Research data - its access, integrity, curation, exponential growth, and preservation - are important priorities for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and throughout the government. NSF is responding to a need to invest in research into geoinformatics to enable a new generation of transformative science, and to clarify its data management policy through changes in the guidelines for proposal submission.

Data-enabled science is one of several themes embodied in Cyberinfrastructure for the 21^st century (CIF21), an important new research thrust for NSF. Additional themes of CIF21 are new computational infrastructure, community research networks, and access and connections to cyberinfrastructure facilities. In an effort to make significant advances within the context of CIF21, the Office of Cyberinfrastructure and the Geosciences Directorate have launched Earth Cube, a new program to transform the conduct of research in geosciences by supporting community created cyberinfrastructure that integrates knowledge management across the geosciences. At the community level, NSF will continue to support development and implementation of databases, database interoperability, data integration, visualization tools, software development, and data-intensive and new computing methodologies that support the enhancement of geosciences research and education activities.

The NSF expects funded investigators to share their research results with other investigators, including data resulting from the funded activities. To further clarify this long-standing policy, NSF modified its instructions to proposers. In October 2010, a new NSF data policy became effective and electronic enforcement began in January 2011. All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing of the products of research or assert the absence of a need for such plans. The required plan should be appropriate to the specific technical, disciplinary, and scientific contexts of the project as determined by peer review panels and cognizant NSF programs. Modifications are underway to the format of NSF annual final reports to reflect data management and sharing activities under the award. Context for, and details of, the new requirements will be discussed.