Nancy M. Amoto, Interim Director of the Illinois Grainger College of Engineering Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, has added her voice to a letter calling on Congressional leaders to fund the research agencies contained in the CHIPS Act fully. The letter was sent under the auspices of the Computing Research Association, along with five US-based professional society members (AAAI, ACM, IEEE-USA, SIAM, and USENIX), representing the breadth of the computing and IT research field. Amato is the current chair of CRA's Board of Directors.
Amato's words carry a sense of urgency, “The nation is in serious danger of falling behind our competitor nations in several research fields, especially in the computing and IT fields. Without these vital investments in research, the United States runs the risk of becoming a second-rate scientific power in the world.” She continued that “The National Science Foundation accounts for 78 percent of all Federal support for fundamental computing research at American universities. It is essential to the future of our field, essential for training the next generation of researchers who will make future breakthroughs, and essential to any national efforts around AI, quantum, high-performance or high-end computing, and a host of other research fields.”
Constituents delivered the letter to over 80 congressional offices during CRA's Congressional Visit Day on Wednesday, September 11. It also circulates with CRA's friends and allies in Congress, at assorted agencies, and with advocacy coalitions.