By Hans Kaper
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has updated its request for proposals for the Algorithms for Threat Detection (ATD) program. This program supports research projects to develop the next generation of mathematical and statistical algorithms for analysis of large spatiotemporal datasets, with application to quantitative models of human dynamics. The initiative is a partnership between the NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). The deadline for proposal submission is March 18, 2020.
The ATD program—which is not well known in the applied mathematics and computational science community—currently supports 64 proposals, several of which represent collaborative projects. The program awarded 14 proposals during the latest funding cycle (FY19). These proposals covered a broad range of topics in mathematics and statistics, including the dynamics of content spreading in multilayer networks, real-time detection of pattern changes in networks, topological data analysis, multimodal spatiotemporal data in computer vision, and detection of time-lapse changes in imagery. The awards range from approximately $57K to just over $500K. Successful proposals from prior years addressed a similar breadth of topics, such as the dynamics of drone-based threat detection, spectral interpretations of essential subgraphs for threat discoveries, precision agriculture and satellite imaging, vector-borne diseases and weather patterns, and harmonic analysis and machine learning for emergency response.
The ATD program offers a unique opportunity for researchers to develop new mathematics and demonstrate the subject’s broad applicability to issues of national security. Submitted proposals are reviewed according to the usual NSF criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts. Successful proposals are jointly funded by the NSF and NGA. Awardees must include appropriate acknowledgment of NGA support in reports and/or publications of work performed under the award.
Details about proposal submission, processing, and review procedures are available in NSF solicitation 20-531.
Hans Kaper, founding chair of the SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth and editor-in-chief of SIAM News, is affiliate faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Georgetown University.