UNDERSTANDING THE The National Science Foundation’s role in the BRAIN Initiative

What is the BRAIN Initiative? How much funding is NSF devoting to BRAIN? • The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative • President Obama announced the BRAIN Initiative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, announced in will commit $100 million in FY 2014, including $20 April 2013 by the White House, will support and million from NSF. This contribution represents ongoing coordinate research on how the brain functions over investments that NSF is already devoting to research an organism’s lifespan. related to BRAIN Initiative goals, as part of overall • This multiagency Initiative is led by NSF along with the ongoing funding for research in and National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Defense cognitive science. Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and • NSF and other participating agencies are also includes private partners. It holds great promise for proposing additional funds for these investment areas addressing fundamental questions about healthy in FY 2014. Funding for the BRAIN Initiative depends brain function, advancing treatments for brain on many factors, including Congressional decisions on disorders or traumatic brain injury, and for generating the federal budget. brain-inspired “smart” technologies to meet our future How is NSF preparing for BRAIN-related investments? needs as a society. • NSF has quickly gathered input from relevant scientific • The BRAIN Initiative is intended to accelerate the communities on priority research areas related to the development of experimental and theoretical BRAIN Initiative. approaches and novel neurotechnologies essential for understanding the dynamics and principles of brain • NSF has supported the following planning and structure and function. prioritization workshops across various disciplines and thematic areas that are related to the BRAIN Initiative: What is NSF’s role in the BRAIN Initiative? o Phylogenetic Principles of Brain Structure and Function, • NSF is uniquely positioned to lead a transdisciplinary October 2013. Sponsored by the NSF Directorate effort to foster innovative brain research by bringing of Biological Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical together a wide range of scientific and engineering Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus. disciplines. Working together, these disciplines will Mapping and Engineering the Brain, August address brain-mapping and bridge scales that span o 2013. Sponsored by the NSF Directorate for from synapses to behavior. Engineering. Report: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ • NSF supports all fields of fundamental science and stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6615987 engineering, and invests in high-risk, high-impact Integrating Approaches to Computational exploratory and transformational scientific and o Cognition, May 2013. Sponsored by the following engineering research. NSF Directorates: Social, Behavioral, and • In its long history of supporting brain science, NSF has Economic Sciences; Computer and Information produced transformational breakthroughs in brain Science and Engineering. Report: http://matt. imaging, neurotechnologies, modeling and genomics. colorado.edu/compcogworkshop/report.pdf o Linking Language and Cognition to Neuroscience • NSF’s funding mechanisms include: via Computation, May 2013. Sponsored by the o Directorates’ core programs that address topics on following NSF Directorates: Social, Behavioral, brain research, which are described at NSF.gov. and Economic Sciences; Computer and Information Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research Science and Engineering. Report: http://www. o (EAGERs), which support exploratory work in psych.nyu.edu/clash/dp_papers/NSF-Workshop- its early stages on untested, but potentially report.pdf transformative, research ideas or approaches. Physical and Mathematical Principles of Brain o o Science and Technology Centers, where Structure and Function, May 2013. Sponsored world-class research is conducted through by the following NSF Directorates: Mathematical partnerships among academic institutions, national and Physical Sciences; and Biological Sciences. laboratories, industrial organizations. Website: http://physicsoflivingsystems.org/ Research Coordination Networks (RCN), which brainstructureandfunction/ o provide opportunities to foster new collaborations, • Also, in September 2013, NSF launched a new including international partnerships, and Science and Technology Center, Center for , address interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary Minds and Machines,at MIT devoted to developing topics. Innovative ideas for implementing novel a fundamental understanding of intelligence and its networking strategies, collaborative technologies, neural and computational underpinnings. and the development of community standards for data and meta-data are especially encouraged. What BRAIN-related research areas are among NSF’s priorities? Ideas Labs, which are designed to address • o NSF’s investments in the BRAIN Initiative emphasize targeted problems and create innovative integration across scales and disciplines to establish solutions. Participants in an Ideas Lab, selected quantitative and predictive theories of brain structure through an open application process, engage and function, and the use of these theories to help in an intensive residential workshop, the maintain and restore the healthy brain. development of multidisciplinary collaborative • Areas of interest include: proposals through a real-time and iterative review process, and, for the participant teams Quantitative and predictive theories of brain o invited to submit full proposals, the subsequent function. submission of full proposals. Innovative technologies to understand and o Collaborative Research in Computational enhance brain function or treat brain disorders. o Neuroscience (CRCNS): This interagency o Development of cyber tools and standards for competition jointly administered by NSF, NIH data acquisition, analysis and integration. and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports collaborative activities o Multi-scale and multimodal modeling to relate dynamic brain activity to cognition and behavior. that advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, and mechanisms

o Comparative analyses across species. underlying nervous system disorders, through the How does my brain research fit within NSF’s interests? identification of computational strategies used by the nervous system. • All NSF Directorates address brain-related research: • Learn more about NSF’s funding mechanisms for Biological Sciences o brain research at NSF.gov. Discuss how your research o Computer & Information Science & Engineering fits with these funding mechanisms with an NSF o Education & Human Resources program director. o Engineering o Geosciences o International & Integrative Activities o Mathematical & Physical Sciences o Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences • To date, NSF funds research under the BRAIN Initiative via its existing funding mechanisms, which are flexible and accommodate evolving research priorities. National Science Foundation