The National Science Foundation (NSF)
awarded totally $5 million over five years between 2011 and 2016 to
Texas Southern University to support its proposed “Center for Research
on Complex Networks,” a new NSF Center of Research Excellence in Science
and Technology (CREST) .
The new Center’s multiple disciplinary
team, led by Drs. Wei Wayne Li (PI), Lei Yu (Co-PI) and C. J. Tymczak
(Co-PI), as well as Drs. Oscar Criner (Director of Education) and David
Olowokere (Director of Technology Transfer), comprises a total of 14
world-class faculty scholars representing 6 different departments in the
College of Science and Technology, including Departments of Computer
Science, Transportation Studies, Physics, Engineering Technology,
Mathematics, and Chemistry. The funded Center will have a great impact
on students at TSU by financially supporting a minimum of 15
undergraduate and graduate students each year in the next five years,
providing them the opportunity to work with faculty on the cutting-edge
research and development.
The mission of this NSF Center is to
conduct innovative and multidisciplinary research in the area of complex
networks, which will provide a knowledge base for the understanding of
complex networks, i.e. energy efficient wireless sensor networks, urban
transportation environmental networks, and distributed computational
networks, allowing for the development and implementation of policies
for global environmental sustainability. The research will be
integrated with the science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) education programs, particularly striving to expand the pool of
minority and underrepresented students who pursue advanced graduate
studies in STEM fields, to meet the critical workforce needs of the
nation. The Center will promote and implement diversity in STEM
disciplines, through educational outreach initiatives and extensive
effort to recruit, retain and train members of underrepresented minority
groups. The attempt is to prepare minority students for leadership
positions in the fast-changing global, scientific, engineering, and
government sectors.
The National Science Foundation is an
independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the
progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and
welfare; to secure the national defense." With an annual budget of about
$6.9 billion (FY2010), NSF is the funding source for approximately 20
percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s
colleges and universities. NSF’s CREST program was created to make
resources available to enhance the research capabilities of
minority-serving institutions through the establishment of centers that
effectively integrate education and research. CREST promotes the
development of new knowledge, enhancements of the research productivity
of individual faculty, and an expanded presence of students historically
underrepresented in STEM disciplines.