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OCR for page 1
Executive Summary
As an academic discipline, computer science and engineering (CS&E)
has been remarkably successful in its first decades of existence. But
both the intellectual focus of academic CS&E and the environment in
which the field is embedded are today in the midst of significant
change. Accordingly, a proactive look forward will better prepare
the field to evolve into the 21st century. The Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board's Committee to Assess the Scope and Di-
rection of Computer Science and Technology was asked to take such
a look, examining how best to organize the conduct of research and
teaching in CS&E for the future.
THE BACKDROP
Computers and computing are ubiquitous in modern society. In
nearly every part of modern life, the hardware and software of com-
puter technology enable the delivery of services and products of higher
quality to more people in less time than would otherwise be possible.
Indeed, computing and increasingly powerful computers are the driving
force behind the movement of society into the information age, af-
fecting transportation, finance, health care, and most other aspects of
modern life; computing technology and related services account for
about 5 percent of the gross national product.
1
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2
COMPUTING THE FUTURE
What has led to the unprecedented expansion of computational
power? The contributions of those who have made successive gener-
ations of electronic components smaller, faster, lighter, and cheaper
are undeniable. But the organization of these components into useful
computer hardware (e.g., processors, storage devices, displays) and
the ability to write the software required to exploit this hardware are
primarily the fruits of CS&E. Further advances in computer power
and usability will also depend in large part on pushing back the
frontiers of CS&E and will be motivated by a myriad of applications
that can take advantage of these advances.
CS&E research, in which the academic CS&E community has played
a major role, has made enormous contributions to computing prac-
tice, and insights derived from such research inform the approach of
programmers and machine designers at all levels, from those design-
ing a still-faster supercomputer to those programming a small per-
sonal computer. Techniques and architectural themes developed or
codified by CS&E are familiar to every developer of software and
hardware, concepts like programming languages, compilers, relational
databases, reduced-instruction-set computing, and so on. Moreover,
as the complexity of computing has grown, so also has the need for
well-understood concepts and theories with which to manage this
complexity. Indeed, entirely new CS&E research problems and op-
portunities today are created by rapid technological advances in com-
puting. Whereas intuitively grounded insight was often sufficient to
lead to substantial progress in the earliest days of the field, a system-
atic approach has become increasingly important. Thus the impor-
tance of CS&E research to computing practice can only be expected
to increase in the future.
Federal support for CS&E research has been critical. From its
initial support of CS&E research for strictly military purposes, the
federal government now invests considerable amounts ($680 million
in FY 1991) in basic and applied CS&E research for both military and
civilian purposes; about 46 percent of this $680 million went to aca-
demic research. Such support is a strong indication that the federal
government recognizes the importance of CS&E research to the mis
signs of many government agencies as well as to the welfare of the
nation. However, growth in funding, substantial though it has been
in recent years, has not kept pace with the growing need for a science
base to create, control, and exploit the potential of ever more power-
ful computer systems. Nor has funding kept pace with the growth
in the number of academic CS&E researchers; in the academic com
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3
munity, the ratio of funding per researcher has dropped by over
20 percent since 1985. Such trends have led to substantial concern
within this community that resources are inadequate to support a
research agenda vigorous enough to exploit advances and address
problems as they arise.
Decreasing per capita amounts of federal research funding are
only one aspect of a new environment for academic CS&E. Assump-
tions of the 1940s and 1950s regarding the positive social utility of
basic research (i.e., research without foreseeable application) are be-
ing questioned increasingly by the federal government, and justifica-
tions for research may well in the future require concrete demonstra-
tions of positive benefit to the nation. An illustration of this possible
trend is that the High Performance Computing and Communications
Program, a program initiated in FY 1992, calls for CS&E research
specifically in the context of solving "fundamental problems in sci-
ence and engineering, with potentially broad economic, political, and/
or scientific impact, that could be advanced by applying high perfor-
mance computing resources.")
In addition, another major influence on academic CS&E, the com-
puter industry, is undergoing massive change as it shifts from sales
based on large mainframe computers affordable by only a few insti-
tutions to "computers for the masses," i.e., smaller computer systems
that are increasingly portable and interconnectable to each other or
to information service providers, and most probably embodying new
computing styles such as pen-based computing. Such a trend will
increase the importance, already considerable, of being able to intro-
duce new products on a much shorter time scale. At the same time,
customers are demanding greater degrees of functionality from their
computer systems. New computing technology will have to be fitted
to customer needs much more precisely, thus placing a premium on
knowledge of the customer's application. New applications of com-
puting will also lead to new CS&E research problems.
Finally, computing has resulted in costs to society as well as ben-
efits. Amidst growing concern in some sectors of society with re-
spect to issues such as unemployment, invasions of privacy, and reli-
ance on fallible computer systems, the computer is no longer seen as
an unalloyed positive force in society.
These changes in the environment for academic CS&E mark a
critical juncture for the discipline. It is rapidly becoming clear that,
although academic CS&E has enjoyed remarkable success in the last
several decades, the ways of the past will riot necessarily lead to
success in the future.
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4
COMPUTING THE FUTURE
JUDGMENTS AND PRIORITIES
In considering appropriate responses of CS&E for the future, the
committee examined the current state of the field and made several
important judgments that guided its work.
The first and foremost judgment was that CS&E is coming of age.
Although as an organized and independent intellectual discipline the
field is less than 30 years old, it has established a unique paradigm of
scientific inquiry that is applicable to a wide variety of problems.
Indeed, the committee believes that this history arid resulting strength
should enable academic CS&E to recognize that intellectually sub-
stantive and challenging CS&E problems can and do arise in the con-
text of problem domains outside CS&E per se. CS&E research can be
framed within the discipliners own intellectual traditions but also irk
a manner that is directly applicable to other problem domains, as
illustrated in Table ES.1. CS&E can thus be err engine of progress
TABLE ES.1 Importance of Core Subfields of CS&E to Selected
Applications
Application
Global Change Computational Commercial Electronic
Research Biology Computing Library
Multiple processors Very Central Important Very
important important
Data communications Central Important Central Central
and networking
Software engineering Important Nlery Central Important
Important
Information storage Central Very fiery Central
and management important important
Reliability Very Important Very Important
important important
User interfaces Very Very Central Central
important important
NOTE: The core subfields listed above constitute a future research agenda for CS&E.
As significantly, they are important to, and can derive inspiration and challenging
problems from, these selected application domains. The core subfields correspond to
areas in which major qualitative and quantitative changes of scale are expected. These
areas are processor capabilities and multiple-processor systems, available bandwidth
and connectivity for data communications and networking, program size and com-
plexity, management of large volumes of data of diverse types and from diverse sources,
and the number of people using computers and networks. Understanding and manag-
ing these changes of scale will pose many fundamental problems in CS&E, and using
these changes of scale properly will result in more powerful computer systems that
will have profound effects on all areas of human endeavor.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
5
and conceptual change in other problem domains, even as these do-
mains contribute to the identification of new areas of inquiry within
CS&E.
Second, the strong connections between CS&E research and com-
puting practice led the committee to conclude that at least within
CS&E, the traditional separation of basic research, applied research,
and development is dubious. Given the way research in CS&E is
practiced, -distinctions between basic and applied research are espe-
cially artificial, since both call for the exercise of the same scientific
and engineering judgment, creativity, skill, and talent.
Finally, the committee concluded that the growing ubiquity of
computing within society places a premium on the largest possible
diffusion of CS&E expertise to all endeavors in society whose com-
puting applications stress the existing state of the art. However, the
primary vehicle for such diffusion-undergraduate CS&E programs
is highly variable in content and quality, largely due to rapid ad-
vancements in the field. It is imperative that undergraduate CS&E
education reflect the best knowledge and insight that the field has to
offer if computing is to reach its full potential within society.
These judgments led to the committee's formulation of a set of
corresponding overall priorities.
· The first priority is to sustain the core effort in CS&E, i.e.,
the effort that creates the theoretical and experimental science base
on which computing applications build. This core effort has been
deep, rich, and intellectually productive and has been indispensable
for its impact on practice in the last couple of decades.
· The second priority is to broaden the field. Given the many
intellectual opportunities available at the intersection of CS&E and
other problem domains and a solid and Rigorous core effort in CS&E,
the committee believes that academic CS&E is well positioned to broad-
en its self-concept. Such broadening will also result in new insights
with wide applicability, thereby enriching the core. Furthermore,
given the pressing economic and social needs of the nation and the
changing environment for industry and academia, the committee be-
liexres that academic CS&E must broaden its self-concept or risk be-
coming increasingly irrelevant to computing practice.
· The third priority is to improve undergraduate education in
CS&E. The quality of undergraduate CS&E education is inextricably
tied to the state of computing practice in all sectors of society. More-
over, better undergraduate education is necessary for better research,
since it is necessary for transmitting recently developed core knowl-
edge to the next generation and for providing the intellectual basis in
CS&E for individuals pursuing a broader research agenda.
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6
COMPUTING THE FUTURE
RECOMMENDATIONS (A SUMMARY)
In the interests of brevity, this summary of recommendations omits
many substantive details. Readers are urged to read the full text of
the recommendations in Chapter 5.
To Federal Policy Makers Regarding Research
Recommendation 1. The High Performance Computing and Com-
munications (HPCC) Program should be fully supported through-
out the planned fire-year program.
The HPCC Program is of utmost importance for three reasons.
The first is that high-performance computing and communication
are essential to the nation's future economic strength and competi-
tiveness, especially in light of the growing need and demand for ever
more advanced computing tools in all sectors of society. The second
reason is that the program is framed in the context of scientific and
engineering grand challenges. Thus the program is a strong signal to
the CS&E community that good CS&E research can flourish in an
applications context and that the demand for interdisciplinary and
applications-oriented CS&E research is on the rise. Arid finally, a
fully funded HPCC Program will have a major impact on relieving
the funding stress affecting the academic CS&E community. Consis-
tent with Priority 1, the committee believes that the basic research
and human resources component of the HPCC program is critical,
because it is the component most likely to support the research that
will allow us to exploit anticipated technologies as well as those yet
to be discovered through such research.
The committee is concerned about the future of the HPCC Pro-
gram after FY 1996 (the outer limit on current plans). If the effort is
not sustained after FY 1996 at a level much closer to its planned FY
1996 level than to its FY 1991 level of $489 million, efforts to exploit
fully the advances made in the preceding five years will almost cer-
tainly be crippled. In view of the long lead times needed for the
administration's planning of major initiatives, the committee recom-
mends that funding necessary for exploitation of recently performed
research and the investigation of new research topics be fully as-
sessed sometime during FY 1994 with an eye toward a follow-on
HPCC Program.
Recommendation 2. The federal government should initiate an
effort to support interdisciplinary and applications-oriented CS&E
research in academia that is related to the missions of the mission
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
oriented federal agencies and departments that are not now major
participants in the HPCC Program. Collectively, this effort would
cost an additional $100 million per fiscal year in steady state above
amounts currently planned.
Many federal agencies are not currently participating in the HPCC
Program, despite the utility of computing to their missions, and they
should be brought into the program. Those agencies that support
substantial research efforts, though not in CS&E, should support in-
terdisciplinary CS&E research, i.e., CS&E research undertaken jointly
with research in other fields. Problems in these other fields often
include an important computational component whose effectiveness
could be enhanced substantially by the active involvement of researchers
working at the cutting edge of CS&E.
Those agencies that do not now support substantial research efforts
of any kind, i.e., operationally oriented agencies, should consider
supporting applications-oriented CS&E research because of the po-
tential that the efficiency of their operations would be substantially
improved by some research advance that could deliver a better tech-
nology for their purposes. Such research could also have consider-
able "spin-off" benefit to the private sector as well.
To Universities Regarding Research
Recommendation 3. Academic CS&E should broaden its research
horizons, embracing as legitimate and cogent not just research in
core areas (where it has been and continues to be strong) but also
research in problem domains that derive from nonroutine comput-
er applications in other fields and areas or from technology-trans-
[er activities. The academic CS&E community should regard as schol-
arship any activity that results in significant new knowledge and
demonstrable intellectual achievement, without regard for whether
that activity is related to a particular application or whether it falls
into the traditional categories of basic research, applied research, or
development. Chapter 5 describes appropriate actions to implement
this recommendation.
Recommendation 4. Universities should support CS&E as a labo-
ratory discipline (i.e., one with both theoretical and experimental
components). CS&E departments need adequate research and teach-
ing laboratory space; staff support (e.g., technicians, programmers,
staff scientists); funding for hardware and software acquisition, main-
tenance, and upgrade (especially important on systems that retain
OCR for page 8
8
COMPUTING THE FUTURE
their cutting edge for just a few years); and network connections.
New faculty should be capitalized at levels comparable to those in
other science or engineering disciplines.
To Federal Policy Makers Regarding Education
Recommendation 5. The basic research and human resources com-
ponent of the High Performance Computing and Communications
Program should be expanded to address educational needs of cer-
tain faculty. The program described in Chapter 5 to address these
needs is estimated to cost DO million over a four-year period.
Of particular concern are two groups: CS&E faculty who are not
themselves involved in CS&E research and researchers from other
scientific and engineering disciplines that depend on computation.
Many of these individuals received their education in computing many
years ago and are unfamiliar with new paradigms in CS&E devel-
oped over the last decade or so. They would benefit from exposure to
these paradigms, and such exposure could well have a major impact
on the quality of undergraduate CS&E education in the United States,
as well as on the nation's ability to use computing in support of other
. . .
science ant ~ englneerlng.
The committee believes that senior academic CS&E researchers
have an obligation to participate actively in providing such continu-
ing education efforts. Mechanisms to encourage their attention to
these matters need to be developed; one example is that research
funding could be used to some extent to encourage participation in
these efforts.
To Universities Regarding Education
Recommendation 6. So that their educational programs will re-
flect a broader concept of the field, CS&E departments should take
the following actions: (a) Require Ph.D. students either to take a
graduate minor in a non-CS&E field or to enter the Ph.D. program
with an undergraduate degree in a non-CS&E field, (b) encourage
Ph.D. students in CS&E to perform dissertation research in nontradi-
tional areas, (c) offer undergraduate students not majoring in CS&E a
wide range of CS&E courses and programs, and (d) provide mecha-
nisms to recognize and reward faculty for developing innovative and
challenging new curricula that keep up with technological change
and make substantive contact with applications in other domains.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
9
Recommendation 7. The academic CS&E community must reach
out to women and to minorities that are underrepresented in the
field (particularly as incoming undergraduates) to broaden and en-
rich the talent pool. Such outreach is necessary if CS&E is to fulfill
the potential for inclusion of such groups that might be expected
given the youth of the field.
CONCLUSIONS
Since the invention of the electronic stored-program digital com-
puter less than 50 years ago, CS&E has blossomed into a new intel-
lectual discipline with broad principles and substantial technical depth.
By embracing the computing challenges that arise in many specific
problem domains, computer scientists and engineers can build ore
this legacy, guiding and shaping the course of the information revo-
lution. This expansive view of CS&E will require a commensurately
broader educational agenda for academic CS&E, as well as under-
graduate education of higher quality. Adequate funding from the
federal government and greater interactions between academia and
industry and commerce will help immeasurably to promote the broad-
ening and strengthening of the discipline. If the major thrusts of this
report sustaining the CS&E core at currently planned levels, broad-
ening the CS&E discipline, and upgrading undergraduate CS&E edu-
cation to reflect the best of current knowledge-are widely accepted
in the CS&E community, the community as well as government,
industry, and commerce will be well positioned to meet the coming
intellectual challenges as well as to make substantial and identifiable
contributions to the national well-being and interest.
NOTE
1. Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Federal High Performance Computing
Program, Executive Office of the President, Washington, D.C., September 8, 1989, p. 8.
OCR for page 10
Representative terms from entire chapter:
performance computing
