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      21974–1986: CER, CSNET, NSFNET, and the Founding of CISE

      W. Richards Adrion

      As we discussed in Chapter 1, computing and information programs and activities existed from the beginning of the National Science Foundation. After several major NSF reorganizations, the computer science and engineering research programs in the Office of Computing Activities were transferred to the Research Directorate in 1974 and the Office was renamed the Division of Computer Research (DCR) in 1975. After the Research Directorate was divided into several discipline-based directorates, the DCR programs were moved into the Computer Science Section of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Engineering (MPE) Directorate in 1976.¹Programs for scientific computing resumed in the early 1980s as support for high-performance computing, and then in the 2000s for “cyberinfrastructure.” Educational applications of computing moved to the Education Directorate in 1972 and, following a brief hiatus during the Reagan administration, remained there. The programs in the Office of Science Information Services (OSIS) moved to the Directorate for National and International Programs in 1969, where they suffered substantial reductions in funds and significant changes in staffing. The NSF science information/information science programs evolved to focus on essential technologies for addressing fundamental questions of information science.

      By the 1980s, NSF programs supporting computer science, computer engineering, and information science research had moved from the administrative side of NSF to, or were created within, various divisions and sections in the research directorates. Computing research was housed in Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS). The Division of Information Science and Technology was moved to the Biological and Behavioral Sciences Directorate in 1978. After an Engineering and Applied Science Directorate was created in 1978 (becoming the Engineering Directorate in 1980), NSF developed explicit programs for computer engineering and housed them in a new Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering Division. A new office of Advanced Scientific Computing was created in 1984 to meet the demand for supercomputer centers and associated networking access. The formation of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate in 1986 brought these programs together in a single directorate.

2.1My Background and Perspective on the 1974–86 Period

      Much of this chapter is based on my experience and memory of events, augmented with documents and references. I first joined the National Science Foundation in late summer 1976 and for two years was the program director for the Theoretical Computer Science (TCS) program.² I will describe the creation and operation of the Computer Science Section (CSS) within NSF, issues that arose around cryptography research funded from the TCS program, and the roles of the CISE Equipment program and Theorynet in influencing the Coordinated Experiment Research (CER) initiative.

      I returned to NSF in January 1980 as the program director for Special Projects in the Computer Science Section (CSS). My responsibilities included the new Coordinated Experimental Research initiatives: CER (facilities), CSNET, a New Faculty Investigators program, and a Postdoctoral program. In FY 1981, CER and CSNET and the New Faculty Investigators program became separate programs, while the Postdoctoral program was terminated. I managed CER and oversaw C. William Kern, the CSNET project manager. I assumed the role of CSNET project manager in 1982 when Kern left for Ohio State. I was also responsible for other programs in Special Projects including research on databases, privacy and security, and social impacts as well as conferences, symposia, and special studies.

      In 1984, I joined the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing as program director for

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