The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will today address students at Boston College about the Belfast Agreement and the role of the United States in helping to secure peace in Northern Ireland.
The occasion will be the award of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Mr Ahern to mark "his two decades in public service and his continuing efforts in the peace process".
His speech to graduate students in an outdoor stadium will be the traditional commencement address at the college's graduation ceremony. Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony, which will be televised live.
Following a press conference, the Taoiseach will address a high technology conference at the John F. Kennedy Library dealing with investment opportunities in Ireland, North and South, and in Israel. He will return to Ireland later today.
The Irish and Israeli governments may also announce a research and development agreement to encourage joint ventures between technology companies in the two countries.
The conference is sponsored by the University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is organised by the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the US and the Cullinane Group, which is encouraging co-operation between Ireland and Israel in the high tech sector.
Meanwhile, the New York Times in an editorial calls for the "enthusiastic approval of Protestants and Catholics alike" for the agreement. It says that "while it is not a perfect agreement, its flaws are the by-product of its great virtue - that it is a compromise".
Referring to "Protestant concerns", the editorial says: "Some of their concerns are artificial, drummed up by demagogic politicians like the Rev Ian Paisley, the leader of a hard-line Protestant party that attacked the peace talks. Britain is not going to put the job of policing Northern Ireland in the hands of paramilitary groups, as Mr Paisley claims."
It says that "the most powerful argument against the plan is the continued refusal of paramilitary groups on both sides to turn over their weapons. The IRA recently said it will not disarm. It and the Protestant groups must announce that their war is over and begin their disarmament now."
But that is not sufficient reason to oppose the plan, which was never billed as an immediate solution to the North's problem. "The peace plan turns the region away from sectarian strife and towards a politics in which leaders can learn to work with old adversaries. It deserves the enthusiastic approval of Protestants and Catholics alike," the editorial concludes.