CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE AND DATA ACQUISITION 229
Box 7.1
A Cyberinfrastructure View: Envisioning and Empowering Successes for
21st Century Biological Sciences
Creating and sustaining a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure (CI; the pervasive applications of all domains of
scientific computing and information technology) are as relevant and as required for biology as for any sci-
ence or intellectual endeavor; in the advances that led to today’s opportunity, the National Science Founda-
tion’s Directorate for Biological Sciences (NSF BIO) made numerous, ad hoc contributions, and now can
integrate its efforts to build the complete platforms needed for 21st century biology. Doing so will accelerate
progress in extraordinary ways.
The time has arrived for creating a CI for all of the sciences, for research and education, and NSF will lead the
way. NSF BIO must co-define the extent and fine details of the NSF structure for CI, which will involve major
internal NSF partnerships and external partnerships with other agencies, and will be fully international in
scope.
Only the biological sciences have seen advances as remarkable, sustained, and revolutionary as those in
computer and information sciences. Only in the past few years has the world of computing and information
technology reached the level of being fully applicable to the wide range of cutting-edge themes characteristic
of biological research. Multiplying the exponentials (of continuing advances in computing and bioscience)
through deep partnerships will inevitably be exciting beyond any anticipation.
The stretch goals for the biological sciences community include both community-level involvement and
realization of the complete spectrum of CI, namely, people and training, instrumentation, collaborations,
advanced computing and networking, databases and knowledge management; and analytical methods (mod-
eling and simulation).
NSF BIO must:
- Invest in people;
- Ensure science pull, technology push;
- Stay the course;
- Prepare for the data deluge;
- Enable science targets of opportunity;
- Select and direct the technology contributions; and
- Establish national and international partnerships.
The biology community must decide how it can best interact with the quantitative science community, where
and when to intersect with computational sciences and technologies, how to cooperate on and contribute to
infrastructure projects, and how NSF BIO should partner administratively. An implementation meeting, as
well as briefings to the community through professional societies, will be essential.
For NSF BIO to underestimate the importance of cyberinfrastructure for biology, or fail to provide fuel over the
entire journey, would severely retard progress and be very damaging for the entire national and international
biological sciences community.
SOURCE: Adapted from Subcommittee on 21st Century Biology, NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences Advisory Committee, Building a
Cyberinfrastructure for the Biological Sciences 2005 and Beyond: A Roadmap for Consolidation and Exponentiation, a workshop report, July
14-15, 2003.
