Phase II I/UCRC Harvard: Center for Spatiotemporal Thinking, Computing and Applications (STCA)

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Everything happens at some place, some time. Through collaboration among George Mason University, University of California at Santa Barbara, and Harvard University, this project builds national spatiotemporal capacity and advances education and research. This project aims to acquire superior knowledge of spatiotemporal principles, build computational infrastructure capable of processing big spatiotemporal data efficiently, develop insights on how to apply these principles and capabilities to solve real-world problems, and implement educational programs with state-of-the-art spatiotemporal curricula in order to understand our world better, to respond to regional and global emergencies in a timely way, and to prepare the next generation's workforce. As a center, the three universities will collaborate with industry, government agencies, and other organizations to form a leading national and international consortium for building a comprehensive infrastructure base for spatiotemporal thinking, computing, and application; conducting research to develop spatiotemporal thinking and its methodologies; developing new spatiotemporal technologies, solutions, datasets, tools, and software that will be integrated with existing and future industry products and services; building demonstrative applications for government agencies and organizations to improve the impact and reach of this work; and formulating new educational methodologies and materials to advance human knowledge for the public. The center will be a platform for academia, industry, and agencies to collaborate to achieve fundamental and discipline-wide results. Members from academia will get unique opportunities to interact with industry and agencies to understand real world problems and research needs. Industry members will be able to access the research results and turn them into future products and services to improve their competitiveness. Agencies will be able to apply the research results, incorporating them into their operations for better efficiency. The products, services, and operations will serve thousands to millions of end users, from the public and K-16 to professionals. Research results will be presented in international conferences or symposiums; published in Geographic Information System (GIS) journals or books; shared as code packages in GitHub (https://github.com/cga-harvard), posted on the center website (https://www.stcenter.net/), and circulated as center published newsletters, posters or flyers. Platforms developed by this project will be publicly accessible (as approved by the sponsoring board members). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.