The cost of the fellowship component of the collaboratory program is estimated at $1 million per year, an amount that would support 50 summer fellows per year at $20,000 each.

The objective of this recommendation is to foster the creation of a community of builders and users of collaboratory technology. It is envisioned that principal investigators, research staff, and graduate students working on the testbeds would attend these meetings to share experiences and the results of their work.

In conclusion, the committee believes that the program outlined by these recommendations is the appropriate level of effort that should be undertaken. Although it would be possible to carry out only the research component of the proposed program, the committee believes that the education component is a critical aspect of the effort. Without the education component, it is much less likely that a skilled and growing community of collaboratory users and developers will emerge. The two components taken together as a program constitute a strategic effort to improve the basic infrastructure supporting the conduct of computationally intensive science in the United States.