Cantwell Highlights Promise of High-Performance Computing

Cantwell Highlights Promise of High-Performance Computing

Senator says new legislation to promote advancements in super computing must reflect changing technology and needs

Wednesday, July 19,2006

WASHINGTON, DC - Wednesday, during a Commerce Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said the U.S. must continue to lead the way in advancing high-performance computing. She also stressed the importance of applying this technology to cutting-edge scientific and engineering challenges to ensure that the U.S. remains the global leader in innovation.

"Today, researchers at universities, labs, and companies use super computers to make the advancements that will help us lead the way in innovation for years to come," said Cantwell. "Boeing uses high performance computers to design revolutionary aircraft like the 787. Microsoft is working to make high-performance computing technology more mainstream. The University of Washington, with one of the top Computer Science departments in the nation, continues to conduct cutting-edge research in this field. We need to do our part at the federal level as well to make sure this important research and development continues. I will keep working to provide the incentives and support needed to allow American ingenuity and innovation to lead our economy forward."

At the hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Innovation, and Competitiveness, Cantwell was joined by Michael Garrett, the Director of Airplane Performance at Boeing Commercial Aircraft, and Christopher Jehn, Vice President of Government Programs at Cray, Inc., to discuss the importance of high-performance computing as a means to promote U.S. competitiveness as the Senate prepares to develop legislation updating the current laws governing federal involvement in this area.

In April 2005, the House passed the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act, which Cantwell has called a good framework to start with. Wednesday's hearing was an important step in the process of creating companion Senate legislation to address America's high-performance computing needs.

Each of the witnesses at Wednesday's hearing discussed how high performance computing affects their work. Dr. Simon Szykman from the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development discussed federal support for high performance computing research. Dr. Joseph Lombardo from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, discussed the contributions of the nation's supercomputing centers to research and development. Jack Waters from Level 3 Communications, Inc., discussed the company's role in developing and deploying a new nationwide network for research users. Dr. Stan Burt, Director of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Center discussed the biomedical applications of supercomputing. Mike Garrett from Boeing discussed Boeing's use of high performance computing in developing the 787 Dreamliner.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=258911&&days=30&