CPS:VO: Virtual Organization for Cyber-Physical Research (VO-CyPhER)
Lead PI:
Chris vanBuskirk
Co-Pi:
Abstract
This NSF award provides support for a CPS Virtual Organization. The National Science Foundation established the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program with the vision of developing a scientific and engineering foundation for routinely building cyber-enabled engineered systems in which cyber capability is deeply embedded at all scales, yet which remain safe, secure, and dependable -- "systems you can bet your life on." The CPS challenge spans essentially every engineering domain. It requires the integration of knowledge and engineering principles across many computational and engineering research disciplines (computing, networking, control, human interaction, learning theory, as well as mechanical, chemical, biomedical, and other engineering disciplines) to develop a "new CPS system science." Achieving such an ambitious goal is challenging. The objective of the CPS "virtual organization" (CPS-VO) project is to actively build and support the multidisciplinary community needed to underpin this new research discipline and enable international and interagency collaboration on CPS. In support of the CPS-VO, Vanderbilt University will work with the community to develop strategies and mechanisms to: (i) facilitate and foster interaction and exchange among CPS researchers across a broad range of institutions, programs and disciplines, (ii) enable sharing of knowledge generated by CPS research with the broader engineering and scientific communities, sharing and integrating experimental tools, platforms and simulators among researchers and stakeholders, (iii) facilitate and foster collaboration and information exchange between CPS researchers and industry and (iv) facilitate international collaboration on CPS research.
Chris vanBuskirk

A Research Project Manager at Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems (http://www.isis.vanderbilt.edu) since 1999, Chris’ general professional interests lie in the practical application of novel, model-based formalisms and design methodologies to complex, real-world, human-in-the-loop, science/engineering activities.  After completing his B.S. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Engineering at The University of Mississippi, Chris has pursued a career in R&D at organizations such as Cray Research Inc., UMiss Medical Center, The National Cancer Institute's Biomedical Supercomputing Center, and The Mind/Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University.  Currently, Mr. vanBuskirk serves as Executive Director for the NSF’s CPS Virtual Organization (http://cps-vo.org/), which actively supports the formation and development of distributed research communities required by the demanding challenges of the massively multi-disciplinary cyber-physical systems domain.  

Performance Period: 03/01/2010 - 08/31/2016
Institution: Vanderbilt University
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 0931632
Project URL
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