Travel: Support for U.S. Students to Receive Training on Research Cyberinfrastructure at the 2024 Annual Modeling and Simulation Conference (ANNSIM)

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This award supports up to 11 U.S.-based graduate students whose training on research cyberinfrastructure will substantially benefit by attending the Annual Modeling and Simulation conference (ANNSIM), which is the flagship conference of the Society for Modeling & Simulation (SCS). ANNSIM trains students by providing access to expertise through ten tracks. In particular, cyberinfrastructure training will be provided through presentations of simulation software tools in the Annual Simulation Symposium as well as model libraries, repositories, and data formats in the Digital Twins and Cyber-Physical Systems track. Since advanced networks are important for cyberinfrastructure, ANNSIM also provides a track on telecommunication systems, which covers topics such as software defined networking, edge computing, and green and energy efficient communications. Improving the use of existing datasets and software, while supporting advances in networking, software developments, standards and certifications, will contribute to cyberinfrastructure research. In addition to these ten tracks, ANNSIM includes several in-depth tutorials, taught by international experts in their field. The ten tracks and the tutorials ensure that attendees are well-aware of advances in information technology systems through advanced software, data, networked systems, and simulation environments. By providing access to leading experts, ANNSIM ensures that the next generation of scientists has the tools, motivations, and career aspirations to contribute to cyberinfrastructure. Every NSF-funded participant will be matched with a mentor chosen among the experienced scholars in attendance, which will help build a professional network. The conference includes a direct learning component providing multiple tutorials, so students can develop skills in specific software packages or apply advanced techniques relevant to research cyberinfrastructure. This research can range from software for digital twins to datasets and libraries in model-driven system design. The conference gives particular attention to students (e.g., a PhD Colloquium with presentations followed by interactive poster sessions), which helps connect with leading researchers to identify better tools and/or additional datasets for experiments. One barrier in cyberinfrastructure training for students is not just a lack of existing tools or repositories, but a lack of awareness about these tools. Keynote speakers in simulation conferences have a reputation for informing and motivating students in contributing to the cyberinfrastructure, for instance by covering methods and software for system and application performance. Attending these talks will ensure that students have specific directions to apply the tools that they have learned onto open research problems in cyberinfrastructure.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.