Latest news with #NSF-funded
Forbes
08-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
On Capitol Hill, Community Colleges Raise NSF, Science Policy Concerns
Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN) speak during a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by New ... More America's Future of Work and Innovation Economy initiative and the American Association of Community Colleges warning against National Science Foundation cuts' impact on community college training for STEM and emerging technology fields. The Trump administration's proposal to cut the U.S. National Science Foundation budget by 56% has invoked concerns from universities - but they are hardly the only constituency bucking the move. Over the past few months, push back from national security experts, Republican lawmakers, industry groups, and economists alike have urged the administration to shift course on its science policy direction. Increasingly, community colleges are speaking out, too. On June 3, New America's Future of Work and Innovation Economy initiative and the American Association for Community Colleges held a joint briefing on Capitol Hill titled, 'Not Just Universities: How NSF Funding Opens Community College Pathways to the Future of Work and the American Dream.' The briefing was sponsored by the bipartisan Congressional R&D Caucus, co-chaired by Rep. Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois, and Rep. Jim Baird, a Republican from Indiana. The briefing featured research from New America around the role of the NSF in supporting capacity-building of community colleges around advanced and emerging technology fields that the administration has proclaimed as a White House priority. Community college graduates, presidents and administrators, and employer partners shared front-line experiences accounting for the NSF's support for workforce development and education in emerging industries. Judy Marouf, a graduate of Northern Virginia Community College, shared about her experiences in an NSF-funded product design incubator while a student which gave her tools to design and pitch a mobile app from mentorship to public speaking skills. David Shahoulian, Director of Workforce and Governmental Policy at Intel, vouched for the NSF from a business lens. Speaking on the panel, Shahoulian called the NSF a 'great taxpayer investment' because of the funding that the private sector matches to create programs that meet their needs, but also have a public benefit. In addition to its direct investments in community college AI education, Intel has co-invested with NSF in workforce training, alongside other industry partners such as Micron and GlobalFoundries. Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN), co-chair of the Congressional R&D Caucus, addresses attendees of a briefing ... More held by New America and the American Association of Community Colleges. Push-back from Community Colleges to NSF Budget Cuts It was the second Congressional briefing held on the topic this year alone, following a February briefing hosted by New America, the Association of Community College Trustees hosted in partnership with the bipartisan Congressional Community College Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from Florida, and Joe Courtney, a Democrat from Connecticut. Increasingly, community colleges are key to President Trump's science and technology policy vision which emphasizes global leadership in emerging technologies, including in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. While technological leadership will require a strong PhD-level workforce comprised of scientists and top-flight engineers, speakers were united in warning lawmakers of the ramifications of NSF budget cuts on skilled technical workforce development, or job preparation for STEM and emerging technology workers requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree. Community colleges are best known as affordable and accessible training destinations for healthcare, manufacturing, and skilled trades, as research from New America has pointed out, they are increasingly expanding education relating to advanced and emerging industries, often bolstered by NSF funding. Gutting the NSF would hamstring that training for students and hurt employers on the cutting-edge of the innovation economy, panelists warned. On the heels of the NSF's FY 2026 Budget Request to Congress which detailed a 75% cut to the NSF's STEM education directorate in addition to an overall halving of the agency budget, speakers emphasized the differentiated role of NSF funding compared to other workforce funding programs. Daniel Phelan, President of Jackson College in Michigan, described how NSF funding allowed his college to strengthen its internal infrastructure for advanced industries, including blockchain technologies. 'This kind of funding is unique,' Phelan said, 'unlike general operational dollars or categorical state aid, NSF-ATE grants are strategic and catalytic. They drive us to collaborate closely with industry, adapt our curriculum in real time, and deliver tangible outcomes for students, for employers, and for the broader economy.' Phelan urged appropriators in both the Senate and the House to support no less than $9.9 billion in NSF funding for the coming fiscal year, closer to the NSF's current funding levels. Tony Wohlers, Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at SUNY Corning Community College, added that 'NSF is facilitating that mission we are seeking in terms of helping our students be successful, giving them the knowledge and skills to be successful in the workforce and ultimately contribute to a better place to live for all of us.' At SUNY Corning, a successful optics program made possible by NSF resources is helping the community thrive economically and promoting national security at the same time. Congressional leaders will make difficult decisions in response to the administration's proposed science policy direction and funding requests. As the briefing made clear: community colleges and workforce pathways to STEM fields stand to lose much more from the anticipated NSF budget cuts than lawmakers initially suspected.
Time Business News
06-07-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
Technology Integration of IoT and Smart Drone in Agriculture
Common usage of smart devices and sensors that are internet-connected to track and control farming activities in real time is referred as IoT in agriculture. Farming has become more accurate and productive with farmers that can now gather information on temperature, crop health, livestock activity, and soil moisture by adopting the IoT technology in agriculture domain. The IoT in agricultural industry is set to undergo a substantial shift in the future with modern technology integration and growing focus on sustainability. Increasing use of autonomous tractors and drones is poised to transform farming methods, boosting productivity and decreasing reliance on human labor by automating the planting, monitoring, and harvesting processes. Key Growth Drivers and Opportunities Rising Global Food Consumption: Major pressure on the agriculture industry to process and generate output and efficiency is due to growing population density and shifting dietary patterns. To fulfill this expanding need in a sustainable manner, farmers are using IoT technology, which provide accurate monitoring and control over farming procedures. The crucial need for scalable, data-driven solutions to produce more food with less environmental effect is major factor propelling the IoT use in agriculture and speeding up market expansion on global scale. Challenges The lack of technical expertise where many farmers are not experienced with maintaining smart equipment, utilizing digital tools, or interpreting data analytics is major obstacle for the IoT solution in agriculture adoption. Lack of understanding may cause people to underuse technology or be reluctant to make any kind of investment in it. Innovation and Expansion Farmers Are Using IoT to Take the Guesswork Out of Growing In May 2025, the exploration in biodegradable leaf and soil sensors is done by NSF-funded IoT4Ag center that is paired with drones and robots. Major companies are offering modern multi-sensor soil probes communicating data via LoRaWAN to cloud dashboards. The targeted fertilizer and water management is made feasible by this real-time data, which reduces waste. Although there are still challenges including cost, analytical capability, and rural access, experts view IoT as revolutionary. Wider acceptance depends on agreement between farmers, legislators, and IT developers. ARB IOT Launches Smart AI Drone for Plantation Management in Malaysia In April 2025, Smart AI Drone, was introduced by ARB IOT Group with high-resolution imaging and AI to enable precision mapping, health monitoring, pest detection, and targeted spraying. The drone aims to accelerate the crop yields and sustainability by forming the decisions that are data specific. For early disease detection and optimized irrigation, the drone integrates smart analytics. Thailand Unveils HandySense B‑Farm Smart‑Farming Platform In February 2025, to drive sustainability and lower costs the HandySense B‑Farm was introduced by Thailand's NECTEC which is a smart farming platform that combines AI, IoT sensors and machine vision for next-gen agriculture activities. The medical plants and high-value crops are being promoted as was designed as part of the National Science & Technology Development Agency's digital agriculture strategy refining the crops and promoting sustainable agriculture integrated with modern technology. Major aims consist of improving production efficiency, to improve accuracy, and reduce waste, improving farmers' profit. Smarter yield optimization, pest management, and irrigation are made feasible by embedded systems and sensor analytics. NECTEC highlights this as a significant step in helping Thai farmers shift to the digital age where integration of technology into agriculture is next phase of modern agriculture. Technology Integration, Expanding Markets Growing emphasis on product innovation by creating cutting-edge, user-friendly technology suited to various farm sizes, from smallholders to large-scale operations, is one of the main strategies for IoT in agriculture enterprises. The key players operating in the IoT in Agriculture Market include, Deere & Company, Trimble Inc., AKVA group, Evato Technology Private Limited (O4S), Raven Industries, Inc., and others. About Author: Prophecy is a specialized market research, analytics, marketing and business strategy, and solutions company that offer strategic and tactical support to clients for making well-informed business decisions and to identify and achieve high value opportunities in the target business area. Also, we help our client to address business challenges and provide best possible solutions to overcome them and transform their business. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
NDTV
19-06-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Is Our Black Hole Defying Physics? New AI Study Challenges Theories
Astronomers, using AI and high-throughput computing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's CHTC, have unlocked new insights into Sagittarius A* - the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy. By training a neural network on millions of simulations, researchers found the black hole is spinning near its maximum speed, with its axis of rotation aimed toward Earth. The findings are based on data from the Event Horizon Telescope and offer fresh understanding of black hole behaviour. The AI also suggests that the emission near the black hole is primarily from extremely hot electrons in the accretion disk rather than a jet, and that the magnetic fields in the disk behave differently than previously thought. This research, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was made possible by high-throughput computing, a distributed computing method pioneered by Miron Livny, which allowed researchers to process a massive amount of data efficiently. "That we are defying the prevailing theory is, of course, exciting," says lead researcher Michael Janssen, of Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. "However, I see our AI and machine learning approach primarily as a first step. Next, we will improve and extend the associated models and simulations." "The ability to scale up to the millions of synthetic data files required to train the model is an impressive achievement," adds Chi-kwan Chan, an Associate Astronomer of Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona and a longtime PATh collaborator. "It requires dependable workflow automation and effective workload distribution across storage resources and processing capacity." "We are pleased to see EHT leveraging our throughput computing capabilities to bring the power of AI to their science," says Professor Anthony Gitter, a Morgridge Investigator and a PATh Co-PI. "Like in the case of other science domains, CHTC's capabilities allowed EHT researchers to assemble the quantity and quality of AI-ready data needed to train effective models that facilitate scientific discovery." The NSF-funded Open Science Pool, operated by PATh, offers computing capacity contributed by more than 80 institutions across the United States. The Event Horizon black hole project performed more than 12 million computing jobs in the past three years. "A workload that consists of millions of simulations is a perfect match for our throughput-oriented capabilities that were developed and refined over four decades", says Livny, director of the CHTC and lead investigator of PATh. "We love to collaborate with researchers who have workloads that challenge the scalability of our services."
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Basic research advances science, and can also have broader impacts on modern society
It might seem surprising, but federal research funding isn't just for scientists. A component of many federal grants that support basic research requires that discoveries be shared with nonscientists. This component, referred to as 'broader impacts' by the National Science Foundation, can make a big difference for K-12 students and teachers, museumgoers, citizen scientists and other people interested in science, while also helping the scientists themselves give back to the taxpayers that fund their work. Basic research, often done because of a curious scientist's interest, may not initially have a direct application, like developing the smartphone or curing a disease. But these discoveries build important knowledge in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics and related disciplines. The U.S. is a world leader in scientific and technological innovation. On the federal level, the National Science Foundation, or NSF, is one of the primary funders of this kind of basic research. In 2022, the federal government funded 40% of all basic research done in the U.S., with the remainder coming from other sources, including the business sector. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to position the U.S. for strategic and economic leadership worldwide. He commissioned physicist Vannevar Bush to develop a vision for the future of U.S. science and technology. His 1945 report, 'Science: the Endless Frontier,' became the blueprint for government-funded basic research. In 1950, Congress created the National Science Foundation to promote the progress of science, advance national prosperity and welfare and secure the national defense. During the early decades of NSF, the 1950s until the late 1990s, proposals were mostly evaluated based on the quality of the science and the scientists doing the work. But then, the foundation created a new system, still in place today. Thus, each NSF research proposal is now peer-reviewed based on two criteria: intellectual merit, or the quality and novelty of the science and track record of the research team, and 'broader impacts' – related activities that disseminate the discoveries to general audiences. Intellectual merit is about advancing science knowledge and innovation, while broader impacts describe why people who aren't scientists should care, and how society could benefit from this research. Another pragmatic aspect to broader impacts is that taxpayers pay for these activities, so it's important for them, and Congress, to understand their return on investment. These broader impacts activities communicate about, and engage the public in, research in a variety of ways. While researchers usually understand the intellectual merit of their NSF-funded projects, these broader impacts can be challenging to characterize. Since childhood, I've had an interest in paleontology — the study of fossils and what we can learn from them about prehistoric life. This field is primarily basic research — adding to knowledge about ancient life. As a scientist conducting basic research, I've felt the responsibility to give back to society through broader impacts activities, and I've seen many of the benefits that these activities can have. My primary area of interest has been extinct mammals of the Americas, particularly the 55-million-year-old record of fossil horses on this continent. For years, NSF supported my discoveries about this interesting group of animals. Fossil horses are a classic example of evolution — in books and museum exhibits. Many people are generally interested in horses, so it's easy to attract their attention with this charismatic group. They also are often surprised to learn that prehistoric horses were native to North America for millions of years. Then, during historical times, they were first introduced by humans onto the continent about 500 years ago. Over the years, my research team has used grant-funded broader impact activities to teach people about these fossil horses and our research. One example included working with K-12 science teachers to develop lesson plans. The students measured fossil horse teeth and explored how their teeth adapted to feeding on grasses. We've also developed exhibits on fossil horses and studied how they communicate science to museum visitors. Science teachers have joined our fieldwork to collect fossils along the Panama Canal during its recent expansion. I've given many talks and collaborated with fossil clubs and their members throughout the U.S. We've also promoted projects like Fossils4Teachers where fossil collectors donated their fossils and worked alongside K-12 teachers to develop lesson plans that were implemented back in the teachers' classrooms. We've also been able to activate peoples' interest in other animal groups — such as fossil sharks. Through our Scientist in Every Florida School program, we gave middle school teachers study kits with real fossil shark teeth. Their students learned to identify the shark teeth and then trained computers to identify the teeth using machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence. Broader impacts activities like these can have a variety of short- and long-term outcomes. More than 50 million people visit natural history museums in the U.S. annually. Activities that promote museums can reach large numbers of people in their pursuit of lifelong learning. More broadly, participatory science interest groups can allow people to learn about science while informing basic research projects. Within the field of natural history, a few popular examples include the Merlin app and the iNaturalist app, both of which have millions of active observers. Merlin encourages people to submit their observations of birds, and iNaturalist accepts sightings of plants, animals and fossils, which researchers can carefully vet and use as data. Many of the K-12 teachers my team has worked with report that they feel more confident teaching the new science content that they learned from our collaborations. Interestingly, although much of the research on science professional development focuses on the teachers, scientists also report a high level of satisfaction and improved communication skills after working with these teachers, both in the field and back in the classroom. Generations of U.S. scientists have greatly benefited from federal investments in basic research. In the 75 years since NSF's founding, the organization has funded hundreds of thousand projects to advance science and technology. These have supported basic research discoveries and also the training and career development of the tens of thousands of scientists working on these projects annually. Many prominent scientists have gone on to be productive leaders and innovators in the U.S. and internationally. NSF has funded more than 268 Nobel laureates. While NSF invests in the discovery of foundational knowledge about the natural world, funded projects have not traditionally had direct applications for societal benefits. To be sure, however, many of NSF's projects – for example, on lasers and nanotechnology – started out as curiosity-driven basic research and ended up with immense applications for technological innovation and economic prosperity. For example, mapping the Earth's ocean floor's magnetic properties during World War II helped scientists understand how the crust moves and mountains form. This led to the plate tectonic revolution in the earth sciences. This line of basic research then led to an important application: predicting the probable location of high-risk earthquake zones worldwide. None of these downstream applications and benefits to society would have been realized without basic research discoveries supported by federal agencies such as NSF, and the further value added through broader impacts activities. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Bruce J. MacFadden, University of Florida Read more: Philanthropy provides B annually for science and health research − funding that tends to stay local NIH funding cuts will hit red states, rural areas and underserved communities the hardest Medical research depends on government money – even a day's delay in the intricate funding process throws science off-kilter Bruce J. MacFadden has received funding from the U. S. National Science Foundation.
Technical.ly
01-05-2025
- Science
- Technical.ly
U.S. National Science Foundation Commemoration of its 75th anniversary
Event Description Join us for NSF STEM Day at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Saturday, May 10, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This free, public event is a celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the National Science Foundation and highlights the impact of NSF-funded work in Baltimore and beyond. The day will feature an interactive STEM Maker Faire with hands-on activity tables and demonstrations, panel discussions led by researchers, educators, and community partners, and a showcase of art-science installations developed through NSF grants. Free transportation will be available from select Baltimore recreation centers, and all event attendees will receive free admission to the Baltimore Museum of Industry during the event.
