CULTURE AND RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE 357
tional phylogenetics, functional genomics, and so forth. Within biology, the Frontiers in Integrative
Biological Research (FIBR) program is designed to fund research projects using innovative approaches
that draw on many fields, including information sciences, to attack major unanswered questions in
biology.^52 It funds projects for five years at $1 million per year, and the 2005 round will fund eight
projects. Also, a funding program for postdoctoral training in bioinformatics is funded at $1 million.^53
A central and challenging application in BioComp research is an attempt to construct the entire
historic phylogenetic Tree of Life. NSF is supporting this research through its Assembling the Tree of
Life program, funded at $29 million; databases will contain molecular, morphological, and physiologi-
cal evidence for placing taxa in relationship to other taxa. Current algorithms and data structures do not
scale well at the number of taxa and data points necessary, so both computational and biological
research is necessary to achieve this grand challenge.
The NSF participates with other government agencies in coordinating research agendas and pro-
grams. Of particular note is the joint initiative between the NSF Directorate for Mathematics and
Physical Sciences and NIGMS to support research in mathematical biology.^54 Work supported under
this initiative is expected to impact biology and advance mathematics or statistics, and the competition
is designed to encourage new collaborations between the appropriate mathematical and biological
scientists as well as to support existing ones. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
included research into “molecular-level understanding of life processes” in a list of the government’s
top priorities for science and engineering research.^55 NSF is supporting this goal through its CAREER
funding program, which is aimed at faculty members early in their careers.^56
Finally, NSF sponsors a Small Grants Exploratory Research Program that supports high-risk re-
search on a small scale. According to NSF, proposals eligible for support under this program must be for
“small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research in the fields of science, engineering and education nor-
mally supported by NSF may be submitted to individual programs. Such research is characterized as
preliminary work on untested and novel ideas; ventures into emerging research ideas; application of
new expertise or new approaches to ‘established’ research topics; efforts having a severe urgency with
regard to availability of, or access to data, facilities, or specialized equipment, including quick-response
research on natural disasters and similar unanticipated events; or efforts of a similar character likely to
catalyze rapid and innovative advances.”^57 Typically, grants provided under this program are less than
$200,000.
10.2.5.2.3 Department of Energy The Department of Energy played a key role in the initiation of the
Human Genome Project. Its scientific interest was first motivated by a need to understand the biological
effects of ionizing radiation, which it viewed as part of the science mission surrounding its stewardship
of the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Furthermore, DOE scientists have had considerable experi-
ence with advanced computation in the design and manufacturing process for nuclear weapons, a fact
that DOE leveraged to investigate the genome.
Today, the Department of Energy is a major supporter of 21st century biology, because it believes
that biological approaches may help it to meet its missions of energy production, global climate change
mitigation, and environmental cleanup.
- For energy production, renewable energy from plants requires the design of plants with biomass
that can be transformed efficiently to fuels. However, a limiting factor in developing such plants is the
(^52) See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04596/nsf04596.htm.
(^53) See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04539/nsf04539.html.
(^54) See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02125/nsf02125.htm.
(^55) See FY 2004 Interagency Research and Development Priorities, http://www.ostp.gov/html/ombguidmemo.pdf.
(^56) See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02111/nsf02111.htm.
(^57) See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf042/dcletter.htm.