NSF Puts $90 Million Behind Research in AI, Biotechnology, Fusion and Robotics

The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $90 million over five years to establish three new Science and Technology Centers, supporting large-scale research collaborations in areas including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fusion energy and robotics.

The three NSF Science and Technology Centers (STCs) will bring together researchers from universities, national laboratories, industry and other organizations to pursue large, interdisciplinary research projects. Each center will receive approximately $6 million annually for five years, with the possibility of competing for up to five additional years of funding.

The new centers are intended to strengthen U.S. research capacity while training students and early-career researchers in emerging scientific and technological fields.

“Maintaining the United States’ leadership in science and technology requires bold research, strong partnerships, and a skilled workforce,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of NSF director.

He said the centers would help researchers pursue opportunities created by advances in foundational science and technology while developing the talent and technologies needed to translate research into practical applications.

Established in 1987, the NSF STC program has supported large-scale, collaborative research aimed at opening new areas of scientific discovery and advancing emerging technologies. According to NSF, previous centers have contributed to the development of new research fields, industry partnerships and startup companies, while training generations of researchers and innovators.

The program is designed for research challenges that require expertise across multiple institutions and disciplines. In addition to conducting high-risk, foundational research, the centers are expected to work with industry and other partners to move promising discoveries toward real-world applications.

The three newly funded centers are:

TEMPEST: Tackling the Physics of Turbulence

Led by Michigan State University, the Center for Transformative Explorations in Multi-Physics and Engineering of Scientific Turbulence (TEMPEST) will focus on one of the longstanding challenges in physics and engineering: understanding and controlling turbulence.

Turbulence refers to the chaotic, multiscale motion of fluids and plasmas. It is important to applications ranging from fusion energy to national security, but researchers still have difficulty predicting how complex turbulent systems behave across different scales.

TEMPEST will combine experimental research, mathematical modeling, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to develop more accurate, physics-based models of turbulence. The researchers hope the work can contribute to fusion energy research while strengthening the scientific foundations of technologies relevant to national security and other areas of engineering.

GENIE: Engineering the Genome in Three Dimensions

Led by Northwestern University, the Center for Genome Intelligence Engineering (GENIE) will investigate how the three-dimensional organization of DNA influences cell identity and function.

Researchers will study how DNA is arranged within cells and how changes in that organization can contribute to diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The center aims to develop technologies for engineering DNA in three dimensions and to use that knowledge to understand how cells and tissues respond to damage. Ultimately, the research could contribute to approaches for preserving cellular function, restoring damaged biological systems and developing new applications in biotechnology and biomedicine.

Human-Robot Co-Adaptation

Led by The University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaptation will examine how humans and robots can safely and effectively adapt to one another as robots become more common in homes, hospitals, workplaces and public spaces.

The center will bring together robotics, artificial intelligence and human-factors research to develop systems that allow robots to learn from people, understand individual needs and preferences, and adapt to changing environments and users.

Researchers will focus on robots with greater “embodied intelligence”—systems capable of interacting with people and adapting both physically and cognitively to their surroundings.

The goal is to develop robotic technologies that can be used safely and effectively in areas such as independent living, health care and other human-centered services.

Together, the three centers represent NSF’s strategy of using long-term, cross-institutional research to address problems that span traditional disciplinary boundaries. They also highlight the growing role of universities in connecting fundamental research with emerging technologies and workforce development.

By combining university research with expertise from national laboratories, industry and other partners, the NSF STC program seeks to create research environments in which students and early-career scientists can gain experience working on complex problems at the intersection of science, engineering and technology.

The announcement follows NSF’s recent investment of $290 million in eight research institutes focused on quantum science and technology​. The institutes involve researchers from academia, government and industry across 19 states and 36 higher education institutions, further expanding the agency’s support for large-scale, collaborative research in emerging areas of science and technology.