The National Science Foundation is investing $75 million to create five new research institutes that will facilitate collaboration among data scientists and systems engineers to develop data-intensive approaches to research topics ranging from the origins of life to climate change.
The new investment comes in an effort to harness the power of the data revolution as part of an ongoing NSF program to identify and support emerging opportunities for U.S. leadership in science and technology.
The new institutes include:
- An institute led by The Ohio State University that will use machine learning algorithms to analyze images from large databases such as museums, field stations, or laboratories to gain insight into how life evolves.
- An institute run by the University of Washington researching how to apply AI to the fields of high-energy physics, multi-messenger astrophysics, and systems neuroscience, as well as develop custom AI to process large datasets in real time.
- A group headed by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which will serve as a research hub for data science, cyberinfrastructure, as well as Arctic and Antarctic science experts to collaborate on issues around climate change, sea-level rise, and the Arctic.
- An institute led by the Colorado School of Mines, which will tackle complex data-science innovations by predicting dynamical processes in materials and discovering new mechanisms and pathways.
- A project fronted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which plans to use geospatial data to enhance community resilience and environmental sustainability, while looking to better understand the risks and impacts of climate change.
“These new institutes will lead innovation in data science,” said Manish Parashar, office director for NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure. “They position our nation at the cutting edge of global science and engineering by bringing together diverse perspectives to support convergent research."
NSF awarded around $15 million to each project, all of which are expected to run until 2026.
