Research Triangle Park, N.C., February 18 - The Representative for the 4th District of North Carolina, Congressman David Price, and his District Director, Rose Auman, visited Automation Federation and ISA leaders recently at AF headquarters in Research Triangle Park.
Representative David Price represents North Carolina's Research Triangle and currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee. He is the Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and serves on several other appropriations subcommittees. He is currently serving his tenth term in Congress. The Congressman was named a "Champion of Science" by the Science Coalition in 2002 and 2004, and received the 2003 ASEE Engineering Deans Council Award for his support of engineering education and research.
Representative Price, at the invitation of the Automation Federation, made a brief appearance at the 2008 ISA Leadership Training Meeting where he addressed more than seventy ISA leaders before attending a meeting with five Automation Federation leaders at Automation Federation headquarters.
During his address to the ISA leaders, Representative Price commended them for being the driving force for the creation of the Automation Federation. He encouraged the leaders, as well as other partners within the Automation Federation, to be proactive in working with Congress with regard to the Federation's initiatives and efforts to become the voice of automation. ISA leaders were urged to help make ISA and the Automation Federation the technical resource for government leaders and
the American public.
Representative Price commented about the need for members of to learn about the Automation Federation's goals and objectives for establishing the next generation of automation professionals, and he mentioned relevant programs and activities that Congress has produced in the forms of legislation.
After concluding his remarks to the ISA Leadership, Representative Price accompanied five leaders of the Automation Federation -- Steve Huffman, Kim Miller Dunn, Pat Gouhin, Bruno Kisala, and Mike Marlowe -- to Automation Federation headquarters for an in-depth meeting.
During this meeting, Representative Price offered his service as a sounding board for future Automation Federation congressional activities; outlined government programs in which the Federation should be involved, including the Americans Compete Act; and requested that he be provided with updates as future plans for congressional work come together. Price also promised to serve as a sponsor for the Automation Federation's first Congressional Fly-In scheduled for this May.
At the end of this meeting, Price was issued an invitation from ISA to engage with government officials in developing an "Informed Cyber Security Policy: Vital in Defense of Our Nation's Industrial Infrastructure." The purpose of the ICSP is for ISA to help ensure informed policy decisions, by offering government policy makers and leaders access to the guidance and advice of ISA's leading experts on industrial automation and control systems cyber security from a broad range of industries and technologies-as requested and at no cost. This service might include review and comment on proposed regulations, expert testimony before congressional and regulatory committees, participation on special commissions, definition and development of government supported initiatives in technology development and research, and more.
Price's visit removed any uncertainty about the credibility of the Automation Federation and its member organizations, said ISA executive director and Automation Federation board member Patrick Gouhin. While here, "he was able to kick the tires and go for a test drive as he saw our members in action," he said. "He toured our training facilities, touched the results of our technical efforts, and walked through the bricks and mortar that substantiate the technical resource we are. All this left no doubt we are the legitimate body to create an authoritative voice for the profession of automation, and this is the message he will take back to Congress."
