UCSD - University of California - San Diego

08/10/2026 | Press release | Archived content

National Data Platform Receives NSF Category I Award to Expand AI-Ready Data Infrastructure for U.S.

Published Date

August 10, 2026

Article Content

Key Takeaways

  • NSF awarded the National Data Platform $24.5M over five years to expand AI-ready data infrastructure.
  • UC San Diego will lead the nationwide, multi-institutional project.
  • NDP will connect data, computing and AI resources to make research data easier to discover, access and analyze.
  • The platform will accelerate AI-driven scientific discovery and broaden access for U.S. researchers and educators.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the National Data Platform (NDP) a five-year, $24.5 million Cooperative Agreement to build a federated, AI-ready national data ecosystem, making it easier to discover, access and analyze data - regardless of where it is stored.

Under the new award, the University of California San Diego will lead development of NDP into a national-scale ecosystem that builds on existing NSF cyberinfrastructure to accelerate AI-integrated discovery and education. The UC San Diego team is based at the Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and will work in partnership with researchers from the University of Utah, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Washington's eScience Institute.

The National Data Platform All Hands Meeting was recently held at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Credit: Owen Stanley

The award is one of two Category I projects announced on July 22, 2026, under NSF's new Integrated Data Systems and Services (IDSS) program, part of an $83 million, agency-wide investment in national data infrastructure designed to accelerate AI-driven scientific discovery and strengthen U.S. research competitiveness in alignment with the U.S. government's Genesis Mission.

America's leadership in artificial intelligence depends not only on advanced computing resources but also on the data infrastructure that enables researchers to discover, access, share and analyze scientific data at scale," said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director, in NSF's announcement of the awards. "These investments provide foundational capabilities that empower scientists and engineers to drive transformative AI-enabled discovery, accelerate innovation and strengthen national competitiveness."

UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla noted that "as artificial intelligence transforms the research landscape, access to high-quality data and advanced cyberinfrastructure has never been more important. Through the National Data Platform, UC San Diego is helping build the foundation that will empower researchers, educators and students to make discoveries that benefit society for years to come."

About the Project

The team will build on the existing NDP Pilot, expanding it in collaboration with current NSF and local investments such as:

NDP will connect a wide range of data types, from images and sensor streams to large-scale simulation outputs, with services and computing resources optimized for AI-driven analysis.

The platform is organized as a layered, federated microservices architecture built on open standards, shared operational principles and community governance. The project is organized into five components: the Compute Fabric, which provides federated connector-node resources and integrates existing cyberinfrastructure systems and services; the Federation Fabric, which unifies service deployment, monitoring and security; the Innovation Factory, which enables users to build, test and deploy services; the Service Gallery, a catalog of ready-to-use data and AI services; and the Portal, which delivers an integrated, user-centric experience for running, sharing and reusing data and services across the ecosystem.

Ilkay Altintas, chief data science officer at SDSC

Ilkay Altintas, chief data science officer at SDSC, will serve as principal investigator (PI) of the project, leading a nationwide team of collaborators overseeing cyberinfrastructure, platform development, user support and partnerships.

"For decades, SDSC has been a leader in building the cyberinfrastructure that powers data-intensive science," Altintas said. "The National Data Platform extends that legacy with an open ecosystem where researchers spend less time managing data and more time making scientific discoveries and breakthrough innovations with AI. This award recognizes not only the importance of the platform, but also the collaborative community and users that have helped shape it into a national resource, removing the barriers between scientific innovation and America's data that enables it."

Manish Parashar, co-PI and chief AI officer/executive director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, added that AI "promises to transform scientific discovery, but that promise depends entirely on access to high-quality data. The University of Utah is thrilled to partner with NSF, UC San Diego, and the broader team on the next phase of the National Data Platform."

"Utah is helping build the scalable backbone of this national ecosystem - creating a seamless, turnkey cyberinfrastructure where researchers can find and access the exact data and models they need," Parashar continued, "along with the training to put them to work immediately."

Noting that the IDSS award "highlights what is possible when leading institutions work together to advance national cyberinfrastructure," Co-PI Maytal Dahan, director of Advanced Computing Interfaces, Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), The University of Texas at Austin, added that "TACC is proud to partner with SDSC and the broader team, bringing our expertise in Tapis, the Trust Management System, AI and Evaluation Services to the National Data Platform. By combining these capabilities, we are creating a secure, scalable and interoperable foundation that will enable researchers to tackle the next generation of data-intensive, AI-driven science."

Sarah Stone, co-PI and executive director of eScience Institute, University of Washington, remarked that "The University of Washington is pleased to join UC San Diego and this multi-institutional team on the National Data Platform. UW's eScience Institute is bringing our experience working directly with researchers and educators across disciplines to shape NDP's workflows around real research needs, helping ensure relevance and accessibility for a broad community of scholars and learners."

"UMass Amherst and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center will develop and deploy computing nodes and cyberinfrastructure to unify all the AI resources across the country and transform how researchers use data to make new scientific discoveries," added co-PI Rafael Coelho Lopes de Sa, an associate professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Looking Ahead

Over the next five years, the NDP will continue expanding the community of researchers, educators and institutions connected through the platform while growing the data resources, AI services and collaborative tools within a common, AI-ready environment for discovering, sharing and building on scientific data.

As a Category I awardee, NDP represents a significant step toward a more connected national research ecosystem - one where scientists across disciplines can more easily access the data, computing resources and AI capabilities needed to accelerate discovery and address complex challenges.

"By uniting the expertise of SDSC, the University of Utah, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, TACC and UW with NSF's broader investments in cyberinfrastructure and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, we are excited to lead NDP's efforts to ensure that the benefits of AI-driven discovery are accessible to the full breadth of the U.S. research community," said SDSC Director Frank Wuerthwein.

The project will run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031 and is funded by NSF (award no. 2609447).

Learn more at nationaldataplatform.org.

Read more news about: Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing

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