CORNELL

In an unexpected turn of events, the Executive Committee of the National Science Foundation (NSF) voted Friday against continuing to fund the Cornell Theory Center as a national supercomputing facility.

Cornell was part of a national competition for funding with three other supercomputing centers: the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the San Diego Supercomputing Center.

The latter two institutions were awarded the NSF funding.

According to Linda J. Callahan, director of external relations for the Theory Center, the final decision was not anticipated because the National Science Board (NSB), which was supposed to vote Friday, did not have a quorum.

Theory Center administrators expected the matter to be settled when the board reconvened in May. But the Executive Committee of the NSF decided to take control of the vote from the NSB. The Office of Government Ethics permitted two members of the NSB to partake in the vote, replacing members of the committee who had been deemed as having a conflict of interest.

Correct Procedure

According to John E. Hopcroft, dean of the college of Engineering and a member of the board, this was the correct procedure for conducting the vote.

"It's unusual, but still the proper way to do business," he said. "The Executive Committee [of the NSF] is empowered to act on behalf of the board."

While the NSF provided almost half of the center's financial support, Norman R. Scott, vice president for research and advanced studies, said the center and the NSF will take measures to make the loss of funding as gradual as possible.

According to Scott, the NSF will provide transitional support for the center for up to two years.

"The result coming as quickly as it did was a surprise," he said. "Still, we at least had an idea it might happen."

The center is also funded by the State of New York, the university and corporate users.

Possible Staff Cutbacks

Scott noted, however, that one of the ramifications of the loss of funding could be staff cutbacks.