The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced $10 million in “Big Data Spokes” awards to initiate research in specific areas identified, supported and organized by the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). In the Midwest, $2.4 million in Big Data Spoke, EAGER and planning awards will connect the Midwest Big Data Hub (MBDH) and Midwestern data scientists, to support digital agriculture; community-driven and sustainable neuroscience data infrastructure; improved sensor technologies; citizen scientists and real-time air quality monitoring; and new data-to-decision systems in hazards management by partnering data scientists with emergency personnel.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced $10 million in “Big Data Spokes” awards to initiate research in specific areas identified, supported and organized by the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs). (Photo: moodboard/Thinkstock)

The Big Data Spokes Awards in the Midwest:

Digital Agriculture - Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Plant Sciences and Education

University of North Dakota Main Campus, Award Amount: $995,739.

MIDWEST: Collaborative: Advanced Computational Neuroscience Network (ACNN)

University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Award Amount: $343,263.

BD Spokes: SPOKE: MIDWEST: Collaborative: Advanced Computational Neuroscience Network (ACNN)

Indiana University; Award Amount: $332,869.

BD Spokes: SPOKE: MIDWEST: Collaborative: Advanced Computational Neuroscience Network (ACNN)

Case Western Reserve University; Award Amount: $164,912.

BD Spokes: SPOKE: MIDWEST: Collaborative:Advanced Computational Neuroscience Network (ACNN)

Ohio State University; Award Amount: $166,454.

BD Spokes: Planning: Networked Resilience of Communities Facing Natural and Social Emergencies

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Award Amount:$100,000.

BD Spokes: Planning: Cyberinfrastructure to Enhance Data Quality and Support Reproducible Results in Sensor Originated Big Data

Purdue University; Award Amount: $99,938.

BD Spokes: Planning: Big Data Innovations for Bridge Health

University of Nebraska at Omaha; Award Amount: $99,959.

EAGER Award

EAGER: Incorporating Citizen Science into Real-Time Sensor-Based Estimates of Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure

Ohio State University; Award Amount: $99,613.

The Midwest Big Data Hub, based at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a partnership with the University of Michigan, Iowa State University, Indiana University, and the University of North Dakota that serves 12 midwestern states. MBDH builds relationships in academia, industry, and government to develop an effective cross-sector networks ready to utilize data and data science to solve shared problems of regional and societal interest.

“The NSF’s Spokes and EAGER awards will spur new or improved big data tools and methods to solve complex challenges important to the Midwest,” said Melissa Cragin, executive director of the Midwest Big Data Hub at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “The Midwest Big Data Hub will work with the community to develop and build new public-private partnerships to increase access to data and use of data science tools.”

The Big Data (BD) Spokes within the hub reflect the unique priorities and capabilities of the four disparate U.S. geographic regions (Midwest, Northeast, South, West). The Midwest Big Data Hub focuses on Digital Agriculture, Food-Energy-Water, Health and Biomedical Sciences, Network Sciences, Metropolitan Sciences, Transportation, Business Analytics and Advanced Manufacturing.

"The BD Spokes advance the goals and regional priorities of each BD Hub, fusing the strengths of a range of institutions and investigators and applying them to problems that affect the communities and populations within their regions," said Jim Kurose, assistant director of NSF for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. “We are pleased to be making this substantial investment today to accelerate the nation’s big data R&D innovation ecosystem.”

Source: National Science Foundation