The CRPC has done a superb job of fulfilling the vision that was held for Science and Technology Centers (STCs). The leadership at Rice got the message early that this was a tremendous opportunity to do something special in the total environment of research, education, and knowledge transfer, with computer science as the anchor. And, they took optimum advantage of this opportunity.

Through the leadership of Ken Kennedy, this center defined what an STC should be. Originally linking top researchers and educators at Caltech, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Rice University allowed the opportunity to build a virtual research team focused on common problems in parallel computing. The CRPC met the challenge of providing leadership in computer science education specifically and more broadly, computer science workforce issues for the nation. And finally, forging and maintaining industrial connections and communication networks with the computer industry was of national importance during this 11-year time frame.

The President's Information Technology Advisory Council was well served by the total knowledge concerning an array of issues well understood and engaged by the CRPC. The CRPC provided outstanding models for all aspects of the STC vision. And, the CRPC has been the STC I have referenced most frequently when attempting to illustrate what an STC should be doing to fulfill the goals of the program. I extend my congratulations to its entire team of educators, researchers, and managers for providing the NSF with the many success stories during the past 11 years.