Building a cyber-infrastructure science andengineeringworkforce

The NSF should be congratulated on this very important initiative to train engineers and scientists on the use and deployment of cyber-infrastructure tools and services. Cyber-infrastructure (CI) tools like service oriented architectures, web services, workflow, etc is going to have a profound effect not only on the way we do science, but will also have many direct commercial applications in telecommunications networks, process control, oil and gas, manufacturing, etc. Cyber-infrastructure may have as big an impact on productivity in the coming decade as the Internet did in the last. For examples of commercial applications of CI please see the CANARIE CIIP announcement at http://www.canarie.ca/funding/ciip/guidelines.html
From an article in Science Grid this Week --BSA

Proposals for NSF's CI-TEAM Solicitation

The National Science Foundation's first Cyberinfrastructure TEAM (CI-TEAM) solicitation seeks proposals from partnerships of organizations committed to the preparation of a diverse cyberinfrastructure-savvy science and
engineering workforce. Following merit review of all CI-TEAM proposals received, 10-20 projects will be selected for support that together address a rich mix of cyberinfrastructure-related workforce dimensions, and that promise to serve as pathfinders to effective larger-scale implementation activities in the future.

Cyberinfrastructure is an integrated system of information technology-enabled systems, tools and services that have had a profound impact on the practice of science and engineering research and education. To harness the full power of cyberinfrastructure and the promise it portends for discovery, learning and innovation requires focused investments in the
preparation of a science and engineering workforce with the knowledge and requisite skills needed to create, advance and exploit cyberinfrastructure over the long term.

Each proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should define a CI-TEAM demonstration project that is clearly focuses on one or more cyberinfrastructure-related science and engineering workforce dimensions.

The project should be designed as a generalizable model with the potential to be replicated widely and scaled up to a national level, and should be built on strong science and engineering-focused partnerships among diverse organizations. Such organizations may include academic institutions, industry, and not-for profit organizations.