ACADEMIA
University of Michigan Internet Pioneer to Receive Paul Evan Peters Award
A University of Michigan professor whose work has made it easier for scientists to collaborate online across the globe has been named the 2008 recipient of the distinguished Paul Evan Peters Award. Daniel E. Atkins, a professor in the School of Information and in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the inaugural Director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation (NSF), received the biannual award from the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and EDUCAUSE. The award recognizes notable, lasting achievements in the creation and innovative use of information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity through communication networks. 
Atkins research has focused on distributed knowledge communities and open learning resources. He has directed several large experimental digital library projects as well as projects to explore the socio-technical design and application of "collaboratories," or virtual laboratories, for scientific research. His work in this area led the National Science Foundation (NSF) to ask him in 2003 to chair an NSF Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure. That panel issued the highly influential report Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through Cyberinfrastructure, now referred to as "The Atkins Report," which catalyzed new priorities and led to the establishment of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) at NSF. In June 2006, Atkins joined NSF, on leave from the University of Michigan, to lead the cyberinfrastructure effort. Under his direction, the OCI supports the resources, tools, and services essential to the conduct of 21st-century science and engineering research and education. These include supercomputers, information management systems, high-capacity networks, digitally enabled observatories and scientific instruments, and software and tools for computation, visualization, and collaboration. Atkins joins a short but distinguished list of previous winners: Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the World Wide Web; Vinton Cerf, creator of the TCP/IP protocol on which the Internet runs; Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive (a.k.a., the Wayback Machine); and Paul Ginsparg, founder of the huge arxiv.org pre-print archive. From 1992 to 1998, Atkins served as the founding dean of the University of Michigan's School of Information, the first school of its kind in the nation. This professional graduate school, which "embraces a vision that harmonizes people, information systems, and organizations to improve the quality of life," was instrumental in shaping the concept of iSchools nationally. Atkins also served as Associate Dean for Research at the University of Michigan College of Engineering, where he presided over the formation of one of the first and most effective distributed computing environments in higher education. Named for CNI's founding director, the award will be presented during the CNI Membership Meeting in Minneapolis to be held April 7-8, 2008, where Atkins will deliver the Paul Evan Peters Memorial Lecture. For more information about the award, visit www.educause.edu/PaulEvanPetersAward/852 .
Atkins research has focused on distributed knowledge communities and open learning resources. He has directed several large experimental digital library projects as well as projects to explore the socio-technical design and application of "collaboratories," or virtual laboratories, for scientific research. His work in this area led the National Science Foundation (NSF) to ask him in 2003 to chair an NSF Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure. That panel issued the highly influential report Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through Cyberinfrastructure, now referred to as "The Atkins Report," which catalyzed new priorities and led to the establishment of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) at NSF. In June 2006, Atkins joined NSF, on leave from the University of Michigan, to lead the cyberinfrastructure effort. Under his direction, the OCI supports the resources, tools, and services essential to the conduct of 21st-century science and engineering research and education. These include supercomputers, information management systems, high-capacity networks, digitally enabled observatories and scientific instruments, and software and tools for computation, visualization, and collaboration. Atkins joins a short but distinguished list of previous winners: Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the World Wide Web; Vinton Cerf, creator of the TCP/IP protocol on which the Internet runs; Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive (a.k.a., the Wayback Machine); and Paul Ginsparg, founder of the huge arxiv.org pre-print archive. From 1992 to 1998, Atkins served as the founding dean of the University of Michigan's School of Information, the first school of its kind in the nation. This professional graduate school, which "embraces a vision that harmonizes people, information systems, and organizations to improve the quality of life," was instrumental in shaping the concept of iSchools nationally. Atkins also served as Associate Dean for Research at the University of Michigan College of Engineering, where he presided over the formation of one of the first and most effective distributed computing environments in higher education. Named for CNI's founding director, the award will be presented during the CNI Membership Meeting in Minneapolis to be held April 7-8, 2008, where Atkins will deliver the Paul Evan Peters Memorial Lecture. For more information about the award, visit www.educause.edu/PaulEvanPetersAward/852 .