ACADEMIA

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Daniel A. Reed, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), is among the 25 information technology experts President George W. Bush intends to appoint as members of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), according to a White House announcement made last week. The members of PITAC provide the president with expert, independent advice on maintaining America's preeminence in advanced information technologies, including such key elements of the national IT infrastructure as high-performance computing, large-scale networking, and high-assurance software and systems design. Reed said he was honored to be named to the committee and looks forward to helping the country meet the challenges and opportunities of IT advancement. Reed is already deeply involved in critical national IT initiatives as principal investigator with the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid project, an effort to build and deploy the world's largest, most comprehensive computing infrastructure for open scientific research. He also serves as chair of the policy board of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), as a member of the board of directors of the Computing Research Association and as director of the National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance), a nationwide effort to prototype the 21st century's information infrastructure. Reed headed the computer science department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1996 to 2001. He is a recipient of the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professorship by the University of Illinois in recognition of his distinguished service as a university faculty member. "Being part of PITAC is a chance to help our country realize even larger dreams," Reed said. "The creation of new technologies drives new discoveries and helps us find solutions that make our country more productive, safer and healthier. The men and woman who are part of PITAC are part of that process by providing the president with their expertise and advice on emerging technologies and related issues." "I applaud the president's choice of Dan Reed as a member of PITAC," said U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-IL. "Dan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the committee as well as a critical understanding of the needs and concerns of the Illinois technology business and research sector. He is exactly the kind of person we need to address these critical issues." PITAC will be co-chaired by Ed Lazowska, from the computer science department at the University of Washington, and Marc Benioff of California, the chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com. The other individuals to be appointed for two-year terms as PITAC members are: • Ruzena Bajcsy, California, University of California • J. Carter Beese, Maryland, chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies • Pedro Celis, Washington, Microsoft software architect • Bernard Daines, Washington, Linux Networx board chairman • Patricia Evans, Virginia, interpersonal communications consultant • Manuel Fernandez, Florida, co-founder of venture capital firm SI Ventures • Luis Fiallo, Virginia, vice president of business solutions at Teleglobe • Jose Marie Griffiths, Pennsylvania, director of Library and Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh • William J. Hannigan, Texas, chairman and CEO, Sabre, Inc. • Jonathan Javitt, Maryland, specialist in health informatics at Potomac Institute for Policy Studies • Judith Klavans, New York, director, Center for Research on Information Access at Columbia University • F. Thomson Leighton, Massachusetts, MIT professor of applied mathematics; chief scientist of Akamai • Harold Mortazavian, California, professor at UCLA • Randall Mott, Texas, senior vice president and CIO of Dell • Peter Neupert, Washington, president and CEO of drugstore.com • Eli Noam, New York, professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School • David Patterson, California, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley • Alice Quintanilla, New Mexico, president of Digital Migration • Eugene Spafford, Indiana, professor of computer science at Purdue University • David Staelin, Massachusetts, MIT • Peter Tippett, Virginia, CTO of TruSecure • Geoffrey Yang, California, venture capitalist More information on PITAC is available at http://www.ccic.gov/ac/index.html.