Title : NSF 95-58 CISE NEWSLETTER
Type : Letter
NSF Org: CISE
Date : April 7, 1995
File : nsf9558
CISE NEWSLETTER NSF 95-58 (Replaces NSF 94-7)
April 1995
Dr. Paul R. Young
Assistant Director of NSF for
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
CONTENTS
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS R&D STRATEGIC PLAN
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT ON THE FEDERAL HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
AND COMMUNICATION INITIATIVE
TASK FORCE TO EXPLORE FUTURE OF NSF SUPERCOMPUTER CENTERS
NII 2000 PROJECT CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS: PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND FEDERAL
NII POLICY
METACENTER REGIONAL ALLIANCES - 1995
NSF THEORY OF COMPUTING PROGRAM SEEKS COMMENTS ON FUTURE DIRECTIONS
RICHARD KIEBURTZ APPOINTED CCR DIVISION DIRECTOR
CISE CURRENT STAFF LIST
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS R&D STRATEGIC PLAN
At the request of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the NSTC
Committee on Information and Communications R&D has developed a strategic
implementation plan which lays out an agenda for information and
communications R&D which has six strategic focus areas: global-scale
information infrastructure technologies, high performance/scalable systems,
high confidence systems, virtual environments, user-centered interfaces and
tools, and human resources and education. The plan builds on the successses
of the interagency HPCC program and sets forth a high level strategy for the
federal government's research and development in information and
communications into the 21st century. It is expected that a workshop with
academic and industrial participants will be held in June, 1995 to refine
and help further develop the plan. The report was released by the White
House on March 21, 1995. Copies of the report can be obtained by contacting
the National Coordination Office for HPCC: nco@hpcc.gov.
Paul Young of NSF and John Toole, then of ARPA, co-chaired the interagency
group which developed the plan. Effective March 1, John Toole became head
of the National Coordination Office for HPCC and chair of the Interagency
Committee on High Performance Computing, Communications and Information
Technology which coordinates the federal HPCC program and is actively
involved in working with the NSTC Committee on Informations and
Communications in developing future plans.
The NSTC Committee on Infromations and Communications is co-chaired by
Anita Jones of DOD and Skip Johns of OSTP with Paul Young, NSF CISE
Assistant Director, serving as vice-chair.
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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT ON THE FEDERAL HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
AND COMMUNICATION INITIATIVE
In early 1994, Congress asked the National Research Council (NRC) to
examine the status of the high performance computing and communications
initiative. For this study the NRC's Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board convened a committee of 12 members co-chaired by
Fred Brooks of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Ivan
Sutherland of SUN Microsystems Laboratories. The committee conducted a
comprehensive review of the HPCC program and produced a report titled
"Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to
Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure." This report which was
released by the NRC, February 2, 1995 contains important recommendations of
which the CISE community should be aware. One of its important
recommendations was that the federal government "continue to support
research in information technology. Ensure that the major funding
agencies, especially the NSF and ARPA, have strong programs for computing
research that are independent of any special initiatives." Copies of the
report can be obtained from: National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20148.
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TASK FORCE TO EXPLORE FUTURE OF NSF SUPERCOMPUTER CENTERS
At its October 1994 meeting, the National Science Board (NSB) approved a
two year extension of the cooperative agreements with the four NSF
Supercomputer Centers with the understanding that a plan for the future of
the Centers program would be presented to the NSB in late 1995. To aid in
the task of planning the future, Neal Lane, Director of NSF, and Paul
Young, Assistant Director of NSF for CISE, have appointed a task force to
explore alternative futures for the Centers program and make
recommendations about them. The task force is chaired by Ed Hayes, former
NSF comptroller and now Vice President for research at Ohio State
University. Its membership consists of computational and computer
scientists from industry, national labs and universities. The first
meeting was held in February and the task force expects to complete its
work in the summer of 1995. The task force is committed to gather inputs
from as broad a segment of the scientific and engineering communtiy as
possible. If readers have comments or questions, they can contact the
committee staff at <rkaplan@nsf.gov>.
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NII 2000 PROJECT CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS: PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND FEDERAL NII
POLICY
The NII 2000 Steering Committee -- a group of executives and distinguished
academicians -- seeks white papers from academia, businesses, foundations,
industry, interest groups, trade associations and other interested parties
on topics relevant to NII technology deployment. The Committee is charged
by the Technology Policy Working Group (TPWG) of the federal Information
Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) with a year-long course of activities to
develop a baseline understanding regarding what technologies are to be
deployed, when, where, and by whom. The project is being coordinated by the
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National
Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). NSF, NIST
and ARPA are jointly sponsoring the project for the TPWG via a grant through
the Division of Information, Robotics and Intelligent System (IRIS) of NSF's
Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).
The project is drawing upon inputs from multiple industries, sectors,
organizations and individual experts. It is anticipated that the white
papers received may fall into three broad categories: sector-specific (e.g.,
industry by industry projections over the next 5-7 years), domain-specific
(e.g., those aimed at enabling major NII Application domains) and specific
topics.
All white papers will be made available to federal NII decision makers and
will be considered for discussion at a Spring Forum in Washington, D.C.,
May 23-24, 1995. White paper authors will have the opportunity to revise
their papers after the Spring Forum. All papers -- regardless of whether
they are selected for discussion at the Spring Forum -- will be presented
to the government and will contribute to the Steering Committee's final NII
2000 report to the TPWG and the public.
Directions for responding to the Call for White Papers, including
guidelines for content, outline of format and style, are available to the
public on-line on the World Wide Web at:
"http://ntiaunix1.utia.doc.dov:70/0/iitf/appstech/techpolwg/tpwgcall.html".
It may also be reached by browsing through "http://iitf.doc.gov"
heirarchy under: "IITF Committees and Working Groups: Committee on
Applications and Technology: The Technology Policy Working Group: Private
Investment and NII Policy Call for Papers." Abstracts were due March 27.
Forum version papers are due April 27. Edited (final) version papers are
due June 30. For more information, contact John Godfrey, CSTB,
(202)334-2605 or e-mail to jgodfrey@nas.edu.
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METACENTER REGIONAL ALLIANCES - 1995
Introduction
The term Metacenter refers to the joint cooperative activities of the four
NSF Supercomputer Centers and others in naturally overlapping research and
technology areas. The Metacenter facilitates effective collaboration,
communication, technical progress, and interoperability among participating
institutions. To encourage further extension and collaborative integration
of Metacenter activities with those of other providers of high performance
computing, communications and information infrastructure, in FY1994 the
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate
initiated a program of Metacenter Regional Alliances (MRAs). In addition to
augmenting national support activities, MRAs are intended to complement,
expand and strengthen existing Metacenter activities at the regional, state
or local level. Participants in MRAs are expected to prototype new local
and regional activities having the potential for being broadly replicated.
Metacenter Regional Alliances enhance the computing, communications, and
information technology expertise of a wide variety of organizations and
individuals in the university, education, public and private sectors. The
purpose is to facilitate broad involvement in the emerging National
Information Infrastructure (NII), and contribute to the nation's ability to
address Grand and National Challenge application problems, i.e., those
problems which are either computation or information intensive, in the High
Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program.
Six awards were made in FY1994, and four to six additional MRA awards are
anticipated in FY 1995.
A Program Guideline "Metacenter Regional Alliances -1995" (NSF 95-38) is
available on STIS. For more information, contact Dr. Richard Hirsh, (703)
306-1970, rhirsh@nsf.gov.
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NSF THEORY OF COMPUTING PROGRAM SEEKS COMMENTS ON FUTURE DIRECTIONS
There are several new research areas being contemplated for the future in
the Theory of Computing Program, including:
* Machine learning and human learning interactions;
* Approximate solutions for NP hard problems;
* Computational molecular biology utilizing traditional algorithms; and
* Foundations of complexity theory.
To explore these and other new areas, the NSF Theory of Computing Program
is holding a session at ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing, '95
(STOC'95) on Thursday , June 1, 1995 (5:30pm - 6:30pm). This session will
provide input for an invitational workshop on new directions for research
in theoretical computer science, chaired by Richard Karp.
Interested parties are invited to submit their thoughts by May 22, 1995 so
that copies of material received can be made available to attendees. Input
is limited to one page and should be sent in writing, or by email to:
Dana May Latch
Program Director
Theoretical Computer Science
dlatch@nsf.gov
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RICHARD KIEBURTZ APPOINTED CCR DIVISION DIRECTOR
Dr. Richard B. Kieburtz has been appointed Division Director for the
Division of Computer and Computation Research (CCR) effective July 1, 1995
and is expected to assume full duties as Division Director by August 1,
1995. Dr. Kieburtz comes to NSF from the Oregon Graduate Institute of
Science and Technology where he is a Professor in the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering. His research interests are in functional
programming languages, software generators, and formal methods in software
engineering.
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CISE CURRENT STAFF LIST
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
4201 Wilson Blvd. Suite 1105
Arlington, VA 22230
POSITION NAME EXT NETNAME
DIRECTORATE FOR COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
(Suite 1105) FAX Extension 0577
Assistant Director Paul Young 1900 pryoung
Deputy Assistant Director Melvyn Ciment 1900 mciment
Acting Executive Officer Merrell Patrick 1900 mpatrick
Sr.Advisor for Planning Analysis & Policy
Jerome S. Daen 1900 jdaen
Acting HPCC Coordinator Robert G. Voigt 1900 rvoigt
Policy Analyst Roger Shull 1900 rshull
Executive Director, Federal Networking Council
Walter Wiebe 1900 wwiebe
DIVISION OF COMPUTER & COMPUTATION RESEARCH
(Suite 1145) FAX Extension 1947
Division Director (Acting) Bruce H. Barnes 1910 bbarnes
Deputy Division Director Bruce H. Barnes 1910 barnes
Theory of Computing Dana Latch 1911 dlatch
Computer Systems Yechezkel Zalcstein 1914 zzalcste
Numeric Symbolic & Geometric Comp.
S. Kamal Abdali 1912 kabdali
Programming Languages & Compilers (Acting)
Krishna Kavi 1910 kkavi
Helen Gill 1912 hgill
Operating Systems & Software Systems
Krishna Kavi 1912 kkavi
Software Engineering Helen Gill 1912 hgill
Special Projects Gerald Engel 1910 gengel
DIVISION OF INFORMATION, ROBOTICS & INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(Suite 1115) FAX Extension 0599
Division Director Yi-Tzuu (YT) Chien 1930 ytchien
Deputy Division Director (Acting) Howard Moraff 1928 hmoraff
Special Projects Stephen M. Griffin 1930 sgriffin
Special Projects John Hestenes 1930 jhestene
Database and Expert Systems Maria Zemankova 1926 mzemanko
Info.Tech. & Organizations Su-Shing Chen 1927 schen
Interactive Systems Gary W. Strong 1928 gstrong
Knowledge Models & Cog. Syst. Larry Reeker 1926 lreeker
Robotics and Machine Intelligence
Howard Moraff 1928 hmoraff
Ron Ashany 1928 rashany
DIVISION OF MICROELECTRONIC INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS
(Suite 1155) FAX Extension 0610
Division Director Bernard Chern 1940 bchern
Deputy Division Director John R. Lehmann 1940 jlehmann
Design, Tools, and Test Robert B. Grafton 1936 rgrafton
Microelectronic Systems Architecture
J. Robert Jump 1936 jjump
Circuits & Signal Processing John H. Cozzens 1936 jcozzens
Experimental Systems Michael J. Foster 1936 mfoster
Systems Prototype & Fabrication
John Staudhammer 1936 jstaudha
DIVISION OF ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING
(Suite 1122) FAX Extension 0632
Division Director Robert R. Borchers 1970 rborcher
Deputy Division Director Richard Hirsh 1970 rhirsh
Supercomputer Centers Richard E. Kaplan 1963 rkaplan
Assoc. Prog. Dir. Lawrence E. Brandt 1963 lbrandt
Staff Associate Irene Lombardo 1963 ilombard
New Technologies (Acting) Richard Hirsh 1962 rhirsh
DIVISION OF NETWORKING & COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH & INFRASTRUCTURE
(Suite 1175) FAX Extension 0621
Division Director Jane S. Caviness 1950 jcavines
Deputy Division Director(Acting) Aubrey Bush 1950 abush
Staff Associate Donald R. Mitchell 1950 dmitchel
Staff Associate Roger Taylor 1950 rotaylor
NSFNET Priscilla Huston 1949 phuston
International Coordinator Steven Goldstein 1949 sgoldste
Associate Program Officer David A. Staudt 1949 dstaudt
Associate Program Officer Douglas Gatchel 1949
Networking & Comm. Res. Prog. Dir.
Aubrey Bush 1949 abush
Program Manager Darleen L. Fisher 1949 dlfisher
OFFICE OF CROSS-DISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES
(Suite 1160) FAX Extension 0589
Head John Cherniavsky 1980 jchernia
CISE Special Projects - other Tse-Yun Feng 1981 tfeng
CISE Educational Infrastructure Tse-Yun Feng 1981 tfeng
CISE Research Infrastructure Caroline Wardle 1981 cwardle
CISE Minority, Disabled Special Projects
Harry Hedges 1981 hhedges
CISE Education, Women Special Projects
Caroline Wardle 1981 cwardle
CISE Minority Infrastructure Harry Hedges 1981 hhedges
CISE Instrumentation Tse-Yun Feng 1981 tfeng
NETADDRESSES ARE: netaddress@nsf.gov (INTERNET) OR
netaddress@nsf (BITNET).
TELEPHONE NUMBERS ARE 703-306-EXT
NSF'S TDD NUMBER IS (703) 306-0090
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CISE Newsletter Editor
Dr. John R. Lehmann
Deputy Division Director
MIPS Division
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
703-306-1940
FAX: 703-306-0610
jlehmann@nsf.gov