National Science Foundation support for computer and information science and engineering

The National Science Foundation has supported research in the information sciences for 25 years, initially through its Office of Scientific Information, later through the Office of Science Information Service and the Division of Science Information, and most recently through the Division of Information Science and Technology. The Foundation has also supported research in computer science and engineering, most recently through the Division of Computer Research and the Division of Computer and Information Engineering. On May 1, 1986 all these elements were brought together to form the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), one of the five research branches of the Foundation. A more persuasive demonstration of the Foundation’s commitment to this dynamic new field of research would hardly have been possible.