Attention HPC Users: the NSF Wants to Hear From You

The National Science Foundation has just issued a Dear Colleague Letter seeking a “Request for Information on Future Needs for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure to Support Science and Engineering Research.”

As stated in the solicitation, “In this Request for Information (RFI), NSF encourages community input to inform the Foundation’s strategy and plans for an advanced cyberinfrastructure that will enable the frontiers of science and engineering to continue to advance over the next decade and beyond (NSF CI 2030).

This whole-of-NSF activity recognizes that researchers in different disciplines may need different resources; may have differing priorities for access, interoperability, and continuity; and may require external expertise to address the most critical problems in their discipline. We therefore strongly encourage researchers in all fields of science, engineering and education to respond to this Request for Information.”

The NSF invites individuals or groups to provide input on the specific scientific and engineering research challenges that require advanced cyberinfrastructure for their solutions, via the following submission website: http://www.nsfci2030.org. Contributions must be made on or before 5:00 PM Eastern time on April 5, 2017.

The online submission form requires the following information:

• Author names(s) and affiliation(s).
• Valid contact email address.
• Research domain(s), discipline(s)/sub-discipline(s) of the author(s).
• Title of the response, and an abstract (200 words) summarizing the response.
• Question 1 (maximum 1200 words) – Research Challenge(s). Describe current or emerging science or engineering research challenge(s), providing context in terms of recent research activities and standing questions in the field.
• Question 2 (maximum 1200 words) – Cyberinfrastructure Needed to Address the Research Challenge(s). Describe any limitations or absence of existing cyberinfrastructure, and/or specific technical advancements in cyberinfrastructure (e.g. advanced computing, data infrastructure, software infrastructure, applications, networking, cybersecurity), that must be addressed to accomplish the identified research challenge(s).
• Question 3 (maximum 1200 words, optional) – Other considerations. Any other relevant aspects, such as organization, process, learning and workforce development, access, and sustainability, that need to be addressed; or any other issues that NSF should consider.
• Checkbox to consent to NSF’s use and display of the submitted information, consistent with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode). NSF anticipates making submissions publically accessible through an NSF CI 2030 website.