Future of Work at the HumanTechnology Frontier August

Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier August 15, 2019

THE FUTURE OF WORK AT THE HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY FRONTIER NSF’s investment in research on the future of work, focusing on difficult and complex research questions surrounding technology innovation, workers, and the interdependencies of technology, human work, lifelong learning, and society. Engineering & computer science technologies to create human-technology work partnerships Analyses of societal, economic, educational and national contexts, including benefits and risks Fundamental principles and support of individual workers, work teams, workplaces, and work organizations

Clinical decision support Power gird control center Farming and agriculture Learning environments FW-HTF ACROSS WORK CONTEXTS Geoscience research Autonomous trucks Fire fighting Manufacturing

FW-HTF BIG IDEA TO DATE FY 2017 FY 2018 Dear Colleague Letter • In coordination with Convergence WG • Two Research Coordination Networks • Seven Workshops FW-HTF Solicitation • Funded 12 Projects ($25 M total) FY 2019 FW-HTF Solicitation • Additional emphasis on Convergence • Additional emphasis on Work Domain • Planning Grants and Research Grants just issued • 5 Medium Awards < $1. 5 M each • 7 Large Awards $1. 5 M – $3 M each

2019 Award Examples

Up-skilling and Re-skilling Marginalized Rural and Urban Digital Workers: AI-worker collaboration to access creative work • Carnegie Mellon U. , West Virginia U. , PSU, U • Vision: scaffold workers through basic computer fluency, working with AI tools, and finally enhance innovation and creativity skills • Work partners: Bosch, Rupert Public Library, Conservation X How can one best support workers in their transition to online work? How can AI tools augment workers, rather than displace them? How can tools be designed to help workers build skills and creativity for work that is unlikely to be automated in the future?

Shared Autonomy for the Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous: Exploring Division of Labor for Humans and Robots to Transform the Recycling Sorting Industry • The US scrap recycling industry -- which represents $117 billion in annual economic activity and more than 530, 000 US jobs -- is struggling to meet increasingly challenging standards for accurate waste sorting • Waste-sorting workers today face many health and physical risks • Project will create new sorting plant architectures that optimize humanrobot interaction to improve both quality of out and worker safety and job satisfaction

Neurodiversity in Tech: Using Interactive Decision Theory and Augmented Reality to Enable Employment for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder • ASD results in an unemployment rate as high as 80% in young adults who none the less have the cognitive skill to contribute substantially to the economy • Augmented reality systems for remote and automated coaching of workers -in-training will provide feedback on verbal and non-verbal behavior in two - and three-person workplace social encounters • Email tool will help workers with appropriate written communication

CONVERGENCE ACCELERATOR WHY: Leverage the science across all fields of NSF research to produce outcomes in an accelerated timeframe, with streamlined operations allowing for nimbleness to support the most innovative results WHAT: A new organizational structure to accelerate the transition of convergence research into practice, in areas of national importance Management Characteristics § Use-inspired research § Testbeds, tools, living labs… § Larger, national scale § Requires partnerships with industry § Clear goals, milestones, directed deliverables § § § Time-limited “tracks” Teams and Cohorts Cooperation and Competition More directed management Mission-driven evaluation 99

CONVERGENCE ACCELERATOR TRACKS Open Knowledge Network Others FW-HTF AI & Future Jobs Track A 1 Goal: Enhancing scientific data discovery and use Track: Open Knowledge Networks Big Idea: Harnessing the Data Revolution Track B 1 Goal: Connecting, retraining and reskilling for jobs w/ AI Track: AI & Future Jobs Big Idea: Future of Work at the Human Technology Frontier National Talent Ecosystem Track B 2 Goal: Building STEM talent in a changing workplace Track: National Talent Ecosystem Big Idea: Future of Work at the Human Technology Frontier 10 10

EXAMPLE 1: WEARABLE ROBOTS FOR THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE Wearable robots & augmented reality Factory work: Economic productivity and worker quality of life Factory productivity & labor market analysis From lab to factory floor FW-HTF: Whole-body Exoskeletons for Advanced Vocational Enhancement (WEAVE); 1839946 (Srinivasan, VA Tech) Factory worker performance & injury prevention

EXAMPLE 2: INTELLIGENT TEACHING ASSISTANT TO HELP ORCHESTRATE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES AI to decrease teacher cognitive load K 12 Classroom: Support to conduct pedagogically complex lessons An automated intelligent teaching assistant Facilitate teachers in orchestration of classroom activities FW-HTF: Augmented Cognition for Teaching: Transforming Teacher Work with Intelligent Cognitive Assistants; 1840120 and 1839966 (Lester, North Carolina State and Glazewski, Indiana University) Teacher satisfaction on the job and stress reduction