{"504311":{"#nid":"504311","#data":{"type":"news","title":"BBISS Fellow, Dilkina is GT Lead in Major Computing Grant","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor and BBISS Fellow, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~bdilkina\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBistra Dilkina\u003C\/a\u003E, is the Georgia Tech lead investigator for a $10 million, 5 year National Science Foundation \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=137328\u0026amp;WT.mc_id=USNSF_51\u0026amp;WT.mc_ev=click\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u201cExpeditions in Computing\u201d grant\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; The funds will establish the Computational Sustainability Network, or \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.compsust.net\/\u0022\u003ECompSusNet\u003C\/a\u003E, with Cornell University as lead institution.\u0026nbsp; CompSusNet will be comprised of 12 academic institutions, as well as domestic and international, private and non-profit organizations.\u0026nbsp; Dilkina will also sit on the executive council for the Expedition.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EComputational sustainability is a young field of study.\u0026nbsp; Highly trans-disciplinary research teams focus on mathematical and computational models to aid in management and decision making for the major challenges related to sustainability, such as poverty mitigation, renewable energy, and biodiversity conservation. \u0026nbsp;Computational sustainability problems tend to be dynamic and complex, often utilizing combinatorial decision making algorithms, big data, citizen science, dynamical models, machine learning, and optimization.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECompSusNet is one of three Expeditions in Computing grants awarded by the NSF.\u0026nbsp; These grants represent some of the NSF\u2019s largest investments in computer science research.\u0026nbsp; The two other 2015 Expeditions in Computing grants went to \u201cThe Science of Deep Specification\u201d at Princeton University, which aims to eliminate software \u201cbugs\u201d that can lead to security vulnerabilities, and \u201cThe Evolvable Living Computer Project\u201d at Boston University, which will study which computing principles can be applied repeatedly and reliably to synthetic biology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDilkina\u2019s expertise and research interests, as well as the resources available at Georgia Tech (such as the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.hpc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Data and High Performance Computing\u003C\/a\u003E), dovetail well with goals of the Computational Sustainability Network grant.\u0026nbsp; Dilkina\u2019s project focuses on developing decision support models to optimize biodiversity conservation by balancing habitat connectivity with other urban planning considerations.\u0026nbsp; As human-centered landscapes become more developed, wildlife habitat becomes fragmented and isolated.\u0026nbsp; Maintaining landscape connectivity has been shown to be an effective strategy to preserve biodiversity, however it is extremely complex to implement. Together with ecologists and computer scientists at Cornell University, Dilkina will develop a habitat connectivity-focused conservation plan for the Andean bear populations in Ecuador. \u0026nbsp;However, the models and techniques that will be developed will not necessarily be specific to species, ecosystem, or spatial scale.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sustainable.gatech.edu\/bbisss-big-ideas-archive\u0022\u003ERead more BBISS Big Ideas Stories.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor and BBISS Fellow, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~bdilkina\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBistra Dilkina\u003C\/a\u003E, is the Georgia Tech lead investigator for a $10 million, 5 year National Science Foundation \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=137328\u0026amp;WT.mc_id=USNSF_51\u0026amp;WT.mc_ev=click\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u201cExpeditions in Computing\u201d grant\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; The funds will establish the Computational Sustainability Network, or \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.compsust.net\/\u0022\u003ECompSusNet\u003C\/a\u003E, with Cornell University as lead institution.\u0026nbsp; CompSusNet will be comprised of 12 academic institutions, as well as domestic and international, private and non-profit organizations.\u0026nbsp; Dilkina will also sit on the executive council for the Expedition.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The \u201cExpeditions in Computing\u201d grant is a $10 million, 5 year National Science Foundation program which will establish the Computational Sustainability Network with Cornell University as lead institution. Dilkina will sit on its Executive Council."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2016-02-22 11:54:40","changed_gmt":"2025-06-18 15:17:17","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"325521":{"id":"325521","type":"image","title":"Bistra Dilkina","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"Bistra Dilkina","file":{"fid":"201808","name":"dilkina_coc_18.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dilkina_coc_18.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dilkina_coc_18.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":7711037,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dilkina_coc_18.jpg?itok=cQfS2WcD"}}},"media_ids":["325521"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"169922","name":"bbiss fellows"},{"id":"166871","name":"bbiss_big_ideas"},{"id":"103471","name":"bistra dilkina"},{"id":"10437","name":"expeditions in computing"},{"id":"363","name":"NSF"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Communications Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}