NSF CISE Newsletter: “A Fond Farewell”

This marks my last monthly CISE newsletter in the leadership role for CISE. After a fulfilling 4-year term at NSF, I will be returning in December to my university faculty role. It has been a joy and a privilege to serve at NSF and to help catalyze the incredible advances our community has made in research and education and infrastructure for computer and information science and engineering and for the nation.

As we transition to a new chapter, a search for the next permanent assistant director (AD) for CISE is underway and NSF hopes to have news on that front soon. Meanwhile, CISE CCF Division Director Dilma DaSilva will be serving as the acting AD during the transition time. Dilma brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to advancing the goals of our community. Both during this interim period and during the next AD’s term, I look with great optimism for CISE’s trajectory.

I joined CISE in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic changed so much of our lives and work. While we all adapted to changes and challenges, the NSF team worked expeditiously to identify and invest in quick-turn responses to help the community navigate the pandemic’s shocks to the academic and research enterprise. Longer term, over the years to follow, we continued NSF’s crucial work to catalyze and sustain work in CISE relevant topic areas. As you all know well, the research and education community served by CISE is crucial to the nation’s future in topic areas like artificial intelligence, semiconductors, advanced wireless, and more. We are so grateful for the innovation and energy you bring to your work.

Throughout the past four years, outreach and engagement has been a key priority for me. When pandemic travel constraints prevented in-person visits, I virtually visited nearly 100 campuses in all 50 states and one territory. And later in my term when travel was possible again, I led CISE teams in a series of multi-campus outreach events to bring together dozens of campuses for regional CISE relevant discussions and proposal writing workshops. Most recently, these have included Alaska, Puerto Rico, Florida and others.

Leading CISE has been a joy and a responsibility, and I am immensely proud of the strides we have made together. As I bid farewell to this role, I look forward to staying connected and witnessing the continued success and growth of the directorate and the communities it serves. I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to each of you for your dedication, passion, and collaboration in driving the field forward.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you.

Sincerely,