NSF Support for Semantic Web Research

2008-02-05

NSF Support for Semantic Web Research

Frank OlkenNational Science Foundation

CISE/[email protected]

Presentation toSICOP Special Conference

Semantic Interoperability Community of PracticeFalls Church, VA

Version 8 – Approved for Public Presentation by D. Crawford

Feb. 5, 2008

F. Olken, NSF Funding of Semantic Web 22008-02-05

Outline of Talk What is semantic web research? Why is NSF interested? Semantic web research is routine at NSF Searches of Award Abstracts Examples NSF Funding Sources & Solicitations Conclusions Reviewers Wanted Contact Information


What is Semantic Web Research?

Description Logic (OWL, etc.) Resource Description Framework (RDF) Ontologies, Ontology Building Tools, etc. Logic and Inference Engines Query Languages over RDF, etc. (SPARQL) Rules Languages, Inference Engines Other logics (F-logic, IKL) Graph DBMS (for RDF, etc.)


Why does NSF care about semantic web technologies?

Formalization of scientific knowledge Facilitate sharing of scientific data Facilitate access to scientific data and knowledge Natural language processing (information extraction,

digital libraries, ...) Support for digital government (semantic rules

languages, disaster support, ...) Support for machine learning Support for math/science education Data semantics


Semantic Web Funding at NSF

NSF is routinely funding semantic web research proposals as part of its normal research programs and

solicitations.


Semantic Web NSF Awards (active)

25 awards= “semantic web” in title/abstract 70 awards = “semantic” and “web” in title/abstract 105 awards = “ontology” in title/abstract 12 awards = “ontology” in title only 35 awards = “semantic” in title only 206 awards = “semantic” in title/abstract

Many of these are traditional linguistics or programming language semantics

26 awards = “knowledge representation” in title/abstract Total IIS active awards >= 1,000 Typical IIS award = 3 years


Examples of NSF Funded Semantic Web Research

Marine Metadata Initiative P. Bogden, et al., funded by OCE uses OWL encoded ontologies for metadata

attributes, taxonomies, ... Linking Evolution to Genomics Using

Phenotype Ontologies PI: P. Mabee (USD), funded by BIO DBI Ontologies for clades and phenotypes of fish, e.g.

Zebra fish



BIOPAX PI: J. Luciano (Harvard), funded by CISE IIS III Uses OWL for data interchange standard for

biopathways (metabolic, signaling, gene regulatory networks) data

Workshop on Web Service Discovery & Composition PI: B. Blake (Georegetown) Uses OWL-S to specify web services Funded by CISE IIS HCC



Formal Theory of Distributed Ontologies for Semantic Web PI: J. Heflin (Lehigh Univ.) Funded by CISE IIS RI


Examples of NSF funded Semantic Web Research

Scalable Querying and Mining of Graphs PI: A Singh (UCSB) Funded by CISE IIS III graph query algorithms for RDF, etc.

TANGO: Table Analysis for Semiautomatic Generation of Ontologies PIs: G. Nagy (RPI) & David Embley (BYU) Funded by CISE IIS III analyses tables in web pages to construct

ontologies



Encoding Rights, Permissions and Obligations: Privacy Policy Specification and Compliance PI: A. Anton (NCSU) , funded by CISE CCF Uses ontologies, modal action logic, deontic action

logic for privacy policy specifications and compliance checking

IKL Inference Engine IKL = KR interlingua = FOL + named propositions PI: Pat Hayes (IHMC), funded by CISE IIS III



Workshop on Semantics of Financial Information Systems e.g., XBRL, SDMX, ... PI: William McCarthy (Michigan State Univ.) Upcoming in 2008, funded by CISE IIS III

A Semantic Framework for Policy Specification and Enforcement in a Need to Share Environment PI: T. Finin (UMBC) & B. Thuraisingham (UTD) Funded by CISE CNS Cyber Trust



Semi-Automated Construction of an Ontology for Amphibian Morphology PI: J. Leopold (U. Missouri-Rolla) Funded by BIO DBI

SemDIS: Discovering Complex Relationships in the Semantic Web PI: A. Sheth (Wright State), funded by CISE IIS


Examples of NSF FundedSemantic Web Research

Science on the Semantic Web -- Prototypes in Bioinformatics PIs: T. Finin (UMBC), J. Hendler (RPI), et al. Funded by CISE IIS III

BioLogica--Deductive Integration of Heterogeneous Biological Data Sources PI: C. Talcott (SRI) Funded by CISE IIS III


Funding of Semantic Web Proposals by NSF Divisions

CISE/IIS – DM, KM, IR, science informatics, ecoinformatics, AI, machine learning, ...

CISE/CCF -theory CISE/CNS – systems, Cyber Trust SBE/BCS – e.g., linguistics BIO/DBI – bioinformatics OCI – cyberinfrastructure, archives, OCE - Oceanography


Debates about semantic web research

Skepticism about adoption of semantic tagging by the masses (and the quality of the tagging) Somewhat less of a problem with semantic tagging by

scientific community ... Skepticism of semantics by most of the database

research community: Slowly changing. We now run a special panel for most small

IIS/III semantic web / KR proposals, and special panels on IIS graph related proposals (joint III & RI).

Skepticism about scalability of semantic search and inference engines Open research issue ...



Description Logic vs. First Order Logic Heated debates in KR research community about whether

description logics are adequate or whether FOL or other logics should be used.

Scalability and structuring of rule bases Concerns about the software engineering of large rule bases

(or collections of logic axioms). Efforts to partition such large rule bases / logic axiom collections (cf. Cyc's microtheories, etc.) This remains an open research topic.

Poor Quality Ontologies Ontology development and assessment remains difficult,

rare skill. Some progress (e.g., Ontoclean), clear need for more research and more training of practitioners.



Ontology Merging is very hard: Currently subject of research, See Ontoclean work by Guarino & Welty See also work by C. Joslyn, et al. on use of partial

orders. See also work by N. Noy and M. Musen. See also IKL work by Pat Hayes, et al. For

representing mappings among ontologies.


Where to apply for NSF funding for semantic web research?

CISE/IIS Division Unified Solicitation 07-577 III (Information Integration and Informatics)

Funds data management, information retrieval, knowledge management, digital libraries, digital government, semantic web, rules engines, bioinformatics, DB security and privacy

RI (Robust Intelligence) Funds machine learning, artificial intelligence, speech,

vision,robotics, ... HCC (Human Centered Computing)

Funds user interface research, assistive technologies, ... Single IIS annual solicitation !


Where to apply for NSF funding for semantic web research?

CISE CNS – Cyber Trust, networks, systems, .. CISE CCF – CS Theory, logics, ... Biology, Geosciences, ... directorates

Fund domain specific ontologies for their specific research areas

May fund software tools for particular research areas – e.g., bioinformatics sequence annotation, ...


Where to apply for NSF funding of semantic web development?

CISE/CRI Funds infrastructure for computer science research

OCI (Office of CyberInfrastructure) Funds software development for tools of use to

broad scientific communities (biology, etc.) Anticipates funding data exchange standards and

domain specific ontologies Funds work on interoperability and data archives

Note: CRI and OCI support infrastructure, not direct research support !


NSF Solicitations Relevant to Semantic Web Research

07-577 CISE IIS Division solicitation Interop (OCI & CISE) interoperability Datanet Partners (OCI & CISE) scientific

archives Cybersecurity (CISE CNS) security/privacy

policy languages Cyberenabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI)

(NSF/CISE) - data to knowledge Expeditions in Computing (CISE) carte blanche


Cyberenabled Discovery and Innovation

From Data to Knowledge (1 of 3 themes) Is knowledge representation within scope?

Yes [J. Wing] Note all proposals must encompass at least 2

scientific disciplines (directorates). Panels are organized by subject area discipline (not CS discipline) Implies few KR proposals per panel Implies few KR reviewers per panel


Datanet Partners

Joint solicitation of OCI & CISE Data archiving, digital preservation OCI = wants operational archiving system CISE = support research related to archiving Data semantics, semantic enabled search are

key issues Large awards = $20 M / award, 5 year awards PDs: Sylvia Spengler (CISE), Lucy Nowell

(OCI)


Upcoming Changes in NSF Solicitations Relevant to Semantic Web Research

Cyberenabled Discovery and Innovation – possible increase in funding in FY 09 ++ - not yet approved

CISE/IIS Division Solicitation is scheduled for revision this Spring for FY 09 proposals


Conclusion

NSF continues to routinely fundsemantic web research.


Reviewers Wanted !!

Panelists are need to review NSF CISE/IIS/III proposals related to semantic web, knowledge representation, etc.

Panel will be in March or early April. Also need panelists for graph related proposals

(e.g., RDF engines, query languages) to CISE/IIS

This panel will also be in March Email: [email protected] put “volunteer panelist”

in the subject line.


Contact Information


Contact Information for NSF CISE / IIS / III

Frank Olken, [email protected]

data semantics, data/ontology integration, workflow, eng./sci. informatics, metadata registries, ...

Maria Zemankova, [email protected]

Knowledge management, information retrieval, workflow, vizualization, ...

Sylvia Spengler, [email protected], III Cluster Leader

Ontologies, bioinformatics, Interop, Datanet Partners (archives)

Steve Griffin, [email protected]

Digital libraries Larry Brandt, [email protected]

Digital government Le Gruenwald, [email protected]

Data management, security and privacy, ...

Jim French, [email protected] Information retrieval, data

integration, privacy and security, cloud computing


Contact InformationNSF/CISE/IIS

Tanya Korelsky, [email protected] Natural Language

Processing Doug Fisher,

[email protected] Artificial Intelligence,

Knowledge Representation,

Machine Learning


Contact InformationBDI

Peter McCartney, [email protected] Bioinformatics,

computational biology, ...


Contact InformationNSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure Lucy Nowell, [email protected]

Data Management cyberinfrastructure, bioinformatics, data collections

Interop solicitation Datanet Partners solicitation - archiving

Kevin Thompson, [email protected] Software / middleware cyberinfrastructure


Contact Info for Speaker

Frank Olken National Science Foundation CISE Directorate / IIS Division / III Cluster 4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1125 Arlington, VA 22230 Email: [email protected] Tel: 703-292-8930 (receptionist) Tel: 703-292-7350 (direct) Cell: 510-703-2764 (does not work within NSF)

Documents

NSF Support for Semantic Web Research