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COMPUTING R ESEARCH N EWS The News Journal of the Computing Research Association September 1993 Vol. 5/No. 4 Nico Habermann was a House passes NII Act BY Juan Antonio Osuna expected to reach gigabit speeds in the “visionary leader in HPCC” CRA Staff next few years. The House passed the National Representatives from the regional A. Nico Habermann, an internationally renowned computer scientist, died of Information Infrastructure Act of 1993 telephone companies and the research an apparent heart attack Aug. 8 at his Pittsburgh home. He was 62. on July 26 with a sweeping 326 to 61 and education communities, including Habermann served as assistant director of the National Science vote. CRA, deliberated over language Foundation’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. Introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher limiting use of this testbed, the only He commuted regularly from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. (D-VA), bill HR 1757 expands the portion of the Internet that is federally “We are shocked and saddened by the sudden death of our colleague and High-Performance Computing and subsidized. The telephone companies friend,” said NSF acting director Frederick Bernthal. “He was a visionary Communications Act of 1991 to bring expressed fear that federal support leader in high-performance computing, networking and information infrastruc- libraries, local governments, schools and could dilute their pool of potential ture. He will be missed; but his legacy of excellence and leadership at NSF will health care providers onto national customers. Research and education continue.” computer networks. groups argued that federal support Habermann came to NSF from Carnegie Mellon University, where he had Representatives who oppose the would do the opposite by encouraging served as dean of the School of Computer Science. He had taught at CMU bill said telephone, cable and electric high-tech markets. since 1969, became head of its Computer Science Department in 1979 and companies already are building net- In the end, the two groups founded the School of Computer Science in 1988. He had planned to return works, making government involve- hammered out and agreed to the to CMU after serving at NSF. ment unnecessary. All but one of the 61 following language: Habermann is known for his work in programming languages, operating members who opposed the bill were “The federal testbed networks shall systems and software engineering. He helped implement languages such as Republicans. not be used to provide network services Algol 60, Bliss, Pascal and Ada. Backers of the bill said the federal that are not related to [the mission of At NSF, he led many CISE programs: Computer and Computation government plays a crucial role in the testbed] and that could not Research; Information Robotics and Intelligent Systems; Advanced Scientific spurring commercial R&D and in otherwise be provided satisfactorily Computing; Microelectronic Information Processing Systems; Networking and bringing network connectivity to public using commercially available network institutions such as libraries, schools services. Determination of satisfactory Continued on Page 11 and local governments. The bill also availability shall include consideration authorizes subsidies for network users, of geographic access to and affordability not network providers. of service, and timeliness and technical Inside CRN This tension between public and performance standards in providing private sectors surfaced most dramati- services.” PAGES 8-10: Policy News PAGE 2: Opinions and Letters cally during markups in June before the Harsher restrictions proposed by PAGES 3-5: Expanding the Pipeline PAGES 11-13: Washington Update Science, Space and Technology the telephone companies were added to Subcommittee on Science. Debate the Senate version of the bill (S 4) PAGE 6: Association News PAGES 14-15: Professional during a May 25 markup. “Language Opportunities surrounded the bill’s provisions to limit PAGE 7: Conference News the use of the National Research and has been added to this section to clarify PAGE 16: People in the News Education Network—a testbed network Continued on Page 9 What role will CS research community PAID Non-Profit US Postage Organization Permit No. 3778 Washington, DC play in shaping federal science policy? Time-Sensitive Material BY Edward D. Lazowska role in the future social and economic nity played a significant role. In 1991 The Federated Computing Research vitality of the nation are becoming CRA appeared before the House Conference (FCRC ’93) in May widely recognized in policy circles. After Science, Space and Technology featured a lively two-hour “town years of being on the outside looking in, Subcommittee on Science to testify on meeting” devoted to federal science the community suddenly finds itself at that year’s High-Performance Comput- policy and the role of the computing the center of the national science policy ing and Communications Act. This year research community in shaping that debate, with enormous possibilities and the same subcommittee actively policy. enormous responsibilities. solicited CRA’s advice during the drafting of the National Information Science policy is changing. The Hub of activity implicit contract between the federal Infrastructure Act of 1993 (formerly government and university researchers, CRA is at the hub of this activity. known as the High-Performance in which most “interesting” research The association has metamorphosed Computing and High-Speed Network- was supported in return for contribu- several times over its lifetime, most ing Applications Act of 1993), invited tions to health care and defense, existed recently in the late 1980s when the the association to testify on the bill (See for nearly 50 years but now is null and Board of Directors, anticipating these Page 8) and involved us in some key void. The contract was the victim of the critical policy shifts, created a profes- post-testimony negotiations concerning end of the Cold War, the growth of the sionally staffed office in Washington, the fate of the National Research and federal deficit and the widespread DC. Following policy issues is a major Education Network (NREN). CRA perception that research requires activity for Fred W. Weingarten, CRA’s forged a number of important alli- oversight to control costs and increase executive director, who is assisted by ances—with the Computer Systems relevance. The new contract is still Juan Antonio Osuna and advised by the Policy Project (an influential group of being written, but it is likely to focus on board, and particularly the Government the CEOs of the 13 largest computer issues such as economic vitality, Affairs Committee. CRA, with a manufacturers), the American Library improvements in the quality of life and current membership of about 175 Association (playing a major role in the the sustainability of the nation. industrial computing research laborato- NREN debate) and others. ries and academic departments of This is not so bad for the comput- Community involvement ing research community. Computing is a computer science and computer key technology for those providing engineering, represents and informs the At the town meeting, I emphasized services, governing the nation or computing research community. the importance of local and national practicing science and engineering. The In the past few years there have involvement by the computing research accomplishments of the computing been several science policy debates in community. Contacting your elected research community and our central which the computing research commu- Continued on Page 5 CRA NW Ave. 1875 Connecticut Suite 718 DC 20009 Washington, COMPUTING R ESEARCH N EWS September 1993 Opinions and Letters Computing Research Association “Just-in-time” graduate education Board Officers BY Daniel W. are actually using it as a “professional” niques in digital systems and high- David A. Patterson Lewis degree. performance computer architecture. Chair If it takes as long as five years to Although many continuing University of California, Berkeley Computing has been described as complete a part-time master’s degree, education programs already offer Maria Klawe one of the most how well does such a program satisfy certificate programs, programs suggested Vice Chair University of British Columbia rapidly evolving industrial needs when new technologies here would use graduate courses fields of our time, are emerging every two years? And how earning academic credit toward a Gregory R. Andrews can we improve our part-time master’s master’s degree. Secretary with technology University of Arizona cycles as short as programs to provide more relevant Such a part-time master’s program 2.5 years. Just consider some of the professional education in the face of offers several advantages over a more Michael R. Garey such rapid change? Treasurer many technologies that have been traditional program. By concentrating AT&T Bell Laboratories introduced or have become popular in These questions are particularly on a focused sequence of course work, the last 10 years: graphical user poignant in high-technology centers each certificate program provides a Board Members interfaces, reduced instruction set such as Silicon Valley, where many faster return on investment for both W. Richards Adrion computing architectures, functional employees are enrolled in part-time students and their employers. University of Massachusetts, Amherst programming, expert systems, neural master’s programs. The Software