Big Data: The U.S. Government Perspective

Big Data: A U.S. Government Perspective
Big Data: A U.S. Government Perspective

March 29, 2012: Together with the NSF, NIH, DoD, DoE, HHS, DARPA, and the USGS, the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) announced the “Big Data Research and Development Initiative”.

Launched with $200 million dollars of support, the initiative states explicitly its commitment to:
• Advance state-of-the-art- core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze and share huge quantities of data
• Harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discover in science and engineering, strengthen our national security and transform teach and learning
• Expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies.
As part of the federal initiative, the NSF also implemented a “…comprehensive, long-term strategy that includes new methods to derive knowledge from data; infrastructure to manage, curate and serve data to communities; and new approaches to education and workforce development.”

In part, the strategy specifically addresses its support of:
• Encouraging research universities to develop interdisciplinary graduate programs to prepare the next generation of data scientists and engineers
• Convening researchers across disciplines to determine how Big Data can transform teaching and learning.
In addition, the NIH and the NSF publish, “Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering,” which, “…covers a wide range of topics: big data infrastructure; education and workforce development; and multi-disciplinary collaborative teams and communities that address complex scientific, biomedical and engineering grand challenges.”

November 12, 2013: The OSTP and the Networking and Information Technology R&D (NITRD) program co-sponsor a “Data to Knowledge to Action” event with public and private organizations, including among others, universities and state and local governments, that “…are answering President Obama’s call for partnerships that can enhance national priorities, including economic growth and job creation, education and health, energy and sustainability, public safety and national security, and global development.”

February 18, 2015: Underscoring the importance of big data and the overarching need for data scientists, the White House names, Dr. DJ Patil as the first U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy and Chief Data Scientist.

Most recently, in his February 20th memo to the American people, “Unleashing the Power of Data to Serve the American People,” Dr. Patil describes his role, in part, to recruiting and retaining the best minds in data science for public service to address these data science objectives and act as conduits among the government, academia, and industry.

More details at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp