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Daniel E. Atkins, author of the internationally recognized "Atkins report" and professor at the University of Michigan, addressed leaders from numerous minority serving institutions (MSI) Tuesday, January 31, at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). As part of the MSI C(I)2 Workshop, Atkins focused on opportunities for MSI's to contribute to and participate in building cyberinfrastructure environments. Atkins also discussed President Bush's recent State of the Union address and how it reinforced the importance of cyberinfrastructure in supporting national scientific goals.

Atkins is well known for his role as chair of the National Science Foundation Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure. The panel issued a report in February 2003, " Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure," that recommends a major program in cyberinfrastructure-enhanced science and engineering research and allied education for the nation under the leadership of the NSF. This report, now dubbed the "Atkins report," has received international attention and is serving as an important document for strategic planning in academia and research funding agencies.

Atkins has been project director for several large interdisciplinary NSF-sponsored projects to develop principles for the design and evaluation of IT-enabled scientific collaboratories -- "laboratories without walls." Atkins also participates in several strategic activities to better understand and act upon the implications of emergent information technology on the future of knowledge-based institutions and activities.