Reed's Ruminations: A Blog by Dan Reed

RENCI Expansion and Innovation

Today, UNC Chapel Hill announced my new appointment as the chancellor's senior advisor for strategy and innovation. In this new role, I will help the Carolina campus develop multidisciplinary research initiatives and oversee an expansion of RENCI.Today, UNC Chapel Hill announced my new appointment as the chancellor's senior advisor for strategy and innovation. In this new role, I will help the Carolina campus develop multidisciplinary research initiatives and oversee an expansion of RENCI.

High-Performance Computing R&D

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a voice vote, the High-Performance Computing R&D Act of 2007. The bill (see the press release) amends the original 1991 High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) act. Co-sponsored by Brian Baird (D-WA) and Judy Biggert (R-IL), it updates several key provisions of the now fifteen year old legislation. Not surprisingly, given how fast technology changes, some of the provisions in the original authorization are now dated. Moreover, agency and interagency collaboration experiences have exposed the need for some process changes.

Second Life: The Future Is Here

On March 16, I gave a talk on the future of technology and the 3-D net. The talk was given in Second Life, the distributed virtual world, The talk was organized by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and hosted by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine), the Director of Member and Technology Resources for the NMC). My sincere thanks go out to Alan and to Kathy Kyzer from Carolina’s Information Technology Services (ITS) for making the process both simple and fun.

Knives, Forks and Pizza, Oh My!

Last week I was at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to participate in the policy board meeting for the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). With a plane change in Dallas at DFW, it's about seven hours from Raleigh-Durham (RDU) to Oakland (OAK).

Ken Kennedy

Today we lost one of computing's giants, Ken Kennedy. Ken waged a valiant fight against cancer, with courage, grace and good humor. My heart goes out to Ken's wife Carol, who was the love of his life. Today we lost one of computing's giants, Ken Kennedy. Ken waged a valiant fight against cancer, with courage, grace and good humor. My heart goes out to Ken's wife Carol, who was the love of his life.

American Competitiveness and Science Education

Two weeks ago, I was in Bangkok to visit the Kenan Institute Asia and meet Thai political, economic and scientific leaders. Tom Friedman may be right that The World Is Flat, but it’s still πR kilometers to the other side – a long way, no matter how many movies you watch or gin and tonics you drink. Levity aside, each time I am in Asia, I am reminded in so many ways of the accelerating pace of change and the increasingly precarious competitive position of the United States.