Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation's Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure awarded the University of Massachusetts Lowell $499,490 under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.070) to plan a federated, AI-ready cyberinfrastructure for advanced microscopy and imaging research. The two-year planning effort (August 1, 2026–July 31, 2028) will investigate the feasibility, community acceptance, and design requirements for a national data system serving advanced microscopy, imaging, materials, biology, and environmental sciences domains. The project will employ a Teach-Explore-Design framework to engage scientists and cyberinfrastructure stakeholders in imagining future capabilities, studying current workflows and constraints, and co-designing candidate federated architectures and operating models. Deliverables will include community-vetted design artifacts such as candidate federated architectures, operating models, trust and provenance concepts, and responsible AI workflow patterns to guide future national-scale cyberinfrastructure development.

As the prime grantee, UML will coordinate with the University of Southern California as a sub-awardee to lead domain-specific engagement in advanced transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy. USC will collect and curate representative, high-value microscopy datasets with associated metadata and provenance information; systematically document real-world experimental and analysis workflows; and lead community engagement and co-design activities with microscopists and imaging scientists. These efforts will ensure that the planned cyberinfrastructure is grounded in authentic scientific practice and responsive to the needs of the microscopy and materials science communities, with insights feeding directly into cross-institutional requirements, workflow blueprints, and federated governance plans.