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LAWMAKERS CALL FOR INCREASED HPC FUNDING

The House Appropriations Committee has expressed its disappointment with the High-End Computing Revitalization Task Force's failure to acquire increased funds for scientific computing in 2005. House lawmakers are clamoring to increase U.S. scientific endeavors in order keep up with worldwide competition.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which heads the task force, recently released a report outlining its U.S. supercomputing recommendations.

Because lawmakers have been concerned with the United States' slipping position in supercomputing activities, H.R. 4614 was passed 370-16, calling for $234 million in funding. Japan currently boasts the world's fastest computer, the Earth Simulator, which was introduced in March 2002.

The panel encouraged the department to allow national laboratories, government agencies and universities to use new supercomputers on a competitive basis.

Similarly, other bills like H.R. 4218 and H.R. 4516 would require the National Science Foundation and Energy Department to grant U.S. researchers access to high-end computers, and would mandate that the department build supercomputing facilities for academic and government researchers.

However, the committee did reduce funding for supercomputing efforts to manage nuclear weapons stockpiles. Seeking $75 million less than Bush sought, the panel proposed that $666 million would suffice for advanced simulation and computing at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Because the scope, cost and schedule of the program was not thoroughly discussed, the panel asked for reduced funding.

The panel said the agency should use $10 million for power and fiber-optic upgrades and for developing a technology training center, as well as for hardware and software upgrades for the Ohio Supercomputer Center in Springfield, Ohio. The agency also should use $2.5 million to complete the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's 3-D "chip-scale packaging" activities.

Though the program has been in place for nearly 10 years, lawmakers have been disillusioned by its lack of progress. The government started the initiative to ensure the safety and adequacy of the nuclear-weapons stockpile by conducting computer simulations of nuclear explosions rather than live testing.