Barbara Liskov, a professor at MIT, has received the 2008 A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for her work in the design of computer programming languages. Liskov is only the second woman to receive the Turing Award and she was the first woman to earn a computer science PhD. The A.M. Turing Award was first presented in 1966 and was named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support from Intel Corporation and Google Inc.
A press release from MIT quoted Provost L. Rafael Reif saying, Barbara Liskov pioneered some of the most important advances in fundamental computer science. Her exceptional achievements have leapt from the halls of academia to transform daily life around the world. Every time you exchange e-mail with a friend, check your bank statement online or run a Google search, you are riding the momentum of her research.”
The full citation for the A.M. Turing Award states:
Barbara Liskov has led important developments in computing by creating and implementing programming languages, operating systems, and innovative systems designs that have advanced the state of the art of data abstraction, modularity, fault tolerance, persistence, and distributed computing systems.
The Venus operating system was an early example of principled operating system design. The CLU programming language was one of the earliest and most complete programming languages based on modules formed from abstract data types and incorporating unique intertwining of both early and late binding mechanisms. ARGUS extended many of the CLU ideas to distributed programming, and incorporated the first versions of nested transactions to maintain predictable consistencies. Other advances include solutions elegantly combining theory and pragmatics in the areas of decentralized information flow, replicated storage and caching of persistent objects, and modular upgrading of distributed systems. Her contributions have been incorporated into the practice of programming, thereby influencing many of the most important systems used today: for programming, specification, systems design, and distributed architectures.
In addition to her research, Liskov is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and ACM, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and IEEE. She won the 1996 Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers and has served on a wide variety of interest groups and advisory committees.
The House has passed and the Senate is now considering omnibus legislation that would enact the unfinished FY 2009 appropriations bills Congress ought to have passed last September (but elected to punt). Included in the omnibus are appropriations for a number of key science agencies — appropriations that contain some significant increases for those agencies compared to their FY 2008 levels and that might signal Congress is finally getting serious about appropriating the increases for science authorized by the America COMPETES Actway back in August 2007.
Here’s the breakout for some science agencies of particular note to the computing community. In each case, these funding levels represent an increase to the baseline funding for the agency (ie, this funding, if passed, will likely represent the starting point in the FY 10 appropriations process). The Stimulus funding passed last month represents funding above and beyond this FY 09 appropriation: National Science Foundation: NSF would receive a $363 million increase over FY 08, or 5.9 percent, increasing to $6.49 billion overall. Included in that increase is $339 million in additional funding for the Research and Related Activities account, an increase of 7.0 percent over the FY 08 level of $4.84 billion. Language in the report accompanying the bill directs NSF to “provide a for a balanced program across all science disciplines” as the agency decides how to allocated funding across the research directorates. Additionally, the agency is urged to “further to invest in cost-effective and innovative solutions, such as grid-computing, to address the Nation’s cyber infrastructure needs.”
The Foundation’s Education and Human Resources Directorate would also see an increase, growing $120 million over FY 2008, or 16.5 percent. The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account, however, would see a decrease of about $69 million (or 31.1 percent) compared to FY 08. However, MREFC fared well in the stimulus bill — it received an additional $400 million — so it’s not immediately clear to us how this decrease in funding will impact current and future projects funded out of MREFC. Department of Energy’s Office of Science: DOE’s Office of Science would do extremely well under the FY 09 omnibus appropriation, growing 18.8 percent, or $755 million to $4.77 billion, versus FY 08. Included in the increase is $369 million for Advanced Scientific Computing Research, an increase of $18 million or 5.0 percent over FY 08. National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST’s budget would increase 8.4 percent, or $63.2 million to $819 million in FY 09. NIST’s Scientific and Technical Research and Services account — basically, NIST’s core research funding — would grow by $31.5 million (or 7.1 percent) to $472 million. NIST’s research facilities construction account would grow by 7.2 percent, or $11.5 million, to $172 million. Two somewhat controversial programs, the Technology Innovation Program (formerly the Advanced Technology Program) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships — both basically zeroed by the Bush Administration budget for FY 09 — both would receive funding in FY 09. MEP would grow $20.4 million to $110 million in FY 09. TIP would decline slightly (about $200,000) to $65 million. National Institutes of Health: NIH would receive an increase of $938 million over FY 08 in the omnibus, bringing the agency’s top-line funding level to $30.3 billion in FY 09. National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA Science funding is one of the few science funding accounts that would see a decrease in funding versus FY 08. While the overall NASA budget would increase $381 million, or 2.2 percent, over FY 08, the Science account would decrease $203 million, or 4.3 percent, to $4.7 billion in FY 09.
Not included in the omnibus is funding for research at the Department of Defense, but that’s because the FY09 Defense Approps (along with the Military Construction and Homeland Security bills) were passed under regular order last year. Included in that bill was an increase of 27.4 percent, or about $1.6 billion, in basic and applied research at Defense research agencies — including an 8.0 percent bump (or $136 million increase) for basic research.
The House has already passed the omnibus and the bill is being considered in the Senate right now, with the hope of passage either later this evening or tomorrow. Failing to pass the bill by March 6th would mean Congress would have to quickly act to pass another Continuing Resolution — a temporary stop-gap funding measure — to keep most federal agencies open. As this is written, it appears that the Democratic leadership in the Senate has enough votes to pass the bill as is, but we’ll update here if that changes.
Press Release
Contact: Peter Harsha
COMPUTING RESEARCHERS APPLAUD CONGRESS FOR STRONG INVESTMENTS IN SCIENCE, INNOVATION
WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2009 — Members of the computing research community today praised Congress for passing an economic stimulus package that includes substantial investments in the nation’s science and engineering enterprise. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes just over $7 billion in supplemental funding for several key federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Computing Research Association Chair Daniel A. Reed said congressional action to pass the economic recovery legislation shows that members “understand the fierce urgency of innovation to ensure our economic future.”
“Congress and the Administration clearly recognize that today’s urgent economic challenges require strategic investment in research and research infrastructure to spawn tomorrow’s great discoveries and innovations,” Reed said. “This funding will also provide an immediate jolt to an innovation ecosystem that is key to ensuring our long-term economic success and quality of life.”
Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Peter Lee echoed Reed’s assessment. “The investments in education, research and scientific research facilities in this bill can be put to use right now to create a stronger, more resilient economy and a more highly-skilled, competitive workforce in this country,” Lee said. “The investments in research are both the fuel for our long-term innovation and a down payment on tomorrow’s infrastructure.”
University of Washington computer scientist Edward Lazowska said the community was heartened when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named her four priorities for the bill as “science, science, science and science,” and was “absolutely thrilled” when it became clear that those priorities had survived the conference process with the Senate. “Science lays the foundation for the future. Like the Internet and Google in previous decades, today’s computing research will become tomorrow’s vital infrastructure. America will be far stronger for the investments that Congress and the Administration have made” About CRA: CRA represents more than 250 research entities in academia, industry and government. Its mission is to strengthen research and advance education in the computing fields, expand opportunities for women and minorities, and improve public and policymaker understanding of the importance of computing and computing research in society.
On the web: http://www.cra.org
Speaker Pelosi’s office just released a fact sheet on the conference agreement for the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and, wow, it looks good for science agencies in the bill. Here’s the relevant bit:
Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: To secure Americas role as a world leader in a competitive global economy, we are renewing Americas investments in basic research and development, in training students for an innovation economy, and in deploying new technologies into the marketplace. This will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy.
Investing in Scientific Research (More than $15 Billion)
Provides $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, for basic research in fundamental science and engineering which spurs discovery and innovation.
Provides $1.6 billion for the Department of Energys Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences areas crucial to our energy future.
Provides $400 million for the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to support high-risk, high-payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency in collaboration with industry.
Provides $580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including the Technology Innovation Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Provides $8.5 billion for NIH, including expanding good jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, cancer, and heart disease.
Provides $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research.
Provides $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help them compete for biomedical research grants.
Extending Broadband Services
Provides $7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities across the country, so that rural and inner-city businesses can compete with any company in the world.
For every dollar invested in broadband, the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.
It’s essentially everything we asked for. The entire fact sheet (pdf) doesn’t seem to be online yet, but we’ve got it here.
We’ll have more on the details as soon as we get them, but this is appears to be great news for the science community and great news for those who care about the long-term health of America’s innovation ecosystem!
COMPUTING RESEARCH ADVOCACY NETWORK
**ACTION ALERT**
THE SITUATION:
Now that the Senate has narrowly passed its version of the economic stimulus, the bill will head to conference with the House to work out some of the significant differences between the two versions — including significant differences in how the science investments in the bill are handled. The conference represents our last chance to influence the level of science funding contained in the stimulus. We are asking for your help urging your representatives in Congress to support the levels of funding for science contained in the House version of the bill. Please call or fax your representatives today to express your support for research and research infrastructure funding in the bill.
BACKGROUND:
Both the Senate and the House have now passed their own versions of the “American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (H.R. 1), but each version contains substantially different levels of funding for key science agencies.The version passed by the House contains significantly more funding for research and research infrastructure than the Senate-passed version. It provides “catch-up” funding for NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIH, and NIST that would put those agencies back on a trajectory that would double their budgets over the next 7 years — a budget trajectory that was authorized by the 2007 “America COMPETES Act” but never funded. The House version of this stimulus bill includes:
$2 billion in science funding at DOE’s Office of Science, including $100 million for Advanced Scientific Computing Research;
$3 billion for NSF, of which $2.0 billion would go into core research programs, $300 million to the Major Research Instrumentation program and an additional $200 million to academic research facilities modernization;
$100 million for NIST’s core research programs, $300 million for facilities, and another $70 million for the Technology Innovation Program and $30 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership;
$1.5 billion to NIH for grants to improve university research facilities and another $1.5 billion in new research funding.
In contrast, the Senate version provides no funding for DOE’s Office of Science and just $330 million for DOE Labs (and no additional funding for Advanced Scientific Computing Research); $1.0 billion less than the House for NSF core research, $250 million less for Major Research Equipment and Construction, and $50 million less for Education and Human Resources; and $25 million less for NIST.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The most important thing you can do now is call or fax your representatives in the House and Senate and urge them to support the House funding levels for science in the conference. A sample letter you can use can be found here (rtf).
Please complete it using your own information and FAX it to your Representative and Senators offices as soon as possible. Please also fax a copy of your letter to CRA’S Melissa Norr at 202.667.1066 — having copies of letters from our community is incredibly helpful in our advocacy activities on the Hill.
To identify your Representative and Senators visit Write Your Rep and the Senate Directory.
If you have any trouble figuring out your Members of Congress or their contact information, please don’t hesitate to contact Melissa (mnorr@cra.org) for help.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Now is not the time for contacting the agencies involved with proposals for spending these potential increases. If and when these increases are realized, the agencies will put in place processes to accept proposals for funding — and CRA will keep you informed. But, until then, the agencies are sharply limited in the advice and help they can provide. Please instead focus your efforts on ensuring that your representatives in Congress have heard from you on the importance of supporting research and research infrastructure!
Dr. Tony Tether, the longest-tenured Director in DARPA’s 50+ year history and a targetoffrequentcriticismfromthecomputingcommunityandtheuniversitycommunity for the direction the agency has taken under his leadership, is apparently out as of February 20, 2009. Tether made the announcement in an email to DARPA staffers:
The Time to Go has Been Settled
As you know, I had said that I was asked to stay on at DARPA until replaced.
It turns out that that was not the case.
I was informed last week that the Administration had decided that I was to leave now with February 20th as a two week notice.
So it’s over.
But it has been a good ride and we have many, perhaps thousands, of technology developments most of which are yet to come, but also many which are out being used saving our Soldiers lives yet making them far more effective than the adversaries they face.
I want you to know that I am proud of all of you, current and past, and will never forget what you have done.
Once I know what I am doing, I will let you know.
God bless all of you, and most of all, God Bless America.
Tony
It’s not yet known who will replace Tether. A number of folks from the computing community have done some thinking about what a “re-envisioned” DARPA might look like. CMU CS Department Chair and CRA’s Government Affairs Committee Chair Peter Lee and Berkeley’s Randy Katz put together those thoughts in a piece for the CCC in December called Re-envisioning DARPA (pdf) that certainly seems worth reading again.
As we learn more about this change in leadership at this critical agency, we’ll post it here!
Late last night, the Senate leadership and a coalition of moderate Senators led by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) reached an agreement on a package of reductions to the increases proposed in the Senate version of the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (otherwise known as the “stimulus bill”). The agreement would preserve $1.2 billion of the Senate’s proposed $1.4 billion increase for the National Science Foundation.
The agreement does reduce the increase in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science by $100 million (so, +$330 million instead of +$430 million), and NIST’s increase would be reduced by $100 million (so +$495 million instead of +$595 million). But given the reports we were receiving as recently as yesterday evening about the possibility of no increase for the science agencies in the bill, this is a remarkable turn of events.
The increase for NSF in the Senate bill will still be far less than the $3 billion called for in the House version of the bill, but NSF will be in far better shape in the conference between the two chambers coming in with $1.2 billion from the Senate instead of zero.
The Senate expects to vote on the bill on Tuesday and then the bill will move to a conference with the House to negotiate the differences. Given Congress’ desire to wrap this up by President’s Day, which starts a week-long district work period, the conference is expected to move quickly.
We’ll have all the details on the conference and the final bill as we get them. But for now, an encouraging result for advocates of greater federal investment in the physical sciences!
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke today at the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, and urged the Members present to support investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and increase federal support for basic research. The STEM ed investments are really the government’s investments in human capital, he said, which are necessary because in “today’s knowledge-driven world, innovation will depend on people who are actually technologically sophisticated, have strong critical thinking skills, and have expertise in math and science and engineering.”
He also called for greater investment in the nation’s science and technology infrastructure — in the basic research that powers innovation.
I came in, flew in red eye, was a little groggy this morning when I got here. I sat down with the speaker at 8:00 AM, and she woke me right up. She said there are four things I want you to make sure you understand are a priority: science, science, science, and science. I was awake by the end of the fourth science for sure, and I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly.
Science and technology is the backbone for productivity and innovation; has been, not always information technology, but science and technology has been a driver of economic success. Government investment in science and engineering as a percentage of GDP is half, in this country, what it was in 1970, and it would be growing rapidly, particularly in countries in Asia, off a small base albeit, but in places like India and China and Korea the trend is the other direction.
We need to pursue breakthroughs over the coming years in green technology, alternative energy, bioengineering, parallel computing, quantum computing. Without greater government investment in the basic research, there is a danger that important advances will happen in other countries. This is truly I think not only an issue of competitiveness, but also in a sense of national security. Companies like ours and others can do our fair share in terms of funding of basic research, but government needs to take the lead.
The whole speech is worth reading. It’s great. I only wish that it could have been heard by members of the Senate who are still debating whether science funding — including a $1.4 billion increase for NSF — ought to be included in the Senate version of the stimulus package.
Basic research is the most powerful engine for innovation in the U.S. economy. Allowing it fall out of a stimulus bill designed to jumpstart our short and long-term economic recovery is just shortsightedness of the worst kind. Update: (2/7/09) — Maybe the Senate was listening.
The need for all science researchers to respond to CRAs call to contact Congress regarding the stimulus has become even more urgent today. The New York Times is reporting that Senators Ben Nelson (NE) and Susan Collins (ME) are seeking to cut the stimulus by $200 billion, and $1 billion for NSF is apparently on the hit list (though it’s not clear if that comes from Collins and Nelson or other sources). The full story is here but action is needed immediately on the part of the research community. CRAs call to action tells you how to help. Update: (2/7/09) — Thanks to all who weighed in! The majority of the NSF increase in the bill has been preserved.
The folks at the Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America (ASTRA) have done a fantastic job ferreting out every federal research-related account in either the House or Senate version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and comparing the funding levels between the two bills. The comparison shows that, overall, the House version has more generous numbers, especially in some accounts important to the computing community at NSF and DOE Science (though both versions contain $100 million increase to Advanced Scientific Computing Research in DOE Sc). Check out the chart and explanatory notes here.
Kei Koizumi of AAAS has another good comparison here.
Both make it clear that there are real differences of opinion in the two chambers on how science should be supported in the stimulus. That’s why it’s important to weigh in with your Members of Congress to make sure science remains a priority in the bill!
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Turing Award Recipient Announced
/In: Diversity in Computing, Misc., People /by MelissaNorrBarbara Liskov, a professor at MIT, has received the 2008 A.M. Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for her work in the design of computer programming languages. Liskov is only the second woman to receive the Turing Award and she was the first woman to earn a computer science PhD. The A.M. Turing Award was first presented in 1966 and was named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support from Intel Corporation and Google Inc.
A press release from MIT quoted Provost L. Rafael Reif saying, Barbara Liskov pioneered some of the most important advances in fundamental computer science. Her exceptional achievements have leapt from the halls of academia to transform daily life around the world. Every time you exchange e-mail with a friend, check your bank statement online or run a Google search, you are riding the momentum of her research.”
The full citation for the A.M. Turing Award states:
In addition to her research, Liskov is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and ACM, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and IEEE. She won the 1996 Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers and has served on a wide variety of interest groups and advisory committees.
FY 09 Omnibus Details: Further Increases for Science
/In: American Competitiveness Initiative, Funding, FY09 Appropriations /by Peter HarshaThe House has passed and the Senate is now considering omnibus legislation that would enact the unfinished FY 2009 appropriations bills Congress ought to have passed last September (but elected to punt). Included in the omnibus are appropriations for a number of key science agencies — appropriations that contain some significant increases for those agencies compared to their FY 2008 levels and that might signal Congress is finally getting serious about appropriating the increases for science authorized by the America COMPETES Act way back in August 2007.
Here’s the breakout for some science agencies of particular note to the computing community. In each case, these funding levels represent an increase to the baseline funding for the agency (ie, this funding, if passed, will likely represent the starting point in the FY 10 appropriations process). The Stimulus funding passed last month represents funding above and beyond this FY 09 appropriation:
National Science Foundation: NSF would receive a $363 million increase over FY 08, or 5.9 percent, increasing to $6.49 billion overall. Included in that increase is $339 million in additional funding for the Research and Related Activities account, an increase of 7.0 percent over the FY 08 level of $4.84 billion. Language in the report accompanying the bill directs NSF to “provide a for a balanced program across all science disciplines” as the agency decides how to allocated funding across the research directorates. Additionally, the agency is urged to “further to invest in cost-effective and innovative solutions, such as grid-computing, to address the Nation’s cyber infrastructure needs.”
The Foundation’s Education and Human Resources Directorate would also see an increase, growing $120 million over FY 2008, or 16.5 percent. The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account, however, would see a decrease of about $69 million (or 31.1 percent) compared to FY 08. However, MREFC fared well in the stimulus bill — it received an additional $400 million — so it’s not immediately clear to us how this decrease in funding will impact current and future projects funded out of MREFC.
Department of Energy’s Office of Science: DOE’s Office of Science would do extremely well under the FY 09 omnibus appropriation, growing 18.8 percent, or $755 million to $4.77 billion, versus FY 08. Included in the increase is $369 million for Advanced Scientific Computing Research, an increase of $18 million or 5.0 percent over FY 08.
National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST’s budget would increase 8.4 percent, or $63.2 million to $819 million in FY 09. NIST’s Scientific and Technical Research and Services account — basically, NIST’s core research funding — would grow by $31.5 million (or 7.1 percent) to $472 million. NIST’s research facilities construction account would grow by 7.2 percent, or $11.5 million, to $172 million. Two somewhat controversial programs, the Technology Innovation Program (formerly the Advanced Technology Program) and the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships — both basically zeroed by the Bush Administration budget for FY 09 — both would receive funding in FY 09. MEP would grow $20.4 million to $110 million in FY 09. TIP would decline slightly (about $200,000) to $65 million.
National Institutes of Health: NIH would receive an increase of $938 million over FY 08 in the omnibus, bringing the agency’s top-line funding level to $30.3 billion in FY 09.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA Science funding is one of the few science funding accounts that would see a decrease in funding versus FY 08. While the overall NASA budget would increase $381 million, or 2.2 percent, over FY 08, the Science account would decrease $203 million, or 4.3 percent, to $4.7 billion in FY 09.
Not included in the omnibus is funding for research at the Department of Defense, but that’s because the FY09 Defense Approps (along with the Military Construction and Homeland Security bills) were passed under regular order last year. Included in that bill was an increase of 27.4 percent, or about $1.6 billion, in basic and applied research at Defense research agencies — including an 8.0 percent bump (or $136 million increase) for basic research.
The House has already passed the omnibus and the bill is being considered in the Senate right now, with the hope of passage either later this evening or tomorrow. Failing to pass the bill by March 6th would mean Congress would have to quickly act to pass another Continuing Resolution — a temporary stop-gap funding measure — to keep most federal agencies open. As this is written, it appears that the Democratic leadership in the Senate has enough votes to pass the bill as is, but we’ll update here if that changes.
Computing Researchers Applaud Congress for Strong Investments in Science, Innovation
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery /by Peter HarshaPress Release
Contact: Peter Harsha
COMPUTING RESEARCHERS APPLAUD CONGRESS FOR STRONG INVESTMENTS IN SCIENCE, INNOVATION
WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2009 — Members of the computing research community today praised Congress for passing an economic stimulus package that includes substantial investments in the nation’s science and engineering enterprise. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes just over $7 billion in supplemental funding for several key federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Computing Research Association Chair Daniel A. Reed said congressional action to pass the economic recovery legislation shows that members “understand the fierce urgency of innovation to ensure our economic future.”
“Congress and the Administration clearly recognize that today’s urgent economic challenges require strategic investment in research and research infrastructure to spawn tomorrow’s great discoveries and innovations,” Reed said. “This funding will also provide an immediate jolt to an innovation ecosystem that is key to ensuring our long-term economic success and quality of life.”
Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Peter Lee echoed Reed’s assessment. “The investments in education, research and scientific research facilities in this bill can be put to use right now to create a stronger, more resilient economy and a more highly-skilled, competitive workforce in this country,” Lee said. “The investments in research are both the fuel for our long-term innovation and a down payment on tomorrow’s infrastructure.”
University of Washington computer scientist Edward Lazowska said the community was heartened when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named her four priorities for the bill as “science, science, science and science,” and was “absolutely thrilled” when it became clear that those priorities had survived the conference process with the Senate. “Science lays the foundation for the future. Like the Internet and Google in previous decades, today’s computing research will become tomorrow’s vital infrastructure. America will be far stronger for the investments that Congress and the Administration have made”
About CRA: CRA represents more than 250 research entities in academia, industry and government. Its mission is to strengthen research and advance education in the computing fields, expand opportunities for women and minorities, and improve public and policymaker understanding of the importance of computing and computing research in society.
On the web: http://www.cra.org
House Numbers for Science Prevail in Stimulus Conference
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery /by Peter HarshaSpeaker Pelosi’s office just released a fact sheet on the conference agreement for the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and, wow, it looks good for science agencies in the bill. Here’s the relevant bit:
It’s essentially everything we asked for. The entire fact sheet (pdf) doesn’t seem to be online yet, but we’ve got it here.
We’ll have more on the details as soon as we get them, but this is appears to be great news for the science community and great news for those who care about the long-term health of America’s innovation ecosystem!
Action Alert!: Stimulus Headed to Conference!
/In: Action Alerts, Economic Stimulus and Recovery, Funding, FY09 Appropriations /by Peter HarshaCOMPUTING RESEARCH ADVOCACY NETWORK
**ACTION ALERT**
THE SITUATION:
Now that the Senate has narrowly passed its version of the economic stimulus, the bill will head to conference with the House to work out some of the significant differences between the two versions — including significant differences in how the science investments in the bill are handled. The conference represents our last chance to influence the level of science funding contained in the stimulus. We are asking for your help urging your representatives in Congress to support the levels of funding for science contained in the House version of the bill. Please call or fax your representatives today to express your support for research and research infrastructure funding in the bill.
BACKGROUND:
Both the Senate and the House have now passed their own versions of the “American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (H.R. 1), but each version contains substantially different levels of funding for key science agencies.The version passed by the House contains significantly more funding for research and research infrastructure than the Senate-passed version. It provides “catch-up” funding for NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIH, and NIST that would put those agencies back on a trajectory that would double their budgets over the next 7 years — a budget trajectory that was authorized by the 2007 “America COMPETES Act” but never funded. The House version of this stimulus bill includes:
In contrast, the Senate version provides no funding for DOE’s Office of Science and just $330 million for DOE Labs (and no additional funding for Advanced Scientific Computing Research); $1.0 billion less than the House for NSF core research, $250 million less for Major Research Equipment and Construction, and $50 million less for Education and Human Resources; and $25 million less for NIST.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The most important thing you can do now is call or fax your representatives in the House and Senate and urge them to support the House funding levels for science in the conference. A sample letter you can use can be found here (rtf).
Please complete it using your own information and FAX it to your Representative and Senators offices as soon as possible. Please also fax a copy of your letter to CRA’S Melissa Norr at 202.667.1066 — having copies of letters from our community is incredibly helpful in our advocacy activities on the Hill.
To identify your Representative and Senators visit Write Your Rep and the Senate Directory.
If you have any trouble figuring out your Members of Congress or their contact information, please don’t hesitate to contact Melissa (mnorr@cra.org) for help.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Now is not the time for contacting the agencies involved with proposals for spending these potential increases. If and when these increases are realized, the agencies will put in place processes to accept proposals for funding — and CRA will keep you informed. But, until then, the agencies are sharply limited in the advice and help they can provide. Please instead focus your efforts on ensuring that your representatives in Congress have heard from you on the importance of supporting research and research infrastructure!
Tether Era at DARPA Coming to an End
/In: People /by Peter HarshaDr. Tony Tether, the longest-tenured Director in DARPA’s 50+ year history and a target of frequent criticism from the computing community and the university community for the direction the agency has taken under his leadership, is apparently out as of February 20, 2009. Tether made the announcement in an email to DARPA staffers:
It’s not yet known who will replace Tether. A number of folks from the computing community have done some thinking about what a “re-envisioned” DARPA might look like. CMU CS Department Chair and CRA’s Government Affairs Committee Chair Peter Lee and Berkeley’s Randy Katz put together those thoughts in a piece for the CCC in December called Re-envisioning DARPA (pdf) that certainly seems worth reading again.
As we learn more about this change in leadership at this critical agency, we’ll post it here!
Senate Deal Protects Much of NSF Increase in Stimulus
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery /by Peter HarshaLate last night, the Senate leadership and a coalition of moderate Senators led by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) reached an agreement on a package of reductions to the increases proposed in the Senate version of the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (otherwise known as the “stimulus bill”). The agreement would preserve $1.2 billion of the Senate’s proposed $1.4 billion increase for the National Science Foundation.
The agreement does reduce the increase in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science by $100 million (so, +$330 million instead of +$430 million), and NIST’s increase would be reduced by $100 million (so +$495 million instead of +$595 million). But given the reports we were receiving as recently as yesterday evening about the possibility of no increase for the science agencies in the bill, this is a remarkable turn of events.
The increase for NSF in the Senate bill will still be far less than the $3 billion called for in the House version of the bill, but NSF will be in far better shape in the conference between the two chambers coming in with $1.2 billion from the Senate instead of zero.
The Senate expects to vote on the bill on Tuesday and then the bill will move to a conference with the House to negotiate the differences. Given Congress’ desire to wrap this up by President’s Day, which starts a week-long district work period, the conference is expected to move quickly.
We’ll have all the details on the conference and the final bill as we get them. But for now, an encouraging result for advocates of greater federal investment in the physical sciences!
Microsoft’s Ballmer Tells House Dems We Need STEM Ed, Research Investments
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery, Funding, FY09 Appropriations, People /by Peter HarshaMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke today at the House Democratic Caucus Retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, and urged the Members present to support investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and increase federal support for basic research. The STEM ed investments are really the government’s investments in human capital, he said, which are necessary because in “today’s knowledge-driven world, innovation will depend on people who are actually technologically sophisticated, have strong critical thinking skills, and have expertise in math and science and engineering.”
He also called for greater investment in the nation’s science and technology infrastructure — in the basic research that powers innovation.
The whole speech is worth reading. It’s great. I only wish that it could have been heard by members of the Senate who are still debating whether science funding — including a $1.4 billion increase for NSF — ought to be included in the Senate version of the stimulus package.
Basic research is the most powerful engine for innovation in the U.S. economy. Allowing it fall out of a stimulus bill designed to jumpstart our short and long-term economic recovery is just shortsightedness of the worst kind.
Update: (2/7/09) — Maybe the Senate was listening.
URGENT: Contact Congress to Keep Science in the Stimulus
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery /by MelissaNorrThe need for all science researchers to respond to CRAs call to contact Congress regarding the stimulus has become even more urgent today. The New York Times is reporting that Senators Ben Nelson (NE) and Susan Collins (ME) are seeking to cut the stimulus by $200 billion, and $1 billion for NSF is apparently on the hit list (though it’s not clear if that comes from Collins and Nelson or other sources). The full story is here but action is needed immediately on the part of the research community. CRAs call to action tells you how to help.
Update: (2/7/09) — Thanks to all who weighed in! The majority of the NSF increase in the bill has been preserved.
Good Comparison of R&D Funding in Stimulus
/In: Economic Stimulus and Recovery /by Peter HarshaThe folks at the Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America (ASTRA) have done a fantastic job ferreting out every federal research-related account in either the House or Senate version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and comparing the funding levels between the two bills. The comparison shows that, overall, the House version has more generous numbers, especially in some accounts important to the computing community at NSF and DOE Science (though both versions contain $100 million increase to Advanced Scientific Computing Research in DOE Sc). Check out the chart and explanatory notes here.
Kei Koizumi of AAAS has another good comparison here.
Both make it clear that there are real differences of opinion in the two chambers on how science should be supported in the stimulus. That’s why it’s important to weigh in with your Members of Congress to make sure science remains a priority in the bill!