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Press Statement 12-001

MEXT and NSF Statement on Big Data and Disaster Research Collaboration From NSF Director Dr. Subra Suresh and MEXT Minister Mr. Hirofumi Hirano

Photo of NSF Director Suresh and MEXT Minister Hirofumi Hirano shaking hands.

NSF Director Subra Suresh and MEXT Minister Hirofumi Hirano met in Tokyo on June 5, 2012.


June 8, 2012

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

The catastrophic consequences of natural and human disasters have been demonstrated repeatedly in recent years, most notably in the Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster but also in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Hurricane Katrina, and regional droughts, floods and fires. These events clearly demonstrate the urgent need for basic research to advance fundamental knowledge and innovation for disaster prevention, mitigation and management. The big data revolution holds the potential to mitigate the effects of these events by enabling access to critical real time information.

We met in Tokyo on June 5, and agreed that U.S.-Japan collaboration in disaster research would yield important mutual advantages, leveraging our respective experiences and expertise to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience in our societies. We agreed in principle to support broad-based research collaborations among computer scientists, engineers, social scientists, biologists, geoscientists, physical scientists and mathematicians that strengthen our understanding of disaster robustness and resilience through big data.

Among the topics we agreed had potential for research collaboration are:

  • Harnessing the big data generated by disasters to advance analytic, modeling, and computational capabilities, with applications such as probabilistic hazard models.
  • Improving the resilience and responsiveness of information technology to enable real time data sensing, visualization, analysis, experimentation and prediction, critical for time-sensitive decision making.
  • Advancing fundamental knowledge and innovation for resilient and sustainable civil infrastructure and distributed infrastructure networks.
  • Acquiring big data and improving broad knowledge of preparedness and response at human, societal and global scales, including the human, social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  • Integrating expertise from multiple disciplines, input from end users and big data from all sources in the emergency preparedness and response community.

We agreed to develop a plan of action at the working level, with the aim of announcing a more detailed agreement before the end of 2012.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Dana Topousis, NSF, (703) 292-7750, email: dtopousi@nsf.gov

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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