Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Category: Innovation
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Simplifying Communication
How often have you picked up a scholarly journal from another discipline, only to be stymied and mystified by the disciplinary jargon? It is time to lower the disciplinary drawbridges and invite readers into our intellectual castles.
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Understanding the World through Genetics and New Technologies
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) – it is literally the stuff of life. Thus, understanding how DNA regulates biological processes is key to the mechanics of life and to treating disease at its most fundamental levels.
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Budgets, Innovation and Opportunity
With research proposal success rates plummeting and Hobbesian choices between research infrastructure and investigator support now necessary, we face major challenges. In the apocryphal phrasing of Ernst Rutherford, “We have no money. We must think.”
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HPC, Big Data and the Peloponnesian War
We need a concord and strategic research investment plan that recognizes the shared importance of HPC and big data. Both warrant investments in basic research, and both need investments in large-scale infrastructure deployments.
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The IT Ecosystem and Global Competitiveness
I recently chaired a U.S. National Academies study on the issues surrounding the end of Dennard scaling and its implications for U.S. industry, defense capabilities and national security. The report, The New Global Ecosystem in Advanced Computing: Implications for U.S. Competitiveness and National Security, was just released. It is a cautionary tale about the Gordian…
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Research {preposition} Infrastructure
Computing research and advanced computing infrastructure are interdependent, yet profoundly different in culture and metrics. As the scale and scope of computing grows, each needs to understand the constraints and needs of the other.