This report addresses an opportunity to accelerate progress in virtually every branch of science and engineering concurrently, while also boosting the American economy as business firms also learn to exploit these new capabilities. The successful rapid advancement in both science and technology creates its own challenges, four of which are outlined here for the National Science Board. Four sets of interdependent recommendations are made in response to the challenges. The first implements a balanced pyramid of computing environments. Each element in the pyramid supports the others; whatever resources are applied to the whole, the balance in the pyramid should be sustained. The second set addresses the essential research investments and other steps to remove the obstacles to realizing the technologies in the pyramid and the barriers to the effective use of these environments. The third set addresses the institutional structure for delivery of the HPC capabilities, and consists itself of a pyramid. At the base of the institutional pyramid is the diverse array of investigators in their universities and other settings, who use all the facilities at all levels of the pyramid, followed by departments and research groups devoted to specific areas of computer science and engineering, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) high performance computing (HPC) Centers. At the apex is the national teraflop-class society, which is recommended as a multi-agency facility pushing the frontiers of high performance into the next decade. A final recommendation addresses the NSF role at the national level and its relationship with the states in HPC. Concepts are illustrated with two figures and two tables. Appendices include: a list of the membership of the Blue Ribbon Panel on High Performance Computing; information on the history and origin of this study on the NSF and HPC; a discussion of technology trends and barriers to further progress; four figures illustrating supercomputer data; and a review and prospectus of computational and computer science and engineering with personal statements by panel members. (MAS)