Some priorities for federal funding of behavioral science

Some priorities for federal funding of behavioral science David W. Lightfoot Assistant Director, National Science Foundation

Why is cyberinfrastructure important and why now? n We are at a unique moment in the history of science – scientists from different disciplines are sharing methodologies and tools n The Atkins Report urges a “third way” for science – a path that will allow us to make better use of: o Intensive numerical computation o New types of computer-assisted meta-analysis o CI-enabled collaboration undermining barriers of time and space

How behavioral science contributes to developing cyberinfrastructure n Contributions are significant and many – covered in detail in the 2005 report from the joint CISE-SBE Airlie House conference n Here, we look at behavioral science contributions to cyberinfrastructure in five key NSF investment areas: o Neurotechnology o Environment o Dynamic Complex Systems o Science of Science & Innovation Policy o Cyberinfrastructure

Neurotechnology n We now know much about how the brain functions, but brain science is still in its infancy – new tools and technologies are necessary to help better understand the anatomy, development, and physiology of the brain. These tools and technologies include: o More powerful computationally based imaging devices o Tools for gathering coordinated, simultaneous data from different monitoring devices (SBE/CISE/OCI Next-Generation Cybertools award to U. Chicago) o High performance computers capable of storing and analyzing massive data sets

Environment n n n New Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems program is a vehicle for future investments in environmental matters, including climate change GIS – the ability to combine geospatial data with data gathered by social and behavioral scientists has allowed sophisticated research on environmental change, resource inequality, business networks, criminal justice, health and disease Disasters – a recent NSTC report urges integration of climate, environment, and social science data to enable better prevention, preparation, and mitigation Current simulations of societies – are too simplistic to capture social processes in even small groups, so substantial high-speed computing resources are required Observatories – enable fine-grained multidimensional recording of natural and human-built assets over time

Dynamic Complex Systems n Dynamic interrelationships between social, behavioral, biological, and physical factors n Complex networks of interrelationships across multiple scales n Dynamics of responses to natural and human perturbations n Network modeling and pattern identification n Emergence of new properties at the individual, group, or system level n Language change in developing children and across generations

Science of Science & Innovation Policy n General goals are to investigate how national R&D systems work, how to measure and nurture innovation, and how to direct our investments n One area of research is how cyberinfrastructure impacts scientific research and culture. Cyberinfrastructure has: o Undermined disciplinary barriers, o Increased access to digital data, and o Created new mechanisms for sharing computational tools n New cyberinfrastructure is needed for: o New data extraction o New collaboratories

Cyberinfrastructure n Behavioral scientists study human behavior in many domains, including science, and have much to contribute to developing the infrastructure associated with new computational capacities. n Three areas of interest are: o Developing data-oriented cyberinfrastructure while maintaining confidentiality of data o Broadening participation o Developing a cyber-savvy workforce

Cyberinfrastructure – data & confidentiality n n n SBE will develop and deploy data-oriented cyberinfrastructure, through investments in: o Upgrading the existing “gold standard” surveys o New data infrastructure projects o Toolkits for facilitating data integration, mining, analysis, and validation o Facilities for preserving data over the long term Documenting Endangered Languages aims to establish sustainable repositories for many languages faced with extinction and this entails new annotation techniques Many opportunities for building and using data sets require access to confidential micro-data, therefore data confidentiality is a serious and ongoing concern

Cyberinfrastructure – broadening participation n n Cyberinfrastructure tools improve access to data needed for informed decisions. However, many questions have yet to be answered, including: o Do innovative methods for improved accessibility narrow the digital divide? o Do participatory practices via the cybersphere enhance democratic processes? o Does cyberinfrastructure improve participatory opportunities and experiences? Another Next-Generation Cybertools award is to a team of researchers who are mining 40 -billion Web pages to identify and analyze patterns of innovation and diffusion of ideas. The tools will be made available to the research community, and also to individuals and community groups.

Cyberinfrastructure – cyber-savvy workforce n Support for education and training opportunities for the development of the next-generation, cyber-savvy scientific workforce and the re-tooling of existing scientists is critical for advancing these research areas, including activities to broaden workforce participation n Learning and workforce development initiatives are crucial to using and extending cyberinfrastructure – one of NSF’s Science of Learning Centers is bringing together researchers from several disciplines to improve cyberlearning

Foci through the CI lens n Cyberinfrastructure fundamentally changes the way scientists build and test theories of social, behavioral and economic phenomena n SBE scientists are pushing the CI envelope in order to advance their understanding and their sciences n The human sciences study Cyberinfrastructure and its consequences for science and society n Science and technology co-exist, interact, and evolve interactively

SBE Subcommittee of the NSTC Committee on Science Four grand challenges facing the SBE sciences and associated tools are listed below: Grand Challenges n Origins: Who are we and how did we get here? n Mind and Brain: How does behavior arise? n Complexity: How does the world really work? n Policy: How can we take charge of our future? Tools n Genomics n Functional neuroimaging n Cyberinfrastructure n Surveys

SBE Subcommittee of the NSTC Committee on Science Within the policy grand challenge are five “sub-challenges” Policy: How can we take charge of our future? n Cooperation and Conflict: How does cooperation arise? How can we manage violence, conflict and terrorism? n Disasters: How can we foster a resilient society? n Education: How can we foster a learning society? n Health: How can we foster a healthy society? n Competitiveness: How can we foster the ecosystem of innovation?

SBE Subcommittee of the NSTC Committee on Science Findings: n Data Gathering and Management – the SBE sciences are being transformed through new research and data-gathering tools, as well as by an emerging cyberinfrastructure that takes data analysis, integration, and simulation to new levels; n Systems Thinking – the SBE sciences are increasingly embracing “systems thinking” that emphasizes the integration of many different perspectives on a problem; and n Evidence-based Policy-Making and Decision-Making – these new tools and kinds of thinking are enabling new linkages between SBE scientists and policy makers, allowing them to couple evidence and policy in new ways

SBE Subcommittee of the NSTC Committee on Science These findings lead to our most fundamental recommendation: The SBE sciences should be integrated into policy- and decision-making at every level and in every sector, public and private.