Advances in computers have led to major advances in almost every academic discipline and changed the nature of our everyday lives. At the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Directorate for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) promotes basic research and education in computer and information sciences and engineering. The CISE directorate has reorganized into a new structure in order to, in part, capitalize on emerging scientific opportunities and build on NSF's organizational successes. This presentation will give an overview of one major emerging scientific opportunity – “CyberInfrastructure” – and discuss NSF's steps towards deploying an enhanced cyberinfrastructure for science and engineering research and education. The NSF's larger goal is to create a national cyberinfrastructure that provides the information technology and knowledge management resources needed to tackle problems at the frontiers of all science and engineering disciplines. The resulting widely distributed, shared cyberinfrastructure will advance discovery, learning, and innovation across the science and engineering enterprise on both a national and international level.

But – what exactly is “CyberInfrastructure”? And what does it have to do with your own research and education efforts? This presentation will provide context for the concept of cyberinfrastructure and explain its role in the vision of revolutionizing science and engineering research and education. In addition, examples and challenges of NSF support for cyberinfrastructure will be presented.