U.S. Semantic Technologies Symposium Series
Invited Talk - Dr. Chaitanya Baru,
Open Knowledge Network: An NSF Convergence Accelerator Pilot
Abstract
To help advance the progression from data to information to knowledge, and to fully harness the data revolution, the National Science Foundation seeks to enable the creation of a nonproprietary shared knowledge infrastructure—an Open Knowledge Network (OKN). This effort is being supported as a “track,” or theme, under NSF’s new Convergence Accelerator program, whose vision is to identify areas of use-inspired research where investment in convergent approaches – those bringing together people from across disciplines, united to solve problems – have the potential to translate to high-benefit results and advance ideas from concept to directed deliverables. The Convergence Accelerator expands and refines NSF’s efforts to support fundamental scientific exploration by creating partnerships in use-inspired, translational research.
The Open Knowledge Network idea was presented at the inaugural US2TS Symposium held in March 2018. In this talk, we will present the current status of this NSF-supported activity. From the first set of 43 Convergence Accelerator planning awards made in August 2019, 21 are in the Open Knowledge Network track. In May 2020, a subset of these projects (~5) will enter the implementation phase. The current set of projects cover a wide range of domains and address a range of technical issues related to the creation and use of knowledge networks/graphs. The projects are expected to leverage the significant extant work in this area in academia as well as industry.
The Convergence Accelerator program is in pilot mode in 2019. New tracks/themes are expected to be announced each year. Specific funding opportunities will be announced through Dear Colleague Letters, program announcements, and/or solicitations. Information about the program is available at the website.
Biography - Dr. Chaitanya Baru
Dr. Chaitanya Baru is Senior Science Advisor in the Convergence Accelerator Office, Office of the Director, NSF, having earlier served as an Expert for the Convergence Accelerator from April to August 2019. He is at NSF on assignment from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), University of California, San Diego. He previously served at NSF, as Senior Advisor for Data Science in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE), from August 2014-2018. Dr. Baru has worked on translational and applied research in computer science and data science at SDSC since 1996, where he has served in a number of leadership positions. He previously worked at IBM—on IBM’s DB2 Parallel Edition for AIX development team and, prior to that, was on the faculty of the EECS Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has an ME and PhD in Electrical Engineering (Computer Engineering) from the University of Florida and a BTech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.