Budget Cuts at NSF May Signal a Crisis in Computing
More disturbing news. Yes, what a surprise that wars in two fronts and a large deficit are causing cuts to federally funded projects throughout the map. Yet funding for military projects abounds...
From Chronicle of Higher Education (05/20/05) Vol. 51, No. 37, P. A1; Kiernan, Vincent
The National Science Foundation's decision to withdraw funding for its three supercomputer centers is breeding uncertainty about the future of academic supercomputing in the United States. NSF supercomputers are critical to academic efforts because other federal supercomputing resources--though more powerful than NSF and university machines--are generally inaccessible to academics. The National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development reports the foundation has requested a $307 million supercomputing budget for fiscal 2006, but this is paltry compared to the $1 billion-plus "cyberinfrastructure" budget recommended by an NSF advisory panel two years ago. The foundation elected to allow the five-year contracts for the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to expire. The agency has supplied additional money to sustain the operation of the first two facilities for three more years, and intends to invite new bids for their operation to researchers; but there is no assurance that any of the centers will get a contract, nor is any money being budgeted for new computer purchases. Researchers warn that the centers' host institutions stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in outside investment if the facilities are transferred, and Russ Miller with the State University of New York at Buffalo says the funding uncertainty adversely affects employee morale. NSF officials argue that competition helps guarantee the facilities fulfill scholars' requirements and are a good investment of taxpayers' money, while the foundation's Sangtae Kim is confident the centers can survive on grants from the NSF and other agencies.