Cyberinfrastructure for Science and Engineering: Promises and Challenges

The potential for revolution, the vision of CI, some of the challenges, and a possible path toward reaching that vision are outlined.

Abstract

It is now clear that information technology (IT) construed broadly has the power to revolutionize all areas of science and engineering (S&E) research and education. If exploited, this transformative power can change S&E forever. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is working toward this end, and, as a result, past efforts in supercomputing and high-performance networking are being subsumed into a broader, integrated vision of a more capable, ubiquitous, and accessible cyberinfrastructure (CI). We cannot attain this overnight, or alone, or without substantial research in computer science and engineering. This paper will outline the potential for revolution, the vision of CI, some of the challenges, and a possible path toward reaching that vision.