[net.general] Money for basic research available

pcl (05/28/82)

The System Development Foundation, formerly chief stockholder in the
System Development Corporation (SDC), has an asset base of over
$60,000,000 resulting from the sale of SDC to Burroughs Corporation. 
This sale severed all legal connection between the Foundation and SDC.

At the 15 December 1981 board meeting the Trustees of the Foundation
released the following program statement:

"The System Development Foundation presently seeks to advance the
information sciences.  The Foundation initially will make grants for
*basic research* in this field.  Grants will be made for a duration
appropriate to the research problem, normally more than one year. 
Applications should be very brief (not to exceed two pages)
straightforward statements of the problem, the plan for studying it,
and an estimate of the cost.  The Foundation may request additional
information.

The Foundation is focusing presently on the following specific research
areas:

	1. Principles of information science, including spatial and
	   content information theory, classification, and information
	   structures; 

	2. Principles of representation in biological and machine
	   information processing, as exemplified by neurobiology, the
	   cognitive sciences, non-Von Neuman computer architectures,
	   and robotics; 
	
	3. Principles underlying the man-machine interface, including
	   engineering and cognitive approaches to human factors in
	   individuals and groups;
	
	4. The interface between the computer and artistic endeavor."

Applications, on institutional letterhead, should be directed to Charles
S. Smith, Director of Programs, System Development Foundation, 181
Lytton Avenue, Suite 210, Palo Alto, California 94301.

		- from the ACM SIGART Newsletter, #80, April 1982, p. 4