DHS S&T to lead a session at SXSW. Two Data-related SuperClusters merged. NSF funding on Smart Soil
Dear GCTC-Smart and Secure Cities and Communities Challenge (SC3) community,
We have a few updates from our federal partners and SuperClusters.
DHS S&T at SXSW: Rethinking Resilience in the Smart City
The Department of Homeland (DHS) Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the co-host of 2018 GCTC-SC3, is heading to South by Southwest (SXSW) to discuss a potential new proving ground for smart city technology - airports. These travel hubs move massive numbers of people and goods while ensuring safety and security, so they're a natural lab for technologies that could improve smart city resilience. If you're attending SXSW and work on security or smart city technology, we encourage you to join this session and help S&T build a more resilient future!
The session is part of the Cities Summit Track and will take place Monday, March 12 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. CT at the Four Seasons Hotel, 98 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX. Click here to RSVP (Note: You must have a SXSW account and badge to sign up).
Speakers will include:
Andre Hentz - Deputy Under Secretary (Acting), DHS S&T
Tanya Acevedo - Chief Technology Officer, Houston Airport System
Matt Walsh - Director, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T
Mark Dowd - Executive Director, Smart Cities Lab
Melissa Conley - Transportation Security Administration
S&T works closely with innovators across the private and public sectors to identify technology solutions that can address the nation's homeland security challenges. Your participation in this session will help foster new ideas about the role science and technology can play in strengthening security and resilience.
Follow S&T on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for the latest updates on SXSW and smart city technology, and join the #RethinkingResilience conversation!
City Platform and Data Governance SuperClusters to join forces to launch Data SuperCluster.
We had an extremely successful data session at the 2018 GCTC-SC3 kickoff a couple of week ago. At that time, we had a joint session between the City Platform SuperCluster (CPSC) and the Data Governance & Exchange SuperCluster (DGSC), and it was a huge success, to the extent that a major complaint we received in the post-event survey was that the room was completely overcrowded!
After the kickoff event, we had a discussion with the chairs and leads of CPSC and DGSC about the possibility of combining the two SuperClusters given that the topics of the two SuperClusters are closely related. They fully agreed with the idea.
Therefore, we are announcing the merger of the two SuperClusters to create a new "Data SuperCluster (DSC)." This new SuperCluster will carry a fresh focus on the data governance/exchange including cybersecurity and privacy, and continuing enhancing the perspectives on data platform/dashboard. Bob Bennett, the chair of CPSC, will serve as a co-chair of the DSC, while Alex Huppenthal (Aspenworks) and Jason Whittet (100 Resilient Cities/Rockefeller Foundation) will serve as co-chairs to represent additional perspectives of data governance/exchange. Both Alex and Jason played a critical role in conceiving and launching DGSC. GCTC-SC3 is enthusiastically looking forward to working with the co-chairs and the leadership team on Data.
Join the group for Data SuperCluster at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gctc-data-supercluster/join
NSF's EAGER Funding Program on Smart Agriculture Dynamic Soil Processes
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) announced a Dear Colleague Letter: Signals in the Soil (SitS) which was published on February 22, 2018. NSF's Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), and Biological Sciences (BIO) are interested in receiving Research Concept Outlines as described in the announcement. These Research Concept Outlines should be no longer than 2 pages and must be emailed to SitSquestions@nsf.gov by April 13, 2018 to be considered. Once NSF program officers have approved the Research Concept Outline, the PI will be invited to submit a full EAGER or RAISE proposal to a specific program.
The goal of this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is to encourage submission of Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals for early-stage, high-risk, high-reward research on technologies, models, and methods to better understand dynamic soil processes, including interactions of the macro- and microbiomes with soil nutrients, the rhizosphere, and various abiotic and biotic processes within the soil. Although other topics that meet the goals of the DCL are of interest, those responsive to the following four themes are encouraged:
Sensors: Novel sensors and other materials for sensing soil biological/metagenomics, chemical, or physical characteristics to monitor soil health and changes in properties under different uses, and to address needs for inexpensive sensors buried for long time periods in highly variable soil conditions.
Wireless Systems: Advances in wireless communications to collect and transmit data from sensors buried in soils over extended periods of time.
Advanced Cyber Systems and Data Analytics: New methods for data fusion and analytics of sensor measurement outputs (data visualization and reporting tools, etc.).
Modeling Soil Ecosystems: Next-generation models of soil biological, chemical, and/or physical components, making use of new sensing and data communications capabilities that can describe interactions among soil biological, chemical, and physical processes at different temporal and spatial scales.
For information regarding the SitS announcement, please visit https://nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18047/nsf18047.jsp?org=NSF or email SitSquestions@nsf.gov.
Portland Tech Jam Call for Action Clusters, and Call for Academic Papers
The 2018 GCTC-SC3 Tech Jam will be held in Portland, Oregon, on June 20-22, 2018, co-hosted by the City of Portland, Tech Oregon, Urban Systems, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T). The goal of Tech Jam is to share the progress made by all 2018 GCTC action clusters and SuperClusters and open up additional collaboration opportunities to all interested parties. The event specifics follow:
When: June 20-22, 2018
Where: Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR
Website and registration: https://globaltechjam.com/
Speaking opportunity: Speakers will be invited from approved 2018 GCTC action clusters. Instructions to form an action cluster can be found in the Participation Guide.
More details coming soon.
In collaboration with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Emerging Interest Group (EIG) on Smart Cities and Communities (SCC), we will be hosting a Technical Papers Symposium as part of Tech Jam. This symposium will provide a leading venue for the presentation of the highest-quality original research, groundbreaking ideas, and compelling insights on future trends in Smart City Technology and Deployment. Please see the call for papers at https://easychair.org/cfp/SCC2018. Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library as part of the event proceedings. Following is essential info for your paper:
Abstracts (250 words) due: March 19, 2018 (EXTENDED)
Acceptance notification: March 26, 2018
Full paper due: May 15, 2018
Submission: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=scc20181
Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested in learning more about 2018 GCTC-SC3 and its activities. Thank you all.
Sokwoo & Scott
Sokwoo Rhee, Ph.D.
Associate Director | Cyber-Physical Systems Innovation
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Email: sokwoo.rhee@nist.gov
Scott Tousley
Deputy Director | Cyber Security Division
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate
Email: scott.tousley@hq.dhs.gov