This week with NSF Director Panchanathan

The U.S. National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan had a dynamic week as he met with domestic and international partners to emphasize NSF's commitment to unite global talent and unlock the potential of research and innovation.

On Monday, Sept. 30, the director met with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Panchanathan thanked Huang for NVIDIA's partnership on the NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot and discussed opportunities for deeper partnership going forward, including on AI research, STEM talent development and place-based innovation.

Later in the week, the director traveled to the United Kingdom, where, joined by representatives from five partner nations, he announced an $82 million investment in six multilateral 2024 NSF Global Centers. NSF launched the Global Centers program in 2023, which leverages world-class talent and international collaborations for use-inspired research. This year's NSF Global Centers harness collaborations with nine research institutions: the United States' National Endowment for the Humanities; Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Finland's Research Council of Finland | Suomen Akatemia and Business Finland; Japan's Japan Science and Technology Agency; Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and National Research Foundation of Korea; and the United Kingdom's UK Research and Innovation’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

NSF's $30 million 2024 investment will support this year's centers to advance the bioeconomy to create a prosperous and sustainable future. This investment will also integrate public engagement and workforce development, paying close attention to impacts on communities.