[CAnet - news] Gathering momentum for GENI and Cyber-infrastructure?

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[Here is an interesting article by NY Times about the lobbying by republican
executives for Bush's new budget to include more money for science.  One of
the more significant persons lobbying for such a strategy is John Chambers
of Cisco.  Cisco also happens to be a major force behind the GENI
initiative.  Intel is also major supporter of PlanetLab - the precursor to
GENI. Peter Freeman, heads up the CISE program which has responsibility for
GENI and formerly also led the cyber-infrastructure initiative within NSF.
This would be a significant step forward for next generation Internet, if
the US once again, can invest serious dollars into this type of research.
Some excerpts from the NY Times article ---BSA]



<http://www.nytimes.com/>
February 2, 2006


  Behind Bush's New Stress on Science, Lobbying by Republican Executives

By JOHN MARKOFF 
<http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=JOHN%20MARKOFF&fdq=19960
101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=JOHN%20MARKOFF&inline=nyt-per>

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1 - President Bush's proposal to accelerate spending 
on basic scientific research came after technology industry executives 
made the case for such a move in a series of meetings with White House 
officials, executives involved said Wednesday.

In his State of the Union message Tuesday evening, Mr. Bush called for a 
doubling within 10 years of the federal commitment to "the most critical 
basic research programs in the physical sciences."

Computer scientists have expressed alarm that federal support for basic 
research is being eroded by shifts toward applied research and 
shorter-term financing. But in his speech, Mr. Bush pointed to work in 
supercomputing, nanotechnology and alternative energy sources - subjects 
that were favorites in the Clinton administration but had not been 
priorities for the current White House.

What was different this year, according to a number of Capitol Hill 
lobbyists and Silicon Valley executives, was support on the issue by 
Republican corporate executives like Craig R. Barrett, the chairman of 
Intel and John Chambers, the chief executive of Cisco Systems. 

Industry officials eager to see a greater government commitment to 
research held a series of discussions with administration officials late 
last year that culminated in two meetings in the Old Executive Office 
Building on Dec. 13.

The industry and science leaders told the officials that the 
administration needed to respond to concerns laid out in a report by a 
National Academy of Sciences panel headed by Mr. Augustine. It warned of 
a rapid erosion in science, technology and education that threatened 
American economic competitiveness.

The report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing 
America for a Brighter Economic Future," has been circulating in draft 
form since October. It was put together by a group of top technology and 
science leaders, who say the country faces a crisis that the Bush 
administration is ignoring.

The executives said that the administration had also been induced to 
respond by a growing bipartisan movement in Congress supporting basic 
research and education.

Now the technologists and the educators are waiting to see the specifics 
of the financing when the president's budget is introduced next week. 

Peter A. Freeman, the National Science Foundation's assistant director 
for computer and information science and engineering, said the 
president's initiative would make a big difference.

"We're obviously not at liberty to say what will be in the president's 
budget next week," Mr. Freeman said, "but we're very hopeful based on 
the State of the Union address. This is a strong sign that this 
administration will continue to be very supportive of fundamental 
science and engineering."

Despite there being little detail yet with precise figures, even those 
who had been publicly critical of the administration were enthusiastic.



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