| Research competitiveness depends, in part,
on research infrastructure. A critical and rapidly evolving
part of research infrastructure is the field of advanced
networking and computing. Researchers who wish to remain
competitive in their field must learn how to acquire and
employ the new technology, and to use it to collaborate
in new ways with other scientists. However, those wishing
to take advantage of these tools must communicate their
needs to developers, and developers must draw upon the
knowledge of those whom they intend to serve. Policy makers
at the national and state levels must develop programs
that directly support infrastructure development in a
way that best serves the ultimate client. The AAAS Research
Infrastructure Project addresses these issues.
The Research Infrastructure Project has emerged from
activities under the EPSCoR Project's Leadership
Development Conferences and Direct
Assistance Service. In Direct Assistance activities,
and in activities under the Research
Competitiveness Service, we have been asked to assist
universities in discovering the most appropriate way
to address high performance computing and networking
needs for their researchers. In 1998, we convened a
policy summit of
presidents and senior officers from more than 70 universities
in the EPSCoR states to consider directions for future
federal programs supporting the national academic networking
infrastructure.
In 1999, we were asked by the Advanced Networking Infrastructure
and Research division of the National Science Foundation
to present the views of the academic research community
to them as they contemplated the future of networking
support from NSF after the end of the vBNS (Very high
performance Backbone Network Service) initiative. This
was accomplished through the
"National
Conversation on NSF Advanced Networking Infrastructure
Support" and resulted in the report on
"The
Role of the National Science Foundation in Supporting
Advanced Network Infrastructure: Views of the Research
Community" (click here for .pdf format).
As part of the 2001 AAAS Annual Meeting, RCP staff organized a symposium on
"The Impact of Computer Networking Technologies on Scientific Research." The theme of the symposium was that meeting the research grand challenges of the 21st century demands the networking of investigators, research, information and tools. The presentations demonstrated how networks create new opportunities for researchers, both in improving communications and access to resources, and in opening new possibilities. Panelists were Ken Bishop, University of Kansas; John Connolly, University of Kentucky; Tom Finholt, University of Michigan; Ted Hanss, Internet2; and Leonard Krishtalka, University of Kansas.
Future activities are planned for the
Research Infrastructure Project to articulate and address
the infrastructure needs of the research community,
and will be announced here.
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