2004 Turing Award to Cerf, Kahn

On February 16, 2005, In People, By Peter Harsha

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) — a CRA-affiliated organization — has named Vint Cerf and CRA Board Member Bob Kahn the winners of the 2004 A.M. Turing Award for pioneering work on the design and implementation of the Internet’s basic communications protocols.

ACM President David Patterson said the collaboration of Cerf and Kahn in defining the Internet architecture and its associated protocols represents a cornerstone of the information technology field. “Their work has enabled the many rapid and accessible applications on the Internet that we rely on today, including email, the World Wide Web, Instant Messaging, Peer-to-Peer transfers, and a wide range of collaboration and conferencing tools. These developments have helped make IT a critical component across the industrial world,” he said.
“The Turing Award is widely acknowledged as our industry’s highest recognition of the scientists and engineers whose innovations have fueled the digital revolution,” said Intel’s David Tennenhouse, Vice President in the Corporate Technology Group and Director of Research. “This award also serves to encourage the next generation of technology pioneers to deliver the ideas and inventions that will continue to drive our industry forward. As part of its long-standing support for innovation and incubation, Intel is proud to sponsor this year’s Turing Award. As a fellow DARPA alumnus, I am especially pleased to congratulate this year’s winners, who are outstanding role models, mentors and research collaborators to myself and many others within the network research community.”

Here’s ACM’s press release.
More news coverage at the New York Times.

 
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Busy Day: Hearing and Press Conference

On February 16, 2005, In Policy, By Peter Harsha

Lots going on today. The House Science Committee will hold the first of its hearings on the FY 2006 Science Budget today at 11 am. Scheduled to appear are:

  • John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

  • Samuel Bodman, Secretary of Energy;
  • Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation;
  • Charles McQueary, Undersecretary for Science and Technology, Department of Homeland Security; and
  • Theodore Kassinger, Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

    • It’s always a little depressing to listen to directors of the science agencies forced to defend the lean budgets they’ve been saddled with, but for those who want to watch, the hearing will be webcast starting at 11 am today. Here’s the hearing charter (pdf).
    Also happening today is a press conference hosted by the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation — a coalition of industry and academic groups advocating for support of the physical sciences and engineering. The Task Force is releasing a series of benchmarks for measuring U.S. global competitiveness in research and innovation. Scheduled to appear at the press conference today at 1 pm are:

  • John Engler, President, National Association of Manufacturers

  • Craig Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Intel
  • Nils Hasselmo, President, Association of American Universities
  • Deborah Wince-Smith, President, Council on Competitiveness
  • Burton Richter, Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences and former Director, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University
  • Diana Hicks, Chair, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology.

    • All will make the case for strengthening federal investments in science and engineering research, emphasizing the impact of those investments on long-term economic growth and prosperity.
    The strength of this particular coalition, as can be seen above, is the strong participation of the high-tech companies and industry associations — who have some influence in the current administration — along with the academic groups (CRA is a member of the task force).
    I’ll have more coverage of the benchmarks, as well as some other comments after the event this afternoon.
    Update: (2/16 6:30pm EST) – The Task Force press conference was remarkably well-attended — the 70-person capacity room was filled, with people lining the walls. It appears a good number of attendees were actually press, too. I’ll be posting links to coverage of the event here as I come across them.
    For now, here is the official Benchmarks report (pdf). And the accompanying press release (pdf).
    Reuters is already out with the story.

     
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    NY Times Applauds Improvements to Student Visa Process

    On February 16, 2005, In Policy, By Peter Harsha

    Just a quick note to point out an editorial in today’s New York Times commending the State Department for finally “bringing some sanity” to the student visa issue. CRA has been urging this sort of reform since it became clear shortly after 9/11 that it was having a real impact on our member institutions. Thanks should go to AAAS, AAU and the National Academies — some of the real heavyweight academic associations — for moving the issue forward.

     
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