.gov

·         Doris L. Carver, NSF - EHR, telephone: (703) 292-5038, email: dcarver@nsf.gov

·         Eduardo A. Misawa, NSF - ENG, telephone: (703) 292-5353, email: emisawa@nsf.gov

·         Eva Zanzerkia, NSF - GEO, telephone: (703) 292-8556, email: ezanzerk@nsf.gov

·         Peter Muhlberger, NSF - SBE, telephone: (703) 292-7848, email: pmuhlber@nsf.gov

·         Vladimir Papitashvili, NSF - OPP, telephone: (703) 292-7425, email: vpapita@nsf.gov

·         Karin A. Remington, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, telephone: (301) 451-6446, email: remingka@nigms.nih.gov

·         Jerry Li, National Cancer Institute, NIH, telephone: (301) 435-5226, email: jiayinli@mail.nih.gov

·         Vinay M. Pai, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering, NIH, telephone: (301) 451-4781, email: paiv@mail.nih.gov

·         Karen Skinner, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, telephone: (301) 443-1887, email: kskinner@nida.nih.gov

·         Yuan Liu, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, telephone: (301) 496-1917, email: liuyuan@ninds.nih.gov

·         Valerie Florance, National Library of Medicine, NIH, telephone: (301) 496-4621, email: florancev@mail.nih.gov

·         Vivien Bonazzi, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), NIH, telephone: (301) 451-8276, email: bonazziv@mail.nih.gov