1. CASC Remarks Garrison Walters September 23, 2009 The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education

2. Then Computing and the Economy US lead in technology Computer technology-driven zero PCs in 1980 to 50 million in 1990 (BLS hadn’t a clue) applied in ways no one expected IBM’s initial marketing of the PC Telecom revolution of the ‘90s amplified computer impact HPC role rapidly increasing in importance over quarter century Accelerating product development cycle Toyota Avalon—no mules Jaguar XK—at least a year shorter People more important than hardware (but we had both)

3. A Note on Computers and the American University First electronic computer First spinoff company Entire new discipline Huge numbers of grads Vast numbers of innovations: UNIX, RISC, etc. Who says universities are slow to change?

4. Now Computing and the Economy U.S. no longer most educated Especially weak at younger levels (means we’ll fall further soon) Especially weak in science and technology. Yesterday’s HPC= today’s mainstream? Offers the potential of huge increases in productivity and competitiveness We’d like to think that will happen, but will we have the talent? Hardware not an issue--available everywhere Making HPC mainstream means two things: Enough people to take HPC-type solutions to medium-sized and smaller business Progress in restructuring code for greater parallelization Will require scale of understanding as well as central R&D

5. The Future Computing and the Economy Standard solution to talent problem: do more of what we’ve been doing and hope we get a different result An alternative approach Replace all required K-12 mathematics instruction with math embedded in computer/ computational science Easily cover all the important topics Pure mathematics an elective Outcomes Make today’s HPC mainstream And also More people ready for science, not just computer/computational More people graduating from high school and college Math now is a barrier to graduation and a filter to science

6. Conclusion US recognizes the problem of competing on knowledge, but not doing much. Renewed emphasis on computer/computational science is a key part of a successful solution. The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Garrison Walters