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NSF PR 97-58 - October 2, 1997
Media contact: |
Bill Noxon,
National Science Foundation |
(703) 306-1070 |
wnoxon@nsf.gov |
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone
numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current
contact information at media
contacts.
NSF Awards 28 Grants for Learning and Intelligent
Systems
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded
a series of 28 new grants worth over $22.5 million
for research in Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS)
-- a broad range of studies that could lead to rapid
and radical advances in how humans learn and create.
Interdisciplinary teams of researchers from around
the country will undertake the projects. Their combined
efforts will help develop a deeper understanding of
how learning occurs in humans, animals and artificial
systems.
Researchers will also explore how to develop new learning
methods that integrate linguistic, behavioral, biological,
cognitive and educational approaches with new interactive,
collaborative and multisensory technologies.
The grants represent the first leg of a three-component
NSF investment in Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence
(KDI).
"We have gained access to widely distributed sources
of information, which is a major accomplishment for
human civilization," said Neal Lane, NSF director.
"Access is one thing, however. Intelligently absorbing,
refining and analyzing his information to glean useful
knowledge is quite another. This is what represents
the driving force behind NSF's efforts in KDI," Lane
told a group at the National Academy of Sciences last
week.
Researchers will try to understand and formulate solutions
to such questions as: What kinds of knowledge or skills
can actually be learned? How do humans learn? How
do other living beings learn? Can artificial systems
learn? What kinds of knowledge do they produce?
Six NSF directorates are collaborating on the LIS
initiative, covering areas of engineering, computer
and information sciences, mathematical and physical
sciences, biological sciences, social and behavioral
sciences and education.
"We are reminded by many historical examples that
knowledge resides in different dialects, alphabets
and character sets. Improving our access to this base
of knowledge is a daunting, but exciting scientific
opportunity," Lane said. The result of these efforts,
he added, "would yield a resource whose value to our
society, especially to future generations, truly would
defy measurement."
In this first leg of the KDI process, researchers
exploring LIS will tap into how learning is best accomplished
through a combination of learning and research tools
and experimental technology test beds.
"It is important to a society characterized by rapid
changes in the complexity of human learning and information
interactions that we find ways to more fully understand
them, and support learning, creativity and productivity
through natural and artificial systems," Luther S.
Williams, NSF's assistant director for education and
human resources, said. "The reasons for which we undertake
these research initiatives are both practical and
strategic to our society and economy," said Williams,
who is the lead coordinator for this part of the KDI
initiative.
Future research will explore integration of knowledge
from different sources and the tools needed to model,
simulate, analyze and understand complicated phenomena,
as well as how to deal with massive volumes of data
in real time.
Attachment: List of Learning
and Intelligent Systems Awards
Attachment
Learning and Intelligent Systems Awards
INSTITUTION
| NUMBER OF AWARDS
| AMOUNT (APPROX.)
| PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
|
Boston University
|
1
| $ 624,980
| M.I.T.
|
Brown University
|
3
| $2,323,340
|
|
Carnegie-Mellon Univ.
|
4
| $3,242,900
| Univ. of Pittsburgh1
|
Case Western Reserve Univ.
|
1
| $ 775,000
|
|
Hampshire College
|
1
| $1,092,500
| Univ. of Massachusetts
|
Johns Hopkins Univ.
|
2
| $1,548,900
| Caltech2
|
New York University
|
1
| $ 875,000
| Univ. of Minnesota
|
North Carolina State Univ.
|
1
| 600,470
| Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara
|
Northwestern Univ.
|
2
| $2,156,075
| Univ. of Michigan3
|
Univ. of California, Berkeley
|
1
| $ 725,000
|
|
Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles
|
1
| $ 751,000
|
|
University of Chicago
|
1
| $ 881,000
| Temple and Northwestern Univ.
|
Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
|
1
| $ 250,000
|
|
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana
|
1
| $ 775,000
|
|
Univ. of MD, College Park
|
1
| $ 775,000
| University of Oregon
|
University of Massachusetts
|
1
| $ 624,050
|
|
University of Memphis
|
1
| $ 900,000
|
|
University of Pittsburgh
|
2
| $1,500,000
| Carnegie-Mellon Univ.4
|
Washington Univ. of St. Louis
|
1
| $ 706,400
| Texas Tech. Univ.
|
SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif.
|
1
| $1,450,000
| Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, Vanderbilt Univ.,
The Concord Consortium
|
|
|