Building Careers and Shaping Public Policy

19 May 2005

The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chair, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Stevens:

I am writing on behalf of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America
(IEEE-USA) to urge the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to act quickly on H.R.28, the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2005. This legislation passed the House of Representatives by a voice vote on March 26, 2005. By strengthening high-end computing research and development and by improving access to high performance computers by U.S. researchers, this bipartisan legislation will help preserve the United States' leadership in information technology, science and engineering.

Supercomputing technology is vitally important to our national and economic security. The Department of Defense requires supercomputers for real-time modeling and simulation and oceanographic operational weather predictions, as well as materials research. Supercomputers are also needed by the Department of Energy in the design and simulation of nuclear systems. This legislation is urgently needed now to strengthen U.S. research and development in high performance computing and to ensure that we remain technologically competitiveness in a very dynamic field. Furthermore, by giving science and engineering researchers access to the world's fastest supercomputers, scientific breakthroughs and groundbreaking innovations are greatly enhanced. H.R.28, which amends the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-194), would establish a High-Performance Computing Research and Development Program and would improve access to supercomputers by U.S. academic and industrial researchers. These changes would help researchers gain the tools they need to keep America at the forefront in scientific advances and technological innovation.

We look forward to working with you in advancing this important legislation. Please contact Bill Williams at 202-785-0017 if we can be of any assistance.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the public good, while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society.

Sincerely,

Gerard A. Alphonse
President, IEEE-USA

(Sample – Similar letters sent to members of the
Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee)