Atkins specializes in high-performance
computer architecture. He participated in the design and building of seven major experimental machines, including some of the earliest
parallel computers. He conducted pioneering work on special-purpose architecture and collaborated with the
Mayo Clinic on development of Computer-Assisted Tomography (CAT). He later concentrated on the social and technical architecture of distributed knowledge communities and community informatics. He led workshops to develop the National Science Foundation (NSF) Digital Library Initiative], which included joint programs with the
European Commission. He was the project director of the [University of Michigan Digital Library Project and helped to pilot the
Mellon Foundation’s
JSTOR Project.
Academic career In 1982 Atkins became associate dean for research and graduate programs for the
University of Michigan College of Engineering, and then Dean from 1989 to 1990. He was appointed
Dean of the
University of Michigan School of Information in 1992. He secured millions in support from the
Kellogg Foundation,
Mellon Foundation,
Carnegie Foundation,
Microsoft,
Intel, and others to help launch the school, and chaired the committee that developed one of the earliest computer engineering undergraduate degree programs. In 1989-90 he formed and directed an Alliance for Community Technology (ACT) sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation to support the use of information technology,
Cyberinfrastructure Atkins served as chair of the
National Science Foundation’s Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on
Cyberinfrastructure. In 2003 this panel released the influential report
Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure, which recommended that the NSF form a program in cyberinfrastructure-enhanced science and engineering research. He was also the director of the NSF EXPRES Project that laid the foundation for NSF's FASTLANE all-electronic proposal submission and management system. In 2002, Atkins co-authored (with
James Duderstadt and Doug Van Houweling) the book
Higher Education in the Digital Age: Technology Issues and Strategies for American Colleges and Universities. He served as chair of a Scientific Advisory Committee for the Digital Media and Learning program for the
MacArthur Foundation, chair of an international panel to review the UK Research Councils e-Science Programmes, as a member of a task force to draft the Obama administration's National Educational Technology Plan 2010, and as an expert witness to the FCC
National Broadband Plan. == Recognition ==