Transformative Research Partnerships

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and VMware have initiated a joint solicitation aimed at fostering transformative research in fundamental and systematic approaches to enhance the environmental sustainability of digital infrastructure. This partnership seeks proposals that address the comprehensive digital ecosystem—including hardware, software, and management methodologies—in order to develop innovative metrics, benchmarks, and practical tools that can lead to dramatic improvements in energy efficiency and resource management. The solicitation emphasizes research areas such as sustainable data center power sourcing, distributed software management, and resource allocation optimization, reflecting the growing focus on reducing the environmental footprint of rapidly expanding computational infrastructures.

Under this initiative, the NSF and VMware are supporting projects that explore integrated strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts of digital infrastructure through advanced measurement techniques, statistical analysis, and automated control systems. By emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach, the partnership aims to build a research community that is well-equipped to translate findings into practical methodologies for sustainable digital operations. The program also underscores the importance of establishing novel performance benchmarks that can capture the sustainability challenges across the entirety of the digital computation chain, thereby guiding future innovations toward more environmentally responsible solutions.

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