Building a Bridge to the Future

PHOTO: Edward Derrick, AAAS PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE: J. Scott Hauger (left), director of the Research Competitiveness Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, speaks with Tom Collins, vice president for research at Oklahoma State University, during a break at the recent Next Generation Internet conference in San Diego. A distributed information-retrieval system enables desktop access to biological collections that can be used for biodiversity research, conservation, maintaining extinct species, and analyzing the impact of biological systems on human health. Another program links 30 public, private, and nonprofit agencies electronically to regulate the use of the San Diego Bay. An Internet-based program connects scientists with science teachers who want to increase their access to professional development. Welcome to the possibilities of the Next Generation Internet, which will be more than 100 times faster than the current Internet. While some large urban universities already are players in its development, some experts believe that the United States has not funded information technology research adequately and has focused only on near-term solutions. Small, rural institutions in states that historically have not received substantial federal funding for research also need the means to take advantage of the evolving information infrastructure. "Making the Net Work for Research and Higher Education," a conference held in October at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC; www.sdsc.edu), enabled representatives from "have-not" states to discuss their technology needs and financial constraints; develop guidelines for ensuring that evolving networks will be accessible to the entire university community; meet with representatives from Congress, the White House, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and other agencies; and obtain a closer look at the types of research made possible by advanced, high-speed Internet connections. The conference also explored some of the ways in which the Internet can address social issues. Sponsored by AAAS under a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the NSF, the conference was part of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). EPSCoR (www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rcp/rcp.htm) is based on the premise that universities and their science and engineering faculty and students are valuable resources that can influence a state's development in the 21st century in much the same way that agricultural, industrial, and natural resources did in the 20th century. EPSCoR's goal is to identify, develop, and use a state's academic science and technology resources in a way that will support wealth creation and a more productive and fulfilling way of life. "What evolved from the two-day conference were resolutions to make the heroic efforts necessary to enable users everywhere to access powerful resources from the desktop." --Robert H. Rich The NSF EPSCoR office cooperates with state leaders in government, higher education, and business to establish productive long-term partnerships. EPSCoR is restricted to those states that have historically received less federal R&D funding and have demonstrated a commitment to developing their research bases and improving the quality of science and engineering research conducted at their universities and colleges. The program operates in 18 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. "EPSCoR evolved out of a concern that a large number of academic institutions were being left out of technological advances because of distance and fiscal support issues, and because of a desire to pay attention to that part of the population," explains Jerry Komisar, a Washington, D.C.-based EPSCoR consultant and former president of the University of Alaska. "We're trying to address the concern of how networking plays out in the rural parts of the country, not only in education, but in health care, business, and other aspects of society." "The conference dealt with the overall questions of how to make information technology support the university mission more effectively and how to have universities take advantage of it," comments Robert H. Rich, director of the research competitiveness program of the AAAS directorate for science and policy programs. "What evolved from the two-day conference were resolutions to make the heroic efforts necessary to enable users everywhere to access powerful resources from the desktop." Rich continued, "We have to invest as a nation at the front end in the many resources available, or we risk fiscal and academic mediocrity. Beyond networking, we have cited areas of development for the Next Generation Internet. We also have to consider human resources--to train people to be Next Generation chief information officers and Next Generation networkers." Conference attendees developed recommendations to double federal information technology funding from $1 billion to $2 billion per year, to overcome geographic inequities in technology access throughout the country, to develop high-bandwidth conductivity capabilities to make the most of Internet usage, to develop adequate software to enable use of the computer hardware and to train people and develop and use the technology. The conference attendees agreed that the NSF should be the lead agency to address these issues. The conference split into breakout groups to address specific concerns and develop policy guidelines for research, teaching, and outreach and extension. Each group had the tasks of identifying critical issues, setting priorities, and establishing plans for further action. At the end of the conference, each group summarized its conclusions. "We need to stress to policymakers that issues of high-end technology are connected to social and economic issues," explained Albert H. Teich, director of science and policy programs at AAAS, in summarizing the research group's recommendations. Specifically, the group recommended recognizing the danger of splitting the nation into technology "haves" and "have-nots," addressing the network-access problems of remote areas, creating network infrastructures for all universities, and developing a scalable security system that does not create barriers for users. "The federal government should use the interstate highway system, in which the federal and state governments share costs, as a model for allocating resources," Teich adds. "The federal government needs to supplement grants for research and network access and take a global view." In terms of policy, the research breakout group recommended truly universal access, a long-term view of resources, more university-private partnerships and "efforts to ensure that the university culture understands the need for the technology," according to Teich. Finally, the group recommended human resource development in support of new Internet technology. The "need to bring people into the fold" was echoed by the breakout group concerned with teaching, according to the summary presented by George M. Dennison, president of the University of Montana. "We need to bring faculty in and make them well versed in this technology, and then reward them with new computers," he says. "Access is a critical issue," Dennison adds. "States need to create access, the federal government needs to provide grants, and universities need to make it work." To address the issues of outreach and extension programs, J. Scott Hauger, AAAS director, recommended that federal and state partnerships be formed with the federal government leading activity coordination. "National programs should bridge the gap between universities and outreach and extension programs, and selected mission agencies should determine how to bring the Internet into disadvantaged communities lacking education and resources," he says. "Federal agencies should conduct social and behavioral research on the impact of the technology on disadvantaged communities to determine whether the technology can solve cultural and social problems," Hauger concludes. "These agencies should support programs that are culturally sensitive, user friendly, and universally available to enhance the outreach mission." Making the leap from policy to availability are nationwide technology partnerships that integrate technology with scientific developments. One such program, the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI), is a distributed laboratory of 38 partner institutions in 19 states led by the University of California at San Diego. Building on the successes of SDSC, NPACI (www.npaci.edu) is developing the software infrastructure to link high-performance computers, data servers, and archival storage systems to enable easier use of the aggregate computing power. Development focuses on specific "thrust areas" that join applications scientists, computer scientists, and technology developers on research projects. "The NPACI Partnership encompasses one of the largest collections of high-performance computing resources ever assembled in the world, distributed among some of the most important research and education organizations in this country," explains Sid Karin , NPACI director. "This computational infrastructure will extend the nation's technology base and will be used to tackle some of the most computationally difficult--and most important--problems of modern science." "Partnerships give all of us access to information we couldn't have otherwise," added Ann Redelfs, associate director of NPACI. "They provide a great way to work into the next millennium." Ilene Schneider is an Irvine, Calif.-based freelance writer specializing in health care and biotechnology enterprises. Her E-mail address is ISchnei440@aol.com, and her Web site is www.cpinckney.com/ilene.

Building a Bridge to the Future

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