V.P. Conspicuously Absent As HPCC Committee Unveiled

Source: High Performance Computing and Communications Week, February 13, 1997

Despite all the administration's talk about America's leading the world in computer technology, President Clinton's long-awaited Advisory Committee on High-Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology and the Internet was announced with little fanfareã well, actually, no fanfareãthis week in an Executive Order released to the press.

In a nutshell, the advisory committee is to review the progress and efficacy of the administration's Computing, Information and Communications program, the successor to the HPCC program, which grew from the High Performance Computing Act of 1991, an initiative driven by then-Sen. Al Gore.

"I'm really excited about this," said John Toole, director of the U.S. government's National Coordination Office for the Computing, Information and Communications program. "We always need to evaluate whether our research strategies are targeted in the right direction, and this panel represents the industry's best-and-brightest to make those recommendations."

The committee has scheduled its first meeting for Feb. 27 and 28, and throughout its two year charter - which can be extended at Clinton's request - it will produce a series of reports for the National Science and Technology Council, which is chaired by the president. The committee will work through the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, though its modest budget will come from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, under the direction of Director of Defense Research and Engineering Anita Jones.

Conspicuously absent from the announcement was a live body: specifically, that of Vice President Gore, the man who sponsored the HPC act and who is likely to campaign as the "Technology President" when he makes a go for the Oval Office in 1999.

Conspicuously present was the insertion, into the advisory committee's title, of the words "Information Technology and the Next-Generation Internet." That inclusion is feeding some HPCC professionals' fears that the administration is diluting its high-performance computing effort, which itself has fallen on hard times, while elevating Clinton's challenge to connect "every 12-year-old in America" to the Internet. Those same critics feel that, given public demand for faster Internet connections, the private sector is capable of developing the next-generation Internet.

In fairness to the president and vice president, there was a great deal happening in Washington surrounding the day of the announcement - the two were lobbying Congress for a quick and cordial passage of the president's fiscal year 1998 budget, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in town to talk peace in the Middle East. Still, after waiting some two years for the announcement, many felt that the advisory committee deserved its day in the sun.

"We expected that the announcement would have a bit more sizzle," commented one disappointed HPC expert. "I hope this isn't indicative of the administration's view of high-performance computing," added another insider, who also requested anonymity. Because right now, it looks like a committee set up so that the administration can say it's doing something about HPCC."

So far, 20 members have been announced to the committee (see pg. 3), including the first co-chair, Rice University Computer Science Professor Ken Kennedy. However, sources close to the committee said that an additional six members will be announced, including the second co-chair, who likely will come from industry as a balance to Kennedy's academic background.

Kennedy, who also serves as director of the Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC), headquartered at Rice, expects that the committee, will "focus on federal programs of research investment in high-end computer, information, and communication technologies, like the Next Generation Internet," but will "stay away from regulatory issues."

Throughout his career, Kennedy has made major contributions to the field of high-performance computing. As director of the CRPC, an NSF-funded Science and Technology Center, Kennedy coordinates seven participating institutions and six affiliated sites across the country in a program of research to make scalable parallel computer systems as usable as sequential systems are today.

Kennedy's research accomplishments with the CRPC include developing effective machine-independent parallel programming interfaces. He and CRPC collaborators proposed Fortran D, an extended version of Fortran that permits the specification of data distributions for arrays across the processors of a parallel machine.

Kennedy directed a prototype compiler development effort at Rice that validated the concept. This effort led to the establishment, under his direction, of the High-Performance Fortran Forum, of a broad-based consortium to develop extensions to Fortran 90 aimed at high performance on parallel machines. The resulting standard for High-Performance Fortran has found wide acceptance in the HPCC community.

In addition to his research contributions, Kennedy has led numerous technology and knowledge transfer efforts in his role as CRPC director. Notable among these is the National HPCC Software Exchange, an online distribution system that provides a central access point for HPCC technologies and facilitates the development of discipline-oriented software repositories. He also spearheaded the CRPC Retooling Project, an effort to develop educational materials that can be used by supercomputer-center staff trainers to teach new concepts in parallel computation.

Kennedy is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, in 1995 he received the W. Wallace McDowell Award, the highest award of the IEEE Computer Society.

MEMBERS OF THE PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HIGH- PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND THE NEXT GENERATION INTERNET

President Clinton has designated Ken Kennedy of Rice University as co-chairman of the Advisory Committee on High-Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet. Kennedy is the director of Rice's Center for Research on Parallel Computation (see story, pg. 2). While Clinton also announced his intention to appoint 19 members to this new committee, sources say as many as six additional members will be named, including a co-chair, who likely will come from industry.

The advisory committee is to provide guidance and advice on all areas of high performance computing, communications and information technologies. Specifically, the committee will "provide guidance to the administration's efforts to accelerate development and adoption of information technologies that will be vital for American prosperity in the 21st century."

The President announced the following individuals as members:

Eric A. Benhamou of Santa Clara, Calif., is president, chairman, and CEO of 3Com Corporation. Benhamou chaired the National Information Infrastructure Task Force of the American Electronics Association from 1993-1995. *Vinton Cerf of Reston, Va., is senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Engineering at MCI Communications. He is a member of the Datamation Hall of Fame and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Ching-Chih Chen of Boston, Mass., is a professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
David Cooper of Livermore, Calif., is associate director of computation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He received the 1994 NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership and Exceptional Service for his pioneering work on high-performance computing.
Steven D. Dorfman of Los Angeles, Calif. is executive vice president of Hughes Electronics Corporation, chairman of Hughes Telecommunications and Space Company, and a member of Hughes Electronics Office of the Chairman. He chaired the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, and served on the NASA Space Systems Technology Advisory Committee and the USIA TV/ Telecom Advisory Council.
Robert Ewald of Eagen, Minn., is President of Cray Research and Senior Vice President of Silicon Graphics, Inc. He served on the Supercomputer Performance and Development Committee of the National Academy of Sciences.
David J. Farber of Philadelphia, Penn., is Alfred Fitler Moore professor of telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds appointments in the Department of Information and Computer Science and the Department of Electrical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and received the 1995 Association for Computing Machinery Sigcomm Award for lifetime contributions to computer communications, as well as the John Scott Award for contributions to humanity for his work in computer networking.
Sherrilynne S. Fuller of Seattle, Wash., is director of the Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center at the University of Washington and Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest. She is a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics.
Hector Garcia-Molina of Stanford, Calif., is the Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and received a 1984-1989 NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award.
Susan Graham of Berkeley, Calif., is professor of Computer Science in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association for Computing Machinery, as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
James N. Gray of San Francisco, Calif., is a senior researcher in Microsoft's Scalable Servers Research Group and manager of Microsoft's Bay Area Research Center. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
W. Daniel Hillis of Los Angeles, Calif., is a Disney fellow, vice president of R&D at Walt Disney Imagineering, and was co-founder and chief scientist at Thinking Machines Corporation. He is the recipient of the Grace Murray Hopper Award, the Spirit of American Creativity Award, and the Ramanujan Award. He also is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
David C. Nagel of Menlo Park, Calif., and Basking Ridge, N.J., is President of AT&T Labs. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Human Factors, and was chair of a National Research Council study symposium on keeping the U.S. computer, communications, and entertainment industries competitive.
Raj Reddy of Pittsburgh, Penn., is dean of the School of Computer Science and Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and president of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
Edward H. Shortliffe of Palo Alto, Calif., is associate dean for Information Resources and Technology, professor of medicine, and professor of computer science at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and the American Association for Artificial intelligence, and has served on the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council.
Larry Smarr of Champaign, III., is director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and professor of Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science and of the American Physical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Leslie Vadasz of Santa Clara, Calif., is senior vice president, director of Corporate Business Development, and a member of the board of directors of Intel Corporation.
Andrew J. Viterbi of San Diego, Calif., is one of the founders of QUALCOMM Inc. and is vice-chairman of its board of directors. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences and is professor emeritus at the University of California-San Diego.
Steven J. Wallach of Richardson, Texas, is chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard Company's Convex Technology Center, and the co-founder of Convex Computer Corporation. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and serves on the External Advisory Committee of the Center for Research on Parallel Computation headquartered at Rice University.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HIGH-PERFORMANCE
COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,
AND THE NEXT GENERATION INTERNET

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-194) ("Act"), and in order to establish an advisory committee on high-performance computing and communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is established the "Advisory Committee on High-Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet" ("Committee"). The Committee shall consist of not more than 25 nonfederal members appointed by the President, including representatives of the research, education, and library communities, network providers, and representatives from critical industries. The President shall designate co-chairs from among the members of the Committee.

Sec. 2. Functions. The Committee shall provide the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), through-the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy ("Director"), with advice and information on high-performance computing and communications, information technology, and the Next Generation Internet. The Committee shall provide an independent assessment of: (1) progress made in implementing the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program; (2) progress in designing and implementing the Next Generation Internet initiative; (3) the need to revise the HPCC Program; (4) balance among components of the HPCC Program; (5) whether the research and development undertaken pursuant to the HPCC Program is helping to maintain United States leadership in advanced computing and communications technologies and their applications; and (6) other issues as specified by the Director.

Sec. 3. Administration. To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Department of Defense shall provide the financial and administrative support for the Committee. Further, the Director of the National Coordination Office for Computing Information, and Communications ("Director of the NCO") shall provide such coordination and technical assistance to the Committee as the co-chairs of the Committee may request. (a) The heads of executive agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide to the Committee such information as it may require for the purpose of carrying out its functions. (b) The co-chairs may, from time to time, invite experts to submit information to the Committee and may form subcommittees or working groups within the Committee to review specific issues. (c) Members of the Committee shall serve without compensation but shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).

Sec. 4. General. (a) Notwithstanding any other Executive order, the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, except that of reporting to the Congress, that are applicable to the Committee shall be performed by the Director of the NCO in accordance with guidelines that have been issued by the Administrator of General Services. (b) The Committee shall terminate 2 years from the date of this order unless extended by the President prior to such date.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON THE WHITE HOUSE, February 11, 1997

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