CISE - Agency

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THE DIRECTORATE FOR COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Topics On The Page - Organizational Structure - Creation and History of the CISE - Goals and Objectives
- Publishing and Information Dissemination Activities
Related Topic - Government Resources

This organization is a sub-agency of the National Science Foundati on (NSF). The NSF is an Independent agency rather than one that is categorized as an agency of the Executive or Legislative branch. This organization the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering is not to be confused with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) which seems to be a commission devoted to issues of public access through libraries though as you will see below their goals are in some ways similar.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The CISE has five divisions, three of which focus principally on research, and two which combine both infrastructure and research functions. There are almost 40 different programs from these divisions listed on the web site focusing on systems research, infrastructure issues, research and employment opportunities and social issues of use of technology. The divisions are labeled: Advanced Computational Infrastructure and Research, Advanced Networking Infrastructure and Research, Computer - Communications Research, Experimental and Integrative Techniques, and Information and Intelligent Systems. The now infamous digital libraries initiative is funded by this organization. Also funded by this organization is the site at the University of Illinois, the NCSA, which is focusing on computational infrastructure issues. There are approximately 10-15 persons on staff for each division. There is an advisory board with experts from Universities and some corporate research centers throughout the U.S. The CISE requested $331.14 million for use in 1999, a 16.5 percent increase over 1998. Their goal is to increase the pace of development of next generation network applications and services. Juris Hartmanis is the Assistant Director.

CREATION AND HISTORY OF THE CISE

There is not much that is easy to find on their web site on the history of the sub-agency itself. But there is plenty of information on the NSF. The NSF is an independent federal agency created by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1861-75). The goal? To promote and advance scientific progress in the United States. Since WWII, when science and technology played such an important part of our success, the NSF is dedicated to ensuring strong education opportunities in this areas as well. The NSF funds research and education in the area through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, and other research institutions in all parts of the United States. The Foundation accounts for about 20 percent of federal support to academic institutions for basic research. If you want information on what should be included in your grant proposal you can find it here.

Of particular interest to knowledge management managers is the Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) division. Their research is focused on increasing our "ability to generate, store, organize, locate, communicate, and store knowledge using new technologies." Research centers on "universal access, human language technology, knowledge modeling, scientific collaboratories, robotics, computer vision, data mining, database access technology, human-computer interaction, and embedded intelligent systems. IIS supports interdisciplinary and interagency activities such as the Digital Library and STIMULATE (Speech, Text, Image, and Multimedia Advanced Technology Effort) initiatives.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the CISE is 3-fold: to see that the U.S. is the world leader in the aforementioned areas, to promote the use and understanding of the role of technology in these areas in service to society and finally to "contribute to universal, transparent and affordable participation in an information-based society.

PUBLISHING AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

There are no items listed on the web page as published material from the organization but there are numerous workshops and seminars listed in the Division pages. When you visit the sites for the workshops many have reports that were generated as a result of the sessions linked from there. There are many publications listed though from the NSF some of which are generated I believe from the Divisions in the CISE.