CWE2010 seeks presentations, posters

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Scientists, academicians, technologists, architects and engineers from around the world are invited to present their ideas, experience and views related to computational wind engineering at the Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010) in Chapel Hill, NC, May 23-27, 2010. The deadline for submitting all proposals is October 17, 2009.   Read more

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RENCI teams with DICE group to tame the data deluge

CHAPEL HILL, NC, July 16, 2009—Almost a year after the Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) research group moved from the University of California at San Diego to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the internationally recognized research group has established deep ties to the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI).

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Clues to an astrophysical mystery

A new Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) animation created from a mathematical model shows a black hole moving supersonically through an interstellar gas cloud. This phenomenon often occurs in multiple star systems, where a companion star provides the gas cloud. The gravity of the black hole pulls the gas inward. Early on in the process, a wake forms behind the black hole, much like the wake behind a motorboat. Unlike a motorboat wake, it begins to move back and forth after a while until it whips all the way around the black hole, forming an accretion disk of gas falling into the hole. Read more

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NSF Science Academy students get hands-on look at RENCI visualization systems

What better way is there to understand information visualization systems than a first-hand demonstration at the RENCI engagement center at UNC Chapel Hill? Read more

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How to handle a Category 4 storm

Hurricane season officially began June 1, and while North Carolinians hope major storms will once again steer clear of our coast, the state’s emergency management division is taking no chances.

The annual major hurricane exercise, a dry run practice of procedures to be followed during a real hurricane, was held June 17 at the Eastern Branch offices of the North Carolina Emergency Management division in Kinston.  It featured a disaster scenario developed through a month-long collaboration between Tom Collins, manager of the state Emergency Management Division’s Eastern Branch, and RENCI’s disaster research team. Read more

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Supermodels

(Credit: Staff at RENCI at UNC Asheville and RENCI at East Carolina University and Kevin Hill, NC State department of marine, Earth and atmospheric sciences, also helped to develop these animations)

Hurricane season is upon us, and while no one can predict how many storms will blow our way this year, RENCI has worked to improve storm modeling and put new tools into the hands of emergency responders since Floyd (1999) and Isabel (2003) swept ashore on the North Carolina coast. Read more

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Grid-enabled virus hunting

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3D replica of senecavirus, a pathogen discovered several years ago by researchers in Pennsylvania. UC San Francisco researcher Eric Delwart and his colleague Chunlin Wang of Stanford University use the RENCI-developed TeraGrid Science Gateway to access grid computing resources in their search for new viruses. (Credit: Institute for Animal Health, UK)

DNA sequencing and sequence analysis happens daily in many biological sciences laboratories, but analyzing large sets of genetic data increasingly requires computing resources beyond the capabilities of most labs.

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RENCI Helps Dare County Schools promote hurricane safety

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Michelle Covi, RENCI at ECU outreach coordinator, shows students at Nags Head Elementary School how to track the course of a hurricane during a hurricane awareness presentation by RENCI and National Weather Service staff. (photo: S. Daniel Siepert, RENCI at ECU)

Donna Kain, outreach director at RENCI at East Carolina University (ECU),  and Michelle Covi, outreach coordinator at RENCI at ECU, recently traveled to Nags Head Elementary School on the Outer Banks to promote Hurricane Preparedness Week in Dare County.

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RENCI to Participate in New NOAA Institute to Study Climate Change

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) is one of 16 partners in a new climate research project led by the University of Maryland called the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS). Read more

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RENCI's Asheville Center Featured in TV Special on Climate, Technology and the Environment

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ASHEVILLE, NC–RENCI at UNC Asheville Director Jim Fox and media artist and co-founder of design and engineering firm The Elumenati David McConville were featured in a half-hour program that aired on Asheville’s educational channel twice a day from May 12 to May 19. Read more

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