Agency: National Science Foundation
Grant: Cyberinfrastructure Training, Education, Advancement, and Mentoring for Our 21st Century Workforce (CI-TEAM)
Full Proposal Deadline: April 27, 2010
Synopsis of Program:
New information, communication, and computational technologies have had profound impacts on the practice of science and engineering. Linked to create a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure, the systems, tools, and services emerging from these new technologies are enabling individuals, groups, and organizations to advance research and education in ways that revolutionize who can participate, what they can do, and how they do it. Sustaining this revolution across all areas of science and engineering requires the formation of a workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to design and deploy as well as adopt and apply these cyber-based systems, tools and services over the long-term. The opportunity for such preparation should be available at all stages of formal and informal education, training and professional development, and must be extended to all interested individuals and communities.
The CI-TEAM program supports projects that position the national science and engineering community to engage in integrated research and education activities promoting, leveraging and utilizing cyberinfrastructure systems, tools and services.
CI-TEAM awards will:
* Prepare current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and educators to design and develop as well as adopt and deploy, cyber-based tools and environments for research and learning, both formal and informal.
* Expand and enhance participation in cyberinfrastructure science and engineering activities of diverse groups of people and organizations, with particular emphasis on the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented individuals, institutions especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and communities as both creators and users of cyberinfrastructure.
This solicitation seeks three types of project proposals, all aimed at the preparation of a diverse, cyberinfrastructure-savvy science and engineering workforce. One type of proposal, the Demonstration Project, is exploratory in nature and may be somewhat limited in scope and scale. Demonstration Projects have the potential to serve as exemplars to effective larger-scale implementation and diffusion activities in the future. The second project type, the Implementation Project, is generally larger in scope or scale and draws on prior experience with the activities or the teams proposed. The third project type, the Diffusion Project, is expected to engage broad national audiences with research results, resources, models, and/or technologies. Implementation or Diffusion Projects are expected to deliver sustainable learning and workforce development activities that complement ongoing NSF investment in cyberinfrastructure.
All CI-TEAM projects seek to broaden and diversify the population of individuals and institutions participating in cyberinfrastructure activities specifically and, thereby, science and engineering more generally. Toward that goal, the three types of projects consist of collaborations with expertise in multiple disciplines and involve partnerships that support integrated research and learning among diverse organizations including, as appropriate, academic institutions of higher learning, primary and secondary schools, government, industry, professional societies, other not-for-profit organizations, and international partners. Other key features of CI-TEAM projects involve a commitment to: leveraging existing or current development efforts in cyberinfrastructure technologies; open software standards and open educational resources; the integration of research and learning; institutional partnerships; and strategic implementation, management, and evaluation plans. Following merit review of the proposals received, NSF expects to select for support 6 to 7 Demonstration Projects at up to $250,000 total each and 3 to 6 Implementation or Diffusion Projects at up to $1,000,000 total each that together constitute a rich portfolio of cyberinfrastructure-related workforce development activities.