Contact: Bob Ratliff
A Mississippi State University professor was among five recognized authorities invited to Congress earlier this week for discussions on the future of high-performance computing and information technology.
Joe Thompson, Giles Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering, appeared Tuesday before the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Basic Research. Mississippi congressman Chip Pickering chairs the subcommittee.
Thompson's presentation focused on the need for increased research to develop software support for the rapidly increasing demand on the Internet. He represented the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, of which he is one of 26 members.
"The Internet was not designed for the purposes it now serves," he said, adding that continued growth of commerce on the Internet is dependent on long-term investment in information technology.
The MSU professor argued that providing the nation's universities with the high bandwidth Internet connections and other resources necessary for information technology research are necessary if the U.S. is to remain the world leader in high-performance computing for commerce, defense and other uses.
"High bandwidth connectivity of universities, regardless of geographical location, is absolutely critical to this national research effort in information technology," he said. Both Canada and Japan recently announced such efforts, with Japan stating its intention to surpass the U.S. in information technology development, he added.
Thompson also cited the need for increased funding for graduate student assistantships in order to attract more American students to information technology.
"Today's students, especially women, are more likely to go into life sciences than information technology areas," he said. "But Ph.D. output in life sciences has passed demand, while demand in information technology continues to exceed output of graduate programs."
Thompson helped establish at MSU the internationally recognized National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in Computational Field Simulation.