Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation

NSF's vision of a Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) identifies advancing new computational infrastructure as a priority for driving innovation in science and engineering. Software is an integral enabler of computation, experiment and theory and a central component of the new computational infrastructure. Scientific discovery and innovation are advancing along fundamentally new pathways opened by the development of increasingly sophisticated software. Software is also directly responsible for increased scientific productivity and significant enhancement of researchers' capabilities. In order to nurture, accelerate and sustain this critical mode of scientific progress, NSF has established the Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) program (http://www.nsf.gov/si2/), with the overarching goal of transforming innovations in research and education into sustained software resources that are an integral part of the cyberinfrastructure. SI2 is a long-term investment focused on catalyzing new thinking, paradigms, and practices in developing and using software to understand natural, human, and engineered systems. It is NSF's expectation that the SI2 investment will result in robust, reliable, usable and sustainable software infrastructure that is critical to the CIF21 vision and will transform science and engineering while contributing to the education of next generation researchers and creators of future cyberinfrastructure. Education at all levels will play an important role in integrating such a dynamic cyberinfrastructure into the fabric of how science and engineering is done.The SI2 program includes three classes of awards:1. Scientific Software Elements (SSE): SSE awards target small groups that will create and deploy robust software elements for which there is a demonstrated need that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering.2. Scientific Software Integration (SSI): SSI awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems. SSI awards will result in sustainable community software frameworks serving a diverse community.3. Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2): S2I2 awards will focus on the establishment of long-term hubs of excellence in software infrastructure and technologies that will serve a research community of substantial size and disciplinary breadth. This solicitation is focused on the Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2) class of awards. Two subclasses of awards are planned for the S2I2 part of this program: Conceptualization Awards, which are planning awards aimed at organizing an interdisciplinary community and understanding their software requirements and challenges, and Implementation Awards, which will be made to implement community plans for software infrastructure, such as those developed by the conceptualization awards. Only S2I2 Conceptualization Awards will be made in FY12. Please note that successful proposals will demonstrate clear and compelling science-driven goals that are responsive to research priorities identified across and within participating units. It is strongly recommended that prospective PIs contact program officers from the list of Cognizant Program Officers to ascertain that the scientific focus of the proposed work is appropriate for this solicitation.Proposals submitted to NSF in response to this solicitation must have a clear relevance to the overall SI2 program and should be responsive to this solicitation and its review criteria. Proposals that are not relevant or not responsive to the solicitation will not be considered for funding and will be returned without review.