NSF is involved in a number of challenging research initiatives, such as understanding the human brain; making interdependent critical infrastructure systems more resilient; securing and protecting food, energy and water resources; designing cyber-enabled materials that sense, respond and adapt to the environment; and educating and training professionals in emerging STEM fields. These initiatives address questions of increasing complexity, and require multidisciplinary approaches and expertise. Unprecedented growth in data (both simulations and observations) and rapid advances in technology (instrumentation at all scales, and cyberinfrastructure deployed to connect, compute, visualize, store, and discover) are changing the conduct and practice of science.

Cyberinfrastructure plays a critical role in these research initiatives. Through engagement across NSF directorates, the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Division is developing collaborative cyberinfrastructure programs that support multidisciplinary research: examples include Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBs); Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2), and Computational and Data-enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E). Other mechanisms include public access policies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and interagency and international partnerships. While these investments and activities are accelerating the progress of scientific discovery and innovation, significant challenges remain.

Amy Walton

Amy Walton is a Program Director in the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Division at the National Science Foundation, contributing to three major activities in which NSF has a leadership role:

• Data science (leading a major, cross-foundational initiative focused upon the availability and interoperability of science data cyberinfrastructure).
• Earth science research (a key sponsor of the EarthCube program, and NSF Representative to the US GEO Data Management Working Group (DMWG), an interagency coordinating committee focused upon data issues), and
• The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) research initiative, to advance the science and technologies needed to understand the human brain.

  Previously, Dr. Walton led the Earth Science Technology Office for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 2010 she was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for incorporating Earth Science Decadal Survey guidance into technology development programs, creating innovative options for reducing the development risks associated with high-priority Earth science remote sensing measurements and advanced cyberinfrastructure systems.

She directed a series of advanced research programs for the processing, analysis, management and visualization of Earth and space science data at the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

HUBzero Foundation

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Amy Walton (2016), "How Cyberinfrastructure is Advancing the Frontiers of Science," https://help.hubzero.org/resources/1514.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. hubbub
2. hubzero
3. 2015