Microsoft Research
External Research & Programs
Phoenix
and SSCLI: Compilation and Managed Execution
Request for Proposals
This RFP has been awarded. To view the award recipients, see
Phoenix and SSCLI: Compilation and
Managed Execution 2005 RFP Awards.
Background
The emergence of managed code,
managed execution and virtual machines is a key trend in modern systems. It
significantly changes the way we look at the lifetime of code, from generation
to execution in a variety of runtime contexts, and the issues and opportunities
that arise as we move further from the classical static compile-link-run model
of code generation and execution.
Microsoft has made significant investments in the these
areas evidenced by the emergence of the language-neutral Common Language
Runtime (CLR), the .NET Framework, the C# and VB.NET programming languages, and
the availability of Phoenix and SSCLI. Phoenix – still in an early phase of
development — is Microsoft’s next generation code generation, optimization, and
analysis framework; and SSCLI — the Shared Source Common Language
Infrastructure — is a research-oriented portable implementation of the
ECMA/ISO-standard technologies upon which .NET is based, including the virtual machine,
C# compiler, core .NET Framework libraries, and a rich set of tools, test
suites, tutorials, and documentation.
The Microsoft Research External Research & Programs
group (formerly University Relations) has led worldwide investment in research
and teaching based on SSCLI and Phoenix:
Based on the success of these projects, growing interest in
SSCLI and Phoenix, the availability of new editions of SSCLI and the Phoenix
Research Development Kit (RDK) in early 2006, and the high level of interest in
previous RFP’s, this RFP will target projects both for Phoenix and SSCLI. To be
clear, while we encourage projects that leverage both Phoenix and SSCLI, we
welcome exceptional proposals that focus their attention on one technology or
the other.
Goals & Objectives
This RFP seeks to encourage first-rate cross-cutting and
cross-fertilizing research that examines and reconsiders the relationships
between development tools, compilers, managed runtime environments, runtime
code generation, and underlying operating systems. It is an opportunity for you
to work with key technologies at the heart of Microsoft’s .NET architecture.
Microsoft Research will use this RFP to support
leading-edge work which looks past the status quo and imagines new and
different relationships between the various components that transform source
code into running programs. It will also allow us to assess and improve the
value of Phoenix for the research and instructional communities and afford a
chance to get feedback early enough in the development cycle to make a
significant difference to the product.
Examples of areas of interest include:
- Memory performance, including heap management & garbage
collection, paging and working set size optimization, CPU cache management,
etc. and the interrelationship among these concerns
- Software correctness with contracts, static and dynamic program
analysis
- Efficient runtime support for applications which are aggregates
of components written in different programming languages
- Exploiting multi-core CPUs
- Code security
- Dynamic code optimization
- Compiler optimizations for .NET
Awards
The total amount available under this request for proposals (RFP) is $550,000. Microsoft
Research anticipates making approximately 10–14 awards averaging $40,000, with
a maximum of $50,000 for any single award. All awards will be made in $US as unrestricted
gifts to the institution with the understanding that recipients should provide
Microsoft Research with suitable progress reports at least twice yearly.
Awards under this program are for one year only, but may be renewable at the sole discretion of Microsoft
Research.
Eligibility
Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not
meeting all these criteria will not be considered.
The proposing institution must be an accredited baccalaureate-granting
college or university (or international equivalent) with non-profit status. All
qualifying institutions are eligible without regard for geographic location.
An institution will be awarded a maximum of one gift per RFP, regardless
of the number of proposals submitted from the institution. However,
collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across the organization are
encouraged.
Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of
the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and
conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research, be
excluded from consideration.
Proposals from or on behalf of persons participating in the evaluation process for this RFP will not be considered.
Proposals should evidence a commitment to make all results arising from a
funded project (including all intellectual property in those results) broadly
available by either: (i) dedicating such results to the public domain; or (ii)
making the results available under a non-restrictive license that allows modification
and redistribution without any significant restrictions or conditions, such as
the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html.
Proposals should further evidence willingness to contribute any resulting
curriculum material to the MSDN Academic Alliance Curriculum Repository at http://msdnaa.net/curriculum.
Submitters shall attend a Microsoft Research-hosted
capstone workshop in 2007 to present the results of funded research. The cost
of round-trip travel to Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA, USA, should be
figured into the proposal budget.
Submission Process
Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals
submitted to Microsoft will not be returned. Microsoft cannot assume
responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals.
Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted
or sensitive. Microsoft reserves the right to make public proposals that
receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally
identifiable information.
The submission process includes two parts.
- Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide
full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a
brief abstract. This information will be submitted through a web form as part
of the submission process.
- Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project.
7 pages maximum, 10pt. font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word
or PDF format.
Proposals should fully address
each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings.
- Problem Statement: What is the problem or curriculum area
addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution
to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as
appropriate.
- Expected outcomes: What tangible assets, if any, will be created or
produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this
project be disseminated to others?
- Schedule: When is the project to be completed? What milestones
will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed?
(If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program,
estimate the time for completion of this project only).
- Use of Funds: Provide a high-level budget ($US) describing how
the award will be used, including purchases of hardware or software, salaries,
and other costs.
- Dissemination and Evaluation: How will the results of this
project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to
others? Under what general license terms will the results be made available?
- Other Support: Including other contributions to this project (cash,
goods or services), if any, but not including such things as use of university
facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of
winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department
letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support
described in the proposal.
- Qualifications of Principal Investigator: Include a brief
description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication or other
professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not
required.
Selection Process and Criteria
All proposals received will be reviewed by Microsoft Research and eligible proposals will be evaluated by a
panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Research. Based on
evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Research will select the most worthy
proposals for funding. Microsoft Research reserves the right to fund winning proposals
at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum
amount for individual awards. Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft
Research cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.
All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:
- Well-defined goals and objectives that, if achieved, have the potential to have a
significant impact in the areas of compiler design, code generation and
optimization, code analysis, managed execution, virtual machines, code
security, memory management, and/or garbage collection.
- Completeness.
Proposals should illustrate the adequacy of resources available, reasonableness
of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors.
- Potential for wide dissemination and use of intellectual property
created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations,
distance learning, as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats
or languages.
- Viability. RFP awards will only be granted to research efforts for which the current
state of Phoenix and SSCLI is suitable. Phoenix is not a completed product and
there are areas that are not yet ready to be exploited. You may assess the current state of Phoenix by going to
http://research.microsoft.com/phoenix
for access to Phoenix code and documentation. Information on SSCLI is available
at http://research.microsoft.com/sscli.
- Ability to complete the project, including the adequacy of
resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications
of identified contributors.
- Qualifications
of principal investigator, including previous history of work in the
computing education area, successful completion of previous funded projects,
and other examples such as teaching awards, books published.
- Acknowledgement
of SSCLI and Phoenix licenses. The participants must abide by the Phoenix
and SSCLI license agreements attached as Appendix A and Appendix B of this
document.
- Other
Support. Demonstration of university or other support for the proposal is
highly desirable. This may include letters of support from university
officials, multi-disciplinary collaborations, and/or cost sharing/matching gift
arrangements.
- Value.
Efficient use of requested resources and funding.
Schedule and Deadlines
Announcement:
|
November 21, 2005
|
First date for submission of
proposals:
|
November 28, 2005
|
Last date for submission of
proposals:
|
January 17, 2006 Noon (12:00) PDT
(-8 UTC/GMT)
|
Notification
of awards:
|
February 28, 2006
|
Additional Resources
Please address any questions to urinq@microsoft.com.
Please put “Phoenix/SSCLI RFP” in the subject
line of your e-mail message to ensure a prompt and proper response.
Microsoft Word version of this document
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