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SoftwareInfrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) is a long-term investment focused on realizing a portion of the Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21, http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504730) vision and catalyzing new thinking, paradigms and practices in science and engineering. CIF21 envisions a linked cyberinfrastructure architecture that integrates large-scale computing, high-speed networks, massive data archives, instruments and major facilities, observatories, experiments, and embedded sensors and actuators, across the nation and the world, and that enables research at unprecedented scales, complexity, resolution, and accuracy by integrating computation, data, and experiments in novel ways. Software is a primary modality through which CIF21 innovation and discovery will be realized. It permeates all aspects and layers of cyberinfrastructure (from application codes and frameworks, programming systems, libraries and system software, to middleware, operating systems, networking and the low-level drivers). The CIF21 software infrastructure must address the complexity of this cyberinfrastructure, accommodating: disruptive hardware trends; ever-increasing data volumes; data integrity, privacy, and confidentiality; security; complex application structures and behaviors; and emerging concerns such as fault-tolerance and energy efficiency. The programs must focus on building robust, reliable and sustainable software that will support and advance sustained scientific innovation and discovery.
 The Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Directorate (CISE/ACI) is partnering with Directorates and Offices across the NSF to support SI2, a long-term comprehensive program focused on realizing a sustained software infrastructure that is an integral part of CIF21.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will far exceed the simple embedded systems of today. CPS technology will transform the way people interact with engineered systems -- just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New smart CPS will drive innovation and competition in sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, building design and automation, healthcare, and manufacturing. The December 2010 report of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) titled Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technologycalls for continued investment in CPS research because of its scientific and technological importance as well as its potential impact on grand challenges in a number of sectors critical to U.S. security and competitiveness such as the ones noted above. These challenges and technology gaps are further described in aCPS Vision Statementpublished in 2012 by the federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) CPS Senior Steering Group. Tremendous progress has been made in advancing CPS technology over the last five-plus years. We have explored foundational technologies that have spanned an ever-growing set of application domains, enabling breakthrough achievements in many of these fields. At the same time, the demand for innovation in these domains continues to grow, and is driving the need to accelerate fundamental research to

Recent advances in communications, computation, and sensing technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for the design of cyber-physical systems with increased responsiveness, interconnectivity and automation. To meet new challenges and societal needs, the Energy, Power, Control and Networks (EPCN) Program invests in systems and control methods for analysis and design of cyber-physical systems to ensure stability, performance, robustness, and security. Topics of interest include modeling, optimization, learning, and control of networked multi-agent systems, higher-level decision making, and dynamic resource allocation as well as risk management in the presence of uncertainty, sub-system failures and stochastic disturbances. EPCN also invests in adaptive dynamic programing, brain-like networked architectures performing real-time learning, and neuromorphic engineering. EPCN supports innovative proposals dealing with systems research in such areas as energy, transportation, and nanotechnology. EPCN places emphasis on electric power systems, including generation, transmission, storage, and integration of renewables; power electronics and drives; battery management systems; hybrid and electric vehicles; and understanding of the interplay of power systems with associated regulatory and economic structures and with consumer behavior. Also of interest are interdependencies of power and energy systems with other critical infrastructures. Topics of interest also include systems analysis and design for energy scavenging and alternate energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydrokinetic. The program also supports innovative tools and test beds, as well as curriculum development integrating research and education. In addition to single investigator projects, EPCN encourages cross-disciplinary proposals that benefit from active collaboration of researchers with complementary skills.

Recent advances in communications, computation, and sensing technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for the design of cyber-physical systems with increased responsiveness, interconnectivity and automation. To meet new challenges and societal needs, the Energy, Power, Control and Networks (EPCN) Program invests in systems and control methods for analysis and design of cyber-physical systems to ensure stability, performance, robustness, and security. Topics of interest include modeling, optimization, learning, and control of networked multi-agent systems, higher-level decision making, and dynamic resource allocation as well as risk management in the presence of uncertainty, sub-system failures and stochastic disturbances. EPCN also invests in adaptive dynamic programing, brain-like networked architectures performing real-time learning, and neuromorphic engineering. EPCN supports innovative proposals dealing with systems research in such areas as energy, transportation, and nanotechnology. EPCN places emphasis on electric power systems, including generation, transmission, storage, and integration of renewables; power electronics and drives; battery management systems; hybrid and electric vehicles; and understanding of the interplay of power systems with associated regulatory and economic structures and with consumer behavior. Also of interest are interdependencies of power and energy systems with other critical infrastructures. Topics of interest also include systems analysis and design for energy scavenging and alternate energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydrokinetic. The program also supports innovative tools and test beds, as well as curriculum development integrating research and education. In addition to single investigator projects, EPCN encourages cross-disciplinary proposals that benefit from active collaboration of researchers with complementary skills.

NSF is interested in supporting activities by the NSF Cyberinfrastructure community in the analysis of existing benchmarks, and in the development of new benchmarks, that measure real-world performance and effectiveness of large-scale computing systems for science and engineering discovery. Research, development, and use of performance benchmarks in high-performance computing (HPC) has been active for over 20 years, as evidenced by the development of LINPACK and the emergence of the TOP500 list in the early 1990s, followed by the development of the HPC Challenge Benchmark and the current HPCG effort (http://tiny.cc/hpcg). There have been efforts to provide benchmarks that include real applications, such as the SPEC High Performance Computing Benchmarks (http://spec.org/benchmarks.html#hpg), the Blue Waters SPP suite (http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/assets/pdf/news/BW1year_apps.pdf), and the NERSC SSP (https://www.nersc.gov/users/computational-systems/nersc-8-system-cori/nersc-8-procurement/trinity-nersc-8-rfp/nersc-8-trinity-benchmarks/ssp/). Recent efforts have sought to broaden the set of relevant benchmarks to more effectively cover performance under different application environments such as data-intensive analysis (e.g., Graph500). Energy efficiency has also emerged in recent years as a relevant and increasingly important area of measurement and profiling for HPC systems (e.g., Green500). In addition to HPC, the Big Data community has gained interest in benchmarking; reference approaches to measuring and characterizing system performance for large-scale data analysis hardware and software systems remains an area of research, development, and community discussion (e.g., on the Big Data Top 100). Industry and academe have convened an ongoing series of workshops and meetings on the topic of Big Data benchmarking (http://clds.ucsd.edu/bdbc/workshops). Given the emergence of inference-based computing, the growing role of data analysis, changes in scientific workflow du

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

Critical infrastructures are the mainstay of our nation's economy, security and health. These infrastructures are interdependent. They are linked to individual preferences and community needs. For example, the electrical power system depends on the delivery of fuels to power generating stations through transportation services, the production of those fuels depends in turn on the use of electrical power, and those fuels are needed by the transportation services. Social networks, interactions, and policies can enable or hinder the successful creation of resilient complex adaptive systems. The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative engineering research. CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains. CCSS supports innovative research and integrated educational activities in micro- and nano- electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), communications and sensing systems, and cyber-physical systems. The goal is to design, develop, and implement new complex and hybrid systems at all scales, including nano and macro, that lead to innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of application domains including, but not limited to, healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS also supports integration technologies at both intra- and inter- chip levels, new and advanced radio frequency (RF), millimeter wave and optical wireless and hybrid communications systems architectures, and sensing and imaging at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

1. Lithium-ion Battery Safety. Safety concerns continue to hamper full adoption of lithium-ion batteries for defense systems, despite significant research investments by the government and the private sector. This Defense initiative will advance promising lithium-ion battery safety technologies at university research laboratories into early laboratory prototypes and potentially minimum viable products for adoption by the defense and commercial sectors via early startups, small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. Specific technical areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: improved electrolytes; stable high-energy anodes and cathodes; cell components and structures that enhance safety and reliability (e.g. use of electrode coatings and electrolyte additives); safety optimization through battery and battery module design and packaging; and battery management and state of health techniques that prevent and/or mitigate catastrophic failure. 2. Electrical Grid Reliability, Resiliency and Security. Both the defense and commercial sectors recognize the ever-growing criticality to enhance electrical grid reliability, resiliency and security through innovation at the component and system levels. This Defense initiative will advance relevant electrical grid innovations at university research laboratories into early laboratory prototypes and potentially minimum viable products for adoption by the defense and commercial sectors via early startups, small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. Specific technical areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: advanced electrical power generation, transmission and distribution hardware and software; physical cyber secured industrial controls hardware and software; effective control of microgrids supporting high-dynamic loads; electrical grid protocols and controls to maintain secured operations of critical infrastructure under adverse conditions; hardening of e

This ROSES-2014 NRA (NNH14ZDA001N) solicits basic and applied research in support of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). This NRA covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, scientific balloon, sounding rocket, International Space Station, CubeSat, and suborbital reusable launch vehicle investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system models; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data. Awards range from under $100K per year for focused, limited efforts (e.g., data analysis) to more than $1M per year for extensive activities (e.g., development of science experiment hardware). The funds available for awards in each program element offered in this ROSES-2014 NRA range from less than one to several million dollars, which allows selection from a few to as many as several dozen proposals depending on the program objectives and the submission of proposals of merit. Awards will be made as grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and inter- or intraagency transfers, depending on the nature of the proposing organization and/or program requirements. The

Synopsis of Program: The Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), have joined to support the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program. This program supports active long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer and Information Science, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers and community college and university faculty and students to bring knowledge of engineering or computer and information science and engineering as well as technological innovation to pre-college/community college classrooms. The goal of these partnerships is to enable K-12 STEM teachers and community college faculty to translate their research experiences and new knowledge gained in university settings into their classroom activities. The university team will include faculty, graduate and undergraduate students as well as industrial advisors. Involvement of graduate students in support of academic-year classroom activities is particularly encouraged. Partnerships with inner city, rural or other high needs schools are especially encouraged, as is participation by underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. As part of the long-term partnership arrangements, university undergraduate/graduate students will partner with pre-college/community college faculty in their classrooms during the academic year to help teach engineering/computer science concepts. This announcement features two mechanisms for support of in-service and pre-service K-12 STEM teachers and community college faculty: (1) RET supplements to ongoing ENG and CISE awards and (2) new RET Site awards. RET supplements may be included outside this solicitation in proposals for new or renewed NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) grants or as supplements to ongoing NSF ENG and CISE funded pro

The Office ofAdvanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) supports translational research and education activities in all aspects of advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) that lead to deployable, scalable, and sustainable systems capable of transforming science and engineering research. Advanced CI includes the spectrum of computational, data, software, networking, and security resources, tools, and services, along with the computational and data skills and expertise, that individually and collectively can transform science and engineering. OAC supports advanced CI research to address new CI frontiers for discovery leading to major innovations, and supports the development and deployment processes, as well as expert services, necessary for realizing the research CI that is critical to the advancement of all areas of science and engineering research and education. OAC research investments are characterized by their translational nature, i.e., building on basic research results and spanning the design to practice stages. They are further characterized by one or more of the following key attributes: multi-disciplinary, extreme-scale, driven by science and engineering research, end-to-end, and deployable as robust research CI. Areas of translational research supported by OAC include systems architecture and middleware for extreme-scale systems, scalable algorithms and applications, and the advanced CI ecosystem. Principal investigators (PIs) are strongly encouraged to contact an OAC cognizant program director listed in this solicitation with a 1-page project summary for further guidance. For foundational computer and information science and engineering research, PIs are referred to the core research programs of the Computer and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer and Network Systems (CNS), and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) divisions of CISE. Proposers are invited to submit proposals in one project class, which is defined as follows:

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Burma and the National Department of Health (NDOH) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) plan to rapidly expand high-quality antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage in the coming years by increasing capacity at existing delivery sites and decentralizing selected services to provincial, district and township levels. In order to accomplish this expansion, the MOH and NDOH need strong laboratory systems that ensure high-quality HIV diagnostic and clinical monitoring of patients at the existing and new service delivery sites. This will require strengthening the capacity of Burma's National Health Laboratory (NHL) and Papua New Guinea's Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), as well as building capacity of sub-national laboratories and improving the laboratory network in these countries.This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will be awarded to a technical assistance (TA) partner to provide support to NHL and CPHL in several key areas, including: (1) developing and helping implement standard operating procedures, policies, guidelines, and training materials related to management and operations of national and sub-national laboratories; (2) building capacity of NHL and CPHL staff to validate, conduct, and ensure strong (and often cross-cutting) quality assurance and monitoring systems for HIV-related diagnostic and clinical monitoring activities; (3) strengthening the overall laboratory network in Burma and PNG that may include specimen transport and right-sizing of various classes of laboratories; and (4) providing supporting mentoring of NHL and NDOH staff and opportunities for professional development.

Computing systems have undergone a fundamental transformation from the single-processor devices of the turn of the century to today's ubiquitous and networked devices and warehouse-scale computing via the cloud. Parallelism has become ubiquitous at many levels. The proliferation of multi- and many-core processors, ever-increasing numbers of interconnected high performance and data intensive edge devices, and the data centers servicing them, is enabling a new set of global applications with large economic and social impact. At the same time, semiconductor technology is facing fundamental physical limits and single processor performance has plateaued.  This means that the ability to achieve predictable performance improvements through improved processor technologies has ended. The Exploiting  Parallelism and Scalability (XPS) program aims to support groundbreaking research leading to a new era of parallel computing. XPS seeks research re-evaluating, and possibly re-designing, the traditional computer hardware and software stack for today's heterogeneous parallel and distributed systems and exploring new holistic approaches to parallelism and scalability.  Achieving the needed breakthroughs will require a collaborative effort among researchers representing all areas-- from the application layer down to the micro-architecture-- and will be built on new concepts and new foundational principles. New approaches to achieve scalable performance and usability need new abstract models and algorithms, programming models and languages, hardware architectures, compilers, operating systems and run-time systems, and exploit domain and application-specific knowledge. Research should also focus on energy- and communication

The Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE),  Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program supports the active involvement of K-12 science, technology, engineering, computer and information science, and mathematics (STEM) teachers and community college faculty in engineering and computer science research in order to bring knowledge of engineering, computer science, and technological innovation into their classrooms. The goal is to help build long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 STEM teachers, community college faculty, and the NSF university research community by involving the teachers and community college faculty in engineering and computer science research and helping them translate their research experiences and new knowledge into classroom activities.  Partnerships with inner city schools or other high needs schools are especially encouraged, as is participation by underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. This announcement features two mechanisms for support of in-service and pre-service K-12 STEM teachers and community college faculty: RET supplements to ongoing ENG or CISE awards and new RET Site awards. RET supplements may be included in proposals for new or renewed NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) or CISE grants or as supplements to ongoing NSF ENG or CISE funded projects. RET in Engineering and Computer Science Sites are based on independent proposals from engineering or computer and information science departments, schools or colleges to initiate and conduct research participation projects for a number of K-12 STEM teachers and/or community college faculty.

Description: The Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) Program supports innovative research in circuit and system hardware and signal processing techniques. CCSS also supports system and network architectures for communications and sensing to enable the next-generation cyber-physical systems (CPS) that leverage computation, communication, and sensing integrated with physical domains. CCSS invests in micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), physical, chemical, and biological sensing systems, neurotechnologies, and communication & sensing circuits and systems. The goal is to create new complex and hybrid systems ranging from nano- to macro-scale with innovative engineering principles and solutions for a variety of applications including but not limited to healthcare, medicine, environmental and biological monitoring, communications, disaster mitigation, homeland security, intelligent transportation, manufacturing, energy, and smart buildings. CCSS encourages research proposals based on emerging technologies and applications for communications and sensing such as high-speed communications of terabits per second and beyond, sensing and imaging covering microwave to terahertz frequencies, personalized health monitoring and assistance, secured wireless connectivity and sensing for the Internet of Things, and dynamic-data-enabled autonomous systems through real-time sensing and learning.

EarthCube is a community-driven activity sponsored through a partnership between the NSF Directorate for Geosciences (GEO)and the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering's (CISE) Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)to transformresearch inthe academic geosciences community. EarthCube aims to create a well-connected and facile environment to share data and knowledge in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner, thus accelerating our ability to understand and predict the Earth system. Achieving EarthCube will requirea long-term dialog between NSF and the interested scientific communities to develop cyberinfrastructure that is thoughtfully and systematically built to meet the current and future requirements of geoscientists. New avenues will be supported to gather community requirements and priorities for the elements of EarthCube, and to capture the best technologies to meet these current and future needs. The EarthCube portfolio will consist of interconnected projects and activities that engage the geosciences, cyberinfrastructure, computer science, and associated communities. The portfolio of activities and funding opportunities will evolve over time depending on the status of the EarthCube effort and the scientific and cultural needs of the geosciences community. This umbrella solicitation for EarthCube allows funding opportunities to be flexible and responsive to emerging needs and collaborative processes. The EarthCube vision and goals do not change over time, and this section of the solicitation will remain constant. Funding opportunities to develop elements of the EarthCube environment will be described in Amendments to this solicitation. Amendments will appear in the Program Description section of the solicitation and will include details on the parameters, scope, conditions, and requirements of the proposal call. Researchers who receive alerts related to solicitation releases will receive notification when the EarthCube solicitati

The CDS&E-MSS program accepts proposals that confront and embrace the host of mathematical and statistical challenges presented to the scientific and engineering communities by the ever-expanding role of computational modeling and simulation on the one hand, and the explosion in production of digital and observational data on the other. The goal of the program is to promote the creation and development of the next generation of mathematical and statistical theories and tools that will be essential for addressing such issues. To this end, the program will support fundamental research in mathematics and statistics whose primary emphasis will be on meeting the aforementioned computational and data-related challenges. This program is part of the wider Computational and Data-enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E) enterprise in NSF that seeks to address this emerging discipline

The CDS&E-MSS program accepts proposals that confront and embrace the host of mathematical and statistical challenges presented to the scientific and engineering communities by the ever-expanding role of computational modeling and simulation on the one hand, and the explosion in production of digital and observational data on the other. The goal of the program is to promote the creation and development of the next generation of mathematical and statistical theories and tools that will be essential for addressing such issues. To this end, the program will support fundamental research in mathematics and statistics whose primary emphasis will be on meeting the aforementioned computational and data-related challenges. This program is part of the wider Computational and Data-enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E) enterprise in NSF that seeks to address this emerging discipline

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Divisions of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) and Environmental Biology (DEB), in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), and the Division of Chemistry (CHE) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic soil processes, including soil formation, through advances in sensor systems and modeling. The Signals in the Soil (SitS) program fosters collaboration among the two partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions. To make transformative advances in our understanding of soils, multiple disciplines must converge to produce environmentally-benign novel sensing systems with multiple modalities that can adapt to different environments and collect and transmit data for a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical parameters. Effective integration of sensor data will be key for achieving a better understanding of signaling interactions among plants, animals, microbes, the soil matrix, and aqueous and gaseous components. New sensor networks have the potential to inform models in novel ways, to radically change how data is obtained from various natural and managed (both urban and rural) ecosystems, and to better inform the communities that directly rely on soils for sustenance and livelihood.

The Law & Science Program considers proposals that address social scientific studies of law and law-like systems of rules, as well as studies of how science and technology are applied in legal contexts. The Program is inherently interdisciplinary and multi-methodological. Successful proposals describe research that advances scientific theory and understanding of the connections between human behavior and law, legal institutions, or legal processes; or the interactions of law and basic sciences, including biology, computer and information sciences, STEM education, engineering, geosciences, and math and physical sciences. Scientific studies of law often approach law as dynamic, interacting with multiple arenas, and with the participation of multiple actors. Fields of study include many disciplines, and often address problems including, though not limited, to: Crime, Violence, and Policing Cyberspace Economic Issues Environmental Science Evidentiary Issues Forensic Science Governance and Courts Human Rights and Comparative Law Information Technology Legal and Ethical Issues related to Science Legal Decision Making Legal Mobilization and Conceptions of Justice Litigation and the Legal Profession Punishment and Corrections Regulation and Facilitation of Biotechnology (e.g., Gene Editing, Gene Testing, Synthetic Biology) and Other Emerging Sciences and Technologies Use of Science in the Legal Processes

A key focus of the design of modern computing systems is performance and scalability, particularly in light of the limits of Moore's Law and Dennard scaling. To this end, systems are increasingly being implemented by composing heterogeneous computing components and continually changing memory systems as novel, performant hardware surfaces. Applications fueled by rapid strides in machine learning, data analysis, and extreme-scale simulation are becoming more domain-specific and highly distributed. In this scenario, traditional boundaries between hardware-oriented and software-oriented disciplines increasingly are blurred. Achieving scalability of systems and applications will therefore require coordinated progress in multiple disciplines such as computer architecture, high-performance computing (HPC), programming languages and compilers, security and privacy, systems, theory, and algorithms. Cross-cutting concerns such as performance (including, but not limited to, time, space, and communication resource usage and energy efficiency), correctness and accuracy (including, but not limited to, emerging techniques for program analysis, testing, debugging, probabilistic reasoning and inference, and verification), security and privacy, robustness and reliability,  domain-specific design, and heterogeneity must be taken into account from the outset in all aspects of systems and application design and implementation. 

A key focus of the design of modern computing systems is performance and scalability, particularly in light of the limits of Moore's Law and Dennard scaling. To this end, systems are increasingly being implemented by composing heterogeneous computing components and continually changing memory systems as novel, performant hardware surfaces. Applications fueled by rapid strides in machine learning, data analysis, and extreme-scale simulation are becoming more domain-specific and highly distributed. In this scenario, traditional boundaries between hardware-oriented and software-oriented disciplines increasingly are blurred. Achieving scalability of systems and applications will therefore require coordinated progress in multiple disciplines such as computer architecture, high-performance computing (HPC), programming languages and compilers, security and privacy, systems, theory, and algorithms. Cross-cutting concerns such as performance (including, but not limited to, time, space, and communication resource usage and energy efficiency), correctness and accuracy (including, but not limited to, emerging techniques for program analysis, testing, debugging, probabilistic reasoning and inference, and verification), security and privacy, robustness and reliability, domain-specific design, and heterogeneity must be taken into account from the outset in all aspects of systems and application design and implementation.