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IIS: Human-Centered Computing (HCC)

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NSF 24-589

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Supports interdisciplinary research in human-computer interaction to design technologies that amplify human capabilities and to study how human, technical and contextual aspects of computing and communication systems shape their benefits, effects and risks.

Supports interdisciplinary research in human-computer interaction to design technologies that amplify human capabilities and to study how human, technical and contextual aspects of computing and communication systems shape their benefits, effects and risks.

Synopsis

Human-Centered Computing (HCC) supports research in human-computer interaction (HCI), taken broadly, integrating knowledge across disciplines—such as the social and behavioral sciences with computer and information sciences—in order to design new computing systems to amplify diverse humans’ physical, cognitive, and social capabilities to accomplish individual and collective goals; to assess benefits, effects, and risks of computing systems; and to understand how human, technical, and contextual aspects of systems interact to shape those effects. HCC addresses novel:

  • Human-technology interfaces: Includes multimedia and multimodal interfaces, such as haptic, tangible, gestural, spatial, and wearable; brain-computer interfaces; intelligent and interactive user interfaces; affective computing; human state estimation involving interaction; and methods for interaction with artificial intelligence.
  • Computer graphics: Includes computer animation; rendering, modeling, and simulation; and virtual and augmented reality. 
  • Computing for creativity: Includes computational methods and systems for creating and authoring video, audio, textual, visual, and multimedia forms in support of creative expression and ideation.
  • Computer-mediated communication and collaboration: Includes technology-supported human-to-human communication; social media; groupware; crowdsourcing; and systems for public participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
  • Assistive and adaptive technology: Includes systems to improve access to information, work, and entertainment by persons with physical, cognitive, or social impairments; universal and ability-based design; and study of individual, social, and cultural factors impacting interactive systems’ usability and outcomes.
  • Social impacts of computing: Includes understanding social impacts of computer technology and how sociotechnical systems grow and evolve.
  • Design: Includes methods that engage people to generate and expand the space of ideas about potential uses, as well as effects of technologies; and to iteratively transform the development of information, interaction, networks, systems, and other forms of computation in response to human needs, desires, and intentions.
  • Domain-specific HCI: Includes projects that advance HCC in the context of domains, such as health, education, families, or work.

Note that projects that simply apply existing HCC techniques to particular domains of science and engineering are more appropriate for funding opportunities issued by the NSF programs cognizant for those domains. Most proposals focused on human-robot interaction (HRI) should be submitted to the Foundational Research in Robotics (Robotics) program; however, HCC may be more appropriate when the human behavior is the core research thrust and pre-existing robotic technology is used.

Program contacts

Name Email Phone Organization
Cindy Bethel
cbethel@nsf.gov (703) 292-4420 CISE/IIS
Daniel R. Cosley
dcosley@nsf.gov (703) 292-8832 CISE/IIS
Todd Leen
tleen@nsf.gov (703) 292-8930 CISE/IIS
Thomas Martin
tmartin@nsf.gov (703) 292-2170 CISE/IIS
Han-Wei Shen
hshen@nsf.gov (703) 292-2533 CISE/IIS
Scott P. Robertson
sroberts@nsf.gov (703) 292-2971 CISE/IIS