Internet2 has announced that Jim Bottum, chief information officer and vice provost for computing and information technology at Clemson University, is its Inaugural Presidential Fellow.

"With Jim's long history of involvement in high-performance computing, higher educationand governmental agencies, he is a natural fit to work with Internet2 in building stronger relationships among members of these communities as they all move into the next generation of innovative technologies," said Internet2 President and CEO H. David Lambert. "I am very excited for our community to draw further upon Jim’s experience and relationships."

While still remaining as Clemson’s CIO, Bottum will devote a portion of his time to working with Internet2’s executive leadership team on the adoption of the Internet2 Innovation Platform, development of new technologies and outreach to the research community, including university administrators, CIOs, regional networks, government agencies, the GENI Project Office and national laboratories. He also will help obtain grants for the support and development of programs aligned with Internet2’s strategic principles as directed by the community.

"I am honored to be Internet2’s Inaugural Presidential Fellow," said Bottum. "The overall direction that Internet2 is taking is very exciting and really speaks to the changing needs of our community. I look forward to working with Internet2 on these initiatives and bringing key members of each community to the forefront and in a common collaborative space to advance our collective missions in tackling common challenges."

Named one of ComputerWorld’s Premiere 100 IT Leaders in 2007, Bottum is dedicated to facilitating partnerships and collaboration between education, research, industry and governmental agencies. Under his leadership, Clemson University has become a force in high-performance computing. Clemson’s Palmetto high-performance computing cluster has appeared as high as No. 60 in the world’s Top 500 Computing sites (top500.org) and No. 2 among public academic institutions.

Bottum has led the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure and NSF’s Advisory Committee for the Government Performance and Results Act, and has served on the Internet2 board of trustees from May 2008 to June 2012. He has advised more than 30 major universities on strategy for coupling IT operations and research. He frequently is an invited presenter at national conferences.

Prior to Clemson, Bottum served as Purdue University’s chief information officer and was executive director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.