ESDCD Changes in the GSFC Transformation

As part of NASA’s effort to align the Agency to the President’s Vision for Exploration, a transformation of the space and Earth Science directorates at Goddard Space Flight Center was effective on January 23, 2005.  In this transformation, the Earth and Space Data Computing Division (ESDCD), Code 930, was dissolved and the Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office (CISTO), Code 606, was created.

CISTO resides in the new Sciences and Exploration Directorate and has both Center and Directorate responsibilities. For the Center, CISTO supports Goddard’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the development of strategic information technology (IT) plans, policies, and procedures for computing resources and IT security. 

For the Directorate, CISTO leads efforts to implement Center IT policies and ensure compliance, supports high-performance computing, provides high-rate network and IT security services, performs research in information science and technology, and develops strategies to optimize cost effectiveness in the utilization of information technologies.  

CISTO is organized into three focus areas: networks and security, high-performance computing, and information sciences and technology research.

In Networks and Security, Code 606.1, CISTO

• provides strategic network planning, services, and capabilities to efficiently meet overall Directorate research and mission requirements;
• leads implementation of network security procedures and functions to protect Directorate systems and data from intrusions and ensure Agency and Center security requirements are met;
• works with the CIO’s Office and other Center organizations to manage, design, and integrate IT networks and design and deploy specific capabilities necessary to support Directorate projects; and
• manages the Agency-level NASA Incident Response Center (NASIRC).

In High-Performance Computing, Code 606.2, CISTO

• provides strategic planning, design, and procurement of project-specific and shared-resource high-performance computational resources and services;
• provides portal services to leadership-class systems external to Goddard and provides the IT infrastructure needed to support the analysis environment for modeling and assimilation activities;
• supports discipline-specific software integration activities in other Directorate organizations to assist in the transition to high-performance computing architectures; and
• manages and operates the NASA Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS).

In Information Sciences and Technology Research, Code 606.3, CISTO

• plans strategic technology to prioritize the technology advances needed to enable science investigations and missions;
• conceives, proposes, and implements the applied information science and technology research projects needed to achieve Directorate science research objectives;
• provides expertise in computing and information sciences and technology as a service for the Directorate;
• explores new challenges in computing and information sciences and technology research that are relevant to the Directorate and facilitates new uses of Directorate science and data products; and
• manages the Minority University-Space Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) program, a comprehensive educational initiative to stimulate competitive endeavors in science, engineering, and education outreach relating to NASA's exploration objectives by to institutions predominantly attended by racial or ethnic minorities.