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Ideas for the NSF EMT Program (collaboration with Luay)

2008/01/18

I read the paper, and I read the EMT call. The following notes are based ONLY on the call (I didn't compile my notes on that paper into these notes. Unfortunately, the last few weeks have been hectic, and I don't have access to the paper at this time.)

Things I like about the EMT program call

It encourages developing curricula and courseware - Tutorials on the technologies we develop (at conferences) - Complete course materials made available online
It aims at developing CS infra-structure in application domains - We'll want to collaborate with biologists, and people from the medical center
"research that ... transcend the boundaries of computing and biological systems"
"modeling and simulation of biological computing and communication systems; design of computing and communication models based on desirable features of biological systems"
"understanding the relationships between parallel architectures and the range of cell and tissue signaling systems"
Here are some example projects that I think we can emulate:
- http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0650028
- http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0650058
This program seems to be heading much more towards computing concepts that emulate physical/bilogical systems rather than developing CS technologies for advancing the physical and biological sciences. This is based on the projects that they have been funding. I think that's a bit of a shame, but it looks like a reality we may have to deal with.
One plan that I would like us to consider is the following: We would like to propose research activities in the context of bilogical sciences, with the aim of advancing and unifying computing foundations that can accelerate progress in the biological and medical sciences. The particular technologies that we would like to advance focus on computer-aided biomedical experimentation technologies and and algorithms. The technical focus will be on the design and implementation of domain-specific languages for simulating biomedical systems.