Computing Leadership Summit

CRA convened its fifth annual Computing Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, on March 10, 1999. The presidents, executive directors, and other senior leadership of CRA and its five affiliate societies — AAAI, ACM, IEEE-CS, SIAM, and USENIX — gathered to discuss issues of common concern. The primary focus of this year's event was the proposed Information Technology for the 21st Century Initiative (IT²), which would increase support for computing and communications research by $366 million (see article, page 1).

Three of the principals involved in coordinating the multiagency initiative spoke with the group about their agencies' plans: David Tennenhouse, Director of the Information Technology Office at DARPA; Ruzena Bajcsy, Assistant Director for the Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation; and Martha Krebs, Director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy.

Tennenhouse described ITO's plans to emphasize research on automated systems, embedded systems, and deeply networked systems. Bajcsy, as the head of the IT² working group, described interagency issues as well as CISE's research priorities: major software challenges; human-computer interactions and information management; broadband tetherless communications to help enable new technologies such as telemedicine and distance learning; understanding, modeling, and predicting the behavior of networks; and computational research. Krebs described DoE's proposed Scientific Simulation Initiative, which encompasses DoE's role in IT2, and its relationship to the defense-related Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative.

The prospects for obtaining congressional support for IT²and other congressional science policy issues were also discussed by various participants. In the afternoon, a subgroup of participants met with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), a member of the House Science Committee, to discuss IT², IT workforce issues, and other matters.

The summit also featured a presentation from Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law at American University, who spoke about issues in intellectual property protection and described recent and pending legislative actions in this area.