[sigcomm] Opportunity to get involved in the NSF FIND research program

[David Clark]

Folks,
      Many of you may know that NSF has announced a focus area for
research funding called Future Internet Design, or FIND. The idea behind
FIND is to bring together interested researchers to discuss options for
a future Internet, and to develop integrated proposals for such a network.
      NSF understands that there is lots of interesting, relevant work
that has been funded from sources other than NSF, and there may be folks
who would like to come to the meetings and participate in the process,
on a BYOF (Bring Your Own Funding) basis. You might have funding from a
different NSF program, from another funding agency, or from your
company. Perhaps you are from a different country with its own funding
mechanisms.
      However you are funded, if you are interesting in being part of the
intellectual effort, please read the attached announcement, which is an
invitation to send in an informal white paper describing what you are up
to.
      If you can conceive of other ways to build bridges between this 
FIND program and other research efforts, please send me a message 
directly. We are open to other ideas.

David Clark (for the FIND Planning Committee)

----


     CALL FOR RESEARCH COLLABORATION ON FUTURE INTERNET ARCHITECTURES
                 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE US NSF FIND PROGRAM

BACKGROUND

Much energy has recently crystallized within the international network
research community for developing fresh perspectives on how to architect
a single, coherent, global data network. The Internet's unquestionable
success at embodying one such architecture has also led over the decades
of its operation to unquestionable difficulties with regard to support
for some types of functionality and sound operation.

As a reflection of this growing community interest, the U.S. National
Science Foundation has announced a focus area for networking research
called FIND, or Future Internet Design. The agenda of this focus area is
to invite the research community to take a long-range perspective, and
to consider what our global network of 10 or 15 years should be, and how
to build a network that meets the future requirements. (For further
information on the FIND program, see NSF solicitation 07-507, available
at http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07507.) The
research funded by FIND aims to contribute to the emergence of one or
more integrated visions of a future network.

A vital part of this effort concerns fostering collaboration and
consensus-building among researchers working on future global network
architecture. To this end, NSF has created a FIND Planning Committee,
which is working with NSF to organize a series of meetings among FIND
grant recipients structured around activities to identify and refine
overarching concepts for a network of the future.

A BROADER COMMUNITY

NSF recognizes that its efforts at funding research to contribute to a
future global network exists within a broader set of efforts with
similar goals supported by other agencies, industry, and nations.
Accordingly, NSF seeks researchers external to the FIND program
itself—but who share a likeminded vision—to participate in the
collaboration and consensus-building. NSF particularly welcomes
international collaboration—any vision of a future global network will
greatly benefit from global participation.

To this end, external researchers interested in such participation are
invited to submit short white papers describing themselves and their
work. Based on evaluation of these white papers, a select number of
researchers will be invited to join the FIND meetings and other events,
as overall meeting sizes and logistics permit.

EXPECTATIONS AND EVALUATION CRITERIA

Since the efficacy of FIND meetings is in part a function of their size
and coherence, the evaluation of the white papers will focus on certain
criteria that are listed below, along with expectations regarding what
external participation entails. Naturally, interested parties should
take these considerations into account as they write their white papers,
and include information in their papers sufficient to allow the FIND
program to evaluate the aptness of their participation.

• In a few sentences, please describe your research and its intended
impact. When possible, include as an attachment (or a URL) a longer
description, which if you wish can be something prepared for another
purpose (e.g. your original funding proposal or a publication). It will
help to limit the supporting material to 15 pages or fewer.

• Please summarize in the white paper the ways you see your research as
being compatible with the objectives of FIND (the URL for the FIND
solicitation is included above). Research that accords with the FIND
program will generally be based on a long-term vision of future
networking, rather than addressing specific near-term problems, and
framed in terms of how it might contribute to an overall architecture
for a future network.

• The FIND meetings have been organized for the benefit of researchers
who have already been funded and are actively pursuing their research.
Research described in white papers should already be funded. Please
describe the means you have available to cover your FIND-related
research: the source of funds, their duration, and (roughly) the
supported level of effort. Unfortunately, NSF lacks additional funds to
financially support your participation in the meetings, so you must be
prepared to cover those costs as well. If you are planning to submit a
FIND research proposal to the current NeTS solicitation, you should not
submit a white paper here based on that research. Successful FIND grant
recipients will automatically be invited to join the FIND community.

• As one of the goals of FIND is to develop an active community of
researchers who over time work increasingly together towards coherent,
overall architectural visions, we aim for external participants to
likewise become significantly engaged. To this end, you should
anticipate (and have resources for) participating in FIND project
meetings in an active, sustained fashion.

• Your research must not be encumbered by intellectual property
restrictions that prevent you from fully discussing your work and its
results with the other participants.

Please try to limit your white paper to 2 pages. Your white paper (and
the supporting research description) will be read by members of the
research community, so do not submit anything that you would not reveal
to your peers. (White papers are not viewed as formal submissions to NSF.)

TIMING AND SUBMISSION

You may submit a white paper at any time during the FIND program. Before
each scheduled FIND PI meeting, the papers on hand will be reviewed.
Meetings are anticipated to occur approximately three times a year, in
March, July/August and November. The next FIND meeting is scheduled for
March 5/6, 2007, and priority in consideration for that meeting will be
given to white papers that are received by Friday, January 19th, 2007.

Send your white paper to Darleen Fisher <dlfisher at nsf.gov> and Allison
Mankin <amankin at nsf.gov> for coordination.