The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced a partnership with the Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to create the joint program on Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS). Of the $46.6 million in new grants for the INFEWS program, $36.6 million is NSF grants. The INFEWS program will be supported by a cross-cutting segment of NSF directorates, including the Directorates for Geosciences (GEO); Engineering (ENG); Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE); Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS); Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE); Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE); and Office of Integrative Activities (OIA). From the program announcement: […]

Contributions to this post were provided by Klara Nahrstedt.  Roughly 12% of the global population today lives in 28 megacities, and at least 40 megacities are projected by 2030. Cost-effective management and sustainability of these growing urban areas will be one of the most critical challenges to our society, motivating the concept of science- and data-driven urban design, retrofit, and operation—that is, “Smart Cities”. Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) released white papers describing a collective research agenda for intelligent infrastructure. Today, we highlight the final paper from the series called City-Scale Intelligent Systems and Platforms. A Smart City will require intelligent infrastructure that […]

Agriculture provides approximately 1 in 10 U.S. jobs and supports food and nutrition security as well as energy independence. However, U.S. global competitiveness is at risk because of accelerated investments by many other countries in agriculture, food, energy, and resource management. A renewed private-public effort is needed to build next-generation farm-infrastructures to stay competitive, protect and grow workforce, as well as manage risks of market and environmental shocks jeopardizing food, energy, and water security. So how do we start? Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) released white papers describing a collective research agenda for intelligent infrastructure. We will be blogging about each paper over the […]

In a world where digital Internet technology (Amazon, Ebay, Uber, Airbnb) is transforming traditional industries, the traditional electric energy market is lagging significantly. A move towards a true digital grid is needed. Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) released white papers describing a collective research agenda for intelligent infrastructure. We will be blogging about each paper over the next few weeks. Today, we highlight the Digital Grid: Transforming the Electric Power Grid into an Innovation Engine for the United States white paper. A new and substantial investment is needed to develop the new Digital Grid. Radical reductions in the cost of sensors, communication, information processing, […]

Contributions to this post were made by CCC Council member Jennifer Rexford and Mary Ann Weitnauer.    Today’s wireless networks cannot meet the demands of emerging smart infrastructure, such as Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Smart Health, and Smart Transportation. We are desperately in need of wireless networks that have more agility, reliability, security, scalability, and partnerships. Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) released white papers describing a collective research agenda for intelligent infrastructure. We will be blogging about each paper over the next few weeks. Today, we highlight a newly release intelligent infrastructure paper called Smart Wireless Communication is the Cornerstone of Smart Infrastructures. Some of the […]

As we start to embed sensing, computing, and communication into previously “dumb” infrastructure, there are clear benefits but it also creates new and challenging threats to safety, security, and privacy. How we address these threats is critical because, with cyber-physical systems, security vulnerabilities can translate directly to public safety hazards. Recently, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) released white papers describing a collective research agenda for intelligent infrastructure. We will be blogging about each paper over the next few weeks. Today, we highlight the Safety and Security for Intelligent Infrastructure white paper. These threats occur in multiple forms (from information leakage to petty cybercrime to cyberwar) […]