NSF to invest $37M in next-gen networks, computer systems

Dave Nyczepir
Apr 19, 2022 | FEDSCOOP

The National Science Foundation will invest more than $37 million into academic research of next-generation networks and computer systems to maintain U.S. competitiveness, the agency announced Monday.

Companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft and agencies including the Department of Defense and National Institute of Standards and Technology are participating in the Resilient and Intelligent Next-Generation Systems (RINGS) public-private partnership.

The public-private partnership is NSF‘s largest to date and comes as concerns mount that the U.S. is losing the quantum computing race to China.

“The RINGS program is a visionary and ambitious effort that will benefit many critical aspects of societal infrastructure and will have long-term, transformational impacts on the next generation of network systems,” said Gurdip Singh, director of the Division of Computer and Network Systems, in the announcement. “I am excited to see how awardees under this program lead the path toward new communication capabilities that improve our lives from education to infrastructure and national security.”

A total of 37 projects across various universities will receive the cumulative $43.5 million in funding, when partners’ contributions are factored in.

Northwestern University will research Internet of Things resilience, Florida Atlantic University post-quantum cryptography for large-scale systems, and Princeton University object-oriented video analytics for mobile environments.

Other projects address next-generation edge computing, communications systems, data centers and factories.