Science and Engineering Infrastructure for the 21st Century

The role of the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

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Last Updated:
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report, based on a study conducted by the National Science Board (NSB), aims to inform the national dialogue on the current state and future direction of the science and engineering (S&E) infrastructure. It highlights the role of the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as the larger resource and management strategies of interest to Federal policymakers in both the executive and legislative branches.

CONTEXT AND FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY

There can be no doubt that a modern and effective research infrastructure is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in S&E. New tools have opened vast research frontiers and fueled technological innovation in fields such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and communications. The degree to which infrastructure is regarded as central to experimental research is indicated by the number of Nobel Prizes awarded for the development of new instrument technology. During the past twenty years, eight Nobel Prizes in physics were awarded for technologies such as the electron and scanning tunneling microscopes, laser and neutron spectroscopy, particle detectors, and the integrated circuit. 1

Recent concepts of infrastructure are expanding to include distributed systems of hardware, software, information bases, and automated aids for data analysis and interpretation. Enabled by information technology, a qualitatively different and new S&E infrastructure has evolved, delivering greater computational power, increased access, distribution and shared use, and new research tools, such as data analysis and interpretation aids, web-accessible databases, archives, and collaboratories. Many viable research questions can be answered only through the use of new generations of these powerful tools.

Among Federal agencies, NSF is a leader in providing the academic community with access to forefront instrumentation and facilities. Much of this infrastructure is intended to address currently intractable research questions, the answers to which may transform current scientific thinking. In an era of fast-paced discovery, it is imperative that NSF's infrastructure investments provide the maximum benefit to the entire S&E community. NSF must be prepared to assume a greater S&E infrastructure role for the benefit of the Nation.

STRATEGY FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

The Board, through its Task Force on S&E Infrastructure (INF), engaged in a number of activities designed to assess the general state and direction of the academic research infrastructure and illuminate the most promising future opportunities. These activities included reviewing the current literature, analyzing quantitative survey data, soliciting input from experts in the S&E community, discussing infrastructure topics with representatives from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and other Federal agencies, and surveying NSF's principal directorates and offices on S&E infrastructure needs and opportunities. A draft report was released for public comment on the NSB/INF Web site. Many comments were received and carefully considering in producing the final draft of this report (see Appendix C).

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Over the past decade, the funding for academic research infrastructure has not kept pace with rapidly changing technology, expanding research opportunities, and increasing numbers of users. Information technology and other technologies have enabled the development of many new S&E tools and made others more powerful, remotely usable, and connectable. The new tools being developed make researchers more productive and able to do more complex and different tasks than they could in the past. An increasing number of researchers and educators, working as individuals and in groups, need to be connected to a sophisticated array of facilities, instruments, databases, technical literature and data. Hence, there is an urgent need to increase Federal investments to provide access for scientists and engineers to the latest and best S&E infrastructure, as well as to update infrastructure currently in place.

To address these concerns, the Board makes the following five recommendations : 2

RECOMMENDATION 1: Increase the share of the NSF budget devoted to S&E infrastructure in order to provide individual investigators and groups of investigators with the tools they need to work at the frontier.
The current 22 percent of the NSF budget devoted to infrastructure is too low to provide adequate small and medium-scale infrastructure and needed investment in cyberinfrastructure. A share closer to the higher end of the historic range (22-27 percent) is desirable. It is hoped that significant additional resources for infrastructure will be provided through future growth of the NSF budget.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Give special emphasis to the following four categories of infrastructure needs: 3

  • Increase research to advance instrument technology and build next-generation observational, communications, data analysis and interpretation, and other computational tools.
    Instrumentation research is often difficult and risky, requiring the successful integration of theoretical knowledge, engineering and software design, and information technology. In contrast to most other infrastructure technologies, commercially available data analysis and data interpretation software typically lags well behind university-developed software, which is often not funded or under funded, limiting its use and accessibility. This research will accelerate the development of instrument technology to ensure that future research instruments and tools are as efficient and effective as possible.
  • Address the increased need for midsize infrastructure.
    While there are NSF programs for addressing "small" and "large" infrastructure needs, none exist for infrastructure projects costing between millions and tens of millions of dollars. This report cites numerous examples of unfunded midsize infrastructure needs that have long been identified as high priorities. NSF should increase the level of funding for midsize infrastructure, as well as develop new funding mechanisms, as appropriate, to support midsize projects.
  • Increase support for large facility projects.
    Several large facility projects have been approved for funding by the NSB but have not been funded. At present, an annual investment of at least $350 million is needed over several years just to address the backlog of facility projects construction. Postponing this investment now will not only increase the future cost of these projects but also result in the loss of U.S. leadership in key research fields.
  • Develop and deploy an advanced cyberinfrastructure to enable new S&E in the 21st century.
    This investment should address leading-edge computation as well as visualization facilities, data analysis and interpretation toolkits and workbenches, data archives and libraries, and networks of much greater power and in substantially greater quantity. Providing access to moderate-cost computation, storage, analysis, visualization, and communication for every researcher will lead to an even more productive national research enterprise. Design of these new technologies and capabilities must be guided by the needs of a variety of potential users, including scientists and engineers from many disciplines. This important undertaking requires a significant investment in software and technical staff, as well as hardware. This new infrastructure will play a critical role in creating tomorrow's research vistas.

RECOMMENDATION 3: Expand education and training opportunities at new and existing research facilities.
Investment in S&E infrastructure is critical to developing a 21st century S&E workforce. Education, training and outreach activities should be vital elements of all major research facility programs. Educating people to understand how S&E instruments and facilities work and how they uniquely contribute to knowledge in their targeted disciplines is critical. Outreach should span many diverse communities, including existing researchers and educators who may become new users, undergraduate and graduate students who may design and use future instruments, and kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) students, who may be motivated to become scientists and engineers. There are also opportunities to expand access to state-of-the-art S&E infrastructure to faculty and students at primarily undergraduate colleges and universities.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Strengthen the infrastructure planning and budgeting process through the following actions:

  • Foster systematic assessments of U.S. academic research infrastructure needs for both disciplinary and cross-disciplinary fields of research. Re-assess current surveys of infrastructure needs to determine if they fully measure and are responsive to current requirements.
  • Develop specific criteria and indicators to assist in establishing priorities and balancing infrastructure investments across S&E disciplines and fields.
  • Develop and implement budgets for infrastructure projects that include the total costs to be incurred over the entire life-cycle of the project, including research, planning, design, construction, commissioning, maintenance, operations, and, to the extent possible, research funding.
  • Conduct an assessment to determine the most effective NSF budget structure for supporting S&E infrastructure projects throughout their life-cycles, including the early research and development that is often difficult and risky.

Because of the need for the Federal Government to act holistically in addressing the requirements of the Nation's science and engineering enterprise, the Board developed a fifth recommendation, aimed principally at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).

RECOMMENDATION 5: Develop interagency plans and strategies to do the following:

  • Work with the relevant Federal agencies and the S&E community to establish interagency infrastructure priorities that rely on competitive merit review to select S&E infrastructure projects.
  • Stimulate the development and deployment of new infrastructure technologies to foster a new decade of infrastructure innovation.
  • Develop the next generation of the high-end high-performance computing and networking infrastructure needed to enable a broadly based S&E community to work at the research frontier.
  • Facilitate international partnerships to enable the mutual support and use of research facilities across national boundaries.
  • Protect the Nation's massive investment in S&E infrastructure against accidental or malicious attacks and misuse.

CONCLUSION

Rapidly changing infrastructure technology has simultaneously created a challenge and an opportunity for the U.S. S&E enterprise. The challenge is how to maintain and revitalize an academic research infrastructure that has eroded over many years due to obsolescence and chronic under investment. The opportunity is to build a new infrastructure that will create future research frontiers and enable a much broader segment of the S&E community. The challenge and opportunity must be addressed by an integrated strategy. As current infrastructure is replaced and upgraded, the next-generation infrastructure must be created. The young people who are trained using state-of-the-art instruments and facilities are the ones who will demand and create the new tools and make the breakthroughs that will extend the science and technology envelope. Training these young people will ensure that the U.S. maintains international leadership in the key scientific and engineering fields that are vital for a strong economy, social order, and national security.


 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
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