This CISE special project award funds the core operations of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Academy of Sciences. The CSTB provides objective, nonpartisan, scholarly analysis, blending expertise in computer science (CS), electrical engineering, telecommunications, and various applications and impacts of information technology (IT). It engages experts from the entire IT community in mixed collaborative groups, developing ideas, explanations, assessments, and recommendations reflecting diverse points of view and rigorous peer review. It is a focal point for engaging the research community in the development of new research agendas and in raising the level of policy debate. CSTB is a leader in information technology policy analysis, a source of strategic thinking for research funding agencies, and an exponent of how and why IT research should be done. Core support enables it to plan for, oversee, and follow up on projects and to be forward-thinking and proactive in formulating new activities.
CSTB has an ambitious program of activities addressing the health of U.S. computer science, telecommunications, and their applications. It draws on the expertise and perspectives of a wide range of people from the public and private sectors with interests in the evolving nature and needs of research across computer science and telecommunications and the condition of the human resources and institutions responsible for producing IT. Projects leverage computer scientists? deep insights into what IT is, how it works, and where it is going together with insights from other fields such as biology, the social sciences, economics, and law. CSTB's work is known and used by a wide and growing circle of agencies, officials, and experts in the field; CSTB has come to be seen as an authoritative source on IT trends, IT policies, and their implications for broader public policy. CSTB delivers its reports and provides briefings to key decision-makers and practitioners in the research, education, and policy-making communities. Its study groups engage significant numbers of women, minorities, and people from across the country.
Intellectual Merit: The results of studies and other activities enabled by this core support provide a source of strategic thinking for researchers, educator, and research funding agencies on IT trends and issues and their implications for broader public policy, including how and why IT research should be done. Much of this work also blends IT knowledge with insights from other fields such as biology, the social sciences, economics, and law to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on applications of IT and its social and economic impacts.
Broader Impact: CSTB provides a forum for the exchange of information on CS, IT, and telecommunications and for the exploration of how economic, social, and legal trends may shape and be shaped by the environment for IT in the future. The result of studies and other activities enable by this core support provide independent, authoritative information to a wide array of federal agencies and officials, researchers and educators, and information technology experts. They engage members of the IT technical and research communities in the development of new research agendas and in informing policy debates related to information technology. Reports and briefings are provided to key decision-makers and practitioners in the research, education, and policy-making communities. Experts participating in CSTB activities learn about the relationship between their research and larger contexts, both within IT research and within the larger economy and society.
