Mr. James Holitza is recognized for extraordinary and distinguished leadership in the development, procurement, and implementation of a radically new supercomputer architecture at NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL). In his role as Director of Administration and Research, he was instrumental in promoting, simultaneously, the DOC Strategic Plan goal of improving U.S. trade opportunities and NOAA goals for improving the nation's ability to protect itself from hazards such as severe weather. Mr. Holitza led FSL to the use of a new type of supercomputer based on the use of commodity technology (Intel Pentium 4 Processors and Linux operating system). This system was rated in November 2002 as the 8th fastest computer in the world, and yet it cost much less than a conventional computer of comparable speed.

The award will be presented on December 1, 2003 in Silver Spring, MD.