Preface

The Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate and its predecessors at the National Science Foundation (NSF) have played a seminal but untold role in the growth of computing¹ from the 1950s to today. Since the mid-1990s, CISE has provided a large majority of all funding for basic research in computer science and closely related disciplines in the United States, as well as substantial support for other fields that study computing or push the state-of-the-art of advanced computation. The results have formed the foundations on which modern computing is built.

Two of the authors of this book, Peter Freeman and Rick Adrion, were aware of much of this history and knew also that, to date, no comprehensive record of the influential role played by CISE and its predecessors existed. As a result, in late 2016, we undertook to remedy this situation by producing a documented history of NSF’s role in modern computing. Recognizing that we had no formal training as historians, we enlisted William Aspray, an historian who had published extensively on computing-related subjects including at NSF,² and with whom we had worked in other contexts, to join us on the project; his experience has been essential. This book, and a related publicly available collection of research materials³ deposited at the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) of the University of Minnesota, are the principal results of our efforts.

Our project had four objectives. The first was to bring together as much information as possible that pertains to the history of computing⁴ at NSF. We have collected approximately 4,000 paper and electronic records, which were donated to the CBI.⁵ We spent considerable time talking with longtime members of the CISE staff to locate materials and develop context for later project activities. We also collected materials and consulted various archival collections.⁶

We have augmented this written material with approximately 50 oral histories,⁷ which have been transcribed and lightly edited. (Most of these will be available through the CBI as well.) They include interviews with several NSF directors and eight of the nine living Assistant Directors (ADs) of CISE.⁸ Additional oral histories were conducted with staff within CISE (program officers, division directors, or chief scientists) as well as with other members of the Washington computer science community; for example, former members of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). A list appears in the back of this book.

      A second objective of this project was to rigorously document major events in the history of NSF support for computing research and education. Throughout the text, we have provided citations to numerous primary sources, including NSF internal memoranda and internal plans that are no longer sensitive, published documents, and other government publications. In those cases where materials we cite in this book would be difficult for readers to obtain, we have placed them with the CBI.

A third objective was to write a set of narratives describing the history in a readable and accessible way. This has been greatly facilitated by the fact that both Adrion and Freeman served as employees or rotators⁹ at NSF on several occasions for a combined total of 18 years, and were not only active researchers and educators (professors) but also engaged members of the professional community for almost 50 years each. Additionally, Aspray had led a team in the early 1990s that produced a large body of unpublished research on pre-CISE activities based on internal NSF documents. When he became part of this project, we gained particular advantage for satisfying this objective as he accessed those writings and drew from his 40-plus years of experience as an historian of computing.

      Our fourth objective was to analyze what we have learned. Conclusions are indeed drawn in Chapter 13 as well throughout the rest of the text. However, generally speaking, we have not evaluated CISE programs or the individual projects that CISE supported; where we have offered judgmental opinions, these are solely the opinions of the chapter’s author(s). Further analysis must await future authors. We mention other major government funders including DARPA, NASA, DoE, and the military research agencies; science policy in both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government and in the National Academies; and