The NSF Cyberinfrastructure Movement and the Role for the CSE Research Community

The National Science Foundation has now established a high priority for implementing a program in advanced cyberinfrastructure R&D and application along the lines suggested in the February 2003 "final Report of the NSF Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure: Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure," chaired by Dan Atkins. This talk will review the findings of this report and survey its impact to date, including the formation of a new Office for Cyberinfrastructure in the office of the NSF Director. We will also note collateral developments in the humanities and in activities to plan for the future of the research university in the digital age. I will attempt to stimulate discussion about the opportunities the "cI movement" offers the CSE community at large and UM-EECS in particular. The full "atkins Report" is available at http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/reports/toc.jsp. Other background material is accumulating on a blog at deatkins.blogs.com.
Professor Atkins is the Director, Alliance for Community Technology, Professor of Electrical Engr & Computer Sci, and Professor in the School of Information