One exciting current project concerns access grids, teleconferencing on the Internet. The best way to find out about what's going on is to stop in at the CCS offices on the 3rd floor of McVey Hall. They have a beautiful and informative brochure which will tell you about the research and developments going on there, and the faculty who are involved. Computational science is Dr. Connolly's domain. Using prophetic quotes from Darwin, Alvin Toffler, and Marshall McLuhan, teh case was made for the inevitability of change, and the ominous consequences of ignoring that fact.
Information technology is the driving force behind the economic boom currently being experienced.
The inverse is true for the price of technology. This has been true for the past 40 years. The grid concept, based on the techniques used by power companies for many years, works to make computational resources at one facility available to users at another facility when needed. Other concepts discussed were Internet2, middleware, and portals. Internet2 will link certain universities with separate high-speed connections.