Grid Computing is a developing technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way science and engineering is done. Secure, reliable and above all, easy access to a shared global information technology infrastructure will empower scientists and engineers with opportunities to develop new classes of applications and problem solving techniques enabling them to tackle ever increasingly sophisticated and complex problems in the advancement of scientific understanding and technological significance. In this context the "Grid" in Grid computing refers to this pervasive access to shared computational resources in analogy with the electrical power grid which provides pervasive access to electricity, access to which has had a profound impact on human capabilities and society.
In this talk I will introduce the concept of Grid Computing, highlight a small fraction of the communities that are benefiting, emphasizing the role of grid computing in High Energy Physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. In the second part of the talk I will focus on the Grid3 project. A collaboration of universities, laboratories and U.S. funded grid projects that constructed a persistent grid infrastructure in support of scientific research. The Grid3 grid is a truly national effort with sites from across the U.S. supporting research from a variety of virtual organizations (VO). I will end the talk with current plans to continue work with the development of the Open Science Grid a national grid effort that goes beyond Grid3 in terms of scope and scale.