We need to support researchers – human-infrastructure – to address science challenges with no-boundary thinking, to define science problems without the bound of disciplines - not just researchers who develop theoretical approaches or application tools for bioinformatics, not just researchers who apply statistical and computational tools to help life scientists.
The institute invited applications from scientists in 18 countries with an infrastructure to support strong science but inadequate research funding.
The MaRS project was established on the premise that if you create the infrastructure to bring the science, scientists, and the business community closer together, then you generate the impetus to accelerate technology commercialisation in a cluster environment.
Figure 2 The overall goal is to achieve a 'ScienceTube' based on federated data infrastructures to support science. Figure 2 also illustrates that there are 'recommendation systems' pointing to the 'most viewed data today' such as papers that are inter-linked with scientific measurement data obtained from a large device (e.g. telescope).
With federal funding anticipated in 2013, the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) is developing a preliminary design for infrastructure to support large-scale science at several underground levels.
It provides vital scientific infrastructure to the community by standardizing science data formats and analysis programs, providing open access to NASA resources, and implementing powerful archive interfaces.
But the foundation must spend a larger share of its $5 billion budget on research infrastructure to maintain U.S. leadership in science, declares a new report from its oversight body, the National Science Board.
Without strong infrastructure to conduct and support the science, we will not be able to deliver on all the promise and potential of our country's researchers.
But the dangers of a top-down, project-by-project approach to science infrastructure are clear.
And then there is the matter of the incoming president, Donald J. Trump, who has promised to take advantage of low interest rates and borrow to invest in research and infrastructure, but whose commitment to science is not exactly sterling.
