Graduate students today, unlike their parents and professors, grew up using computers, have relied on the Web for research and entertainment for most of their lives, and use email, instant messaging and blogs as effortlessly as previous generations use the telephone. Read more
True Grid
Lavanya Ramakrishnan has seen her grid computing focus shift from security to scientific applications over the past four years. After finishing her Masters degree at Indiana University in 2002, she continued her work in grid security at MCNC before moving to the newly-formed Renaissance Computing Institute in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she jumped feet-first into the world of scientific applications.
Bringing technology to bear on critical issues
When it comes to hurricanes, Mother Nature still rules, as Katrina so vividly reminded us last year. That doesn’t mean humans are powerless in their struggles with major coastal storms. High-performance computing experts at RENCI are working with marine and atmospheric scientists and North Carolina disaster response agencies to use advanced technologies to improve storm prediction, modeling, and mitigation. Read more
RENCI Science Gateway team unveils TeraGrid Bioportal
A web-based work environment developed at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) will give users of the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid easy access to a wide range of bioinformatics and biomedical applications and databases and will allow the national biology research community to access computing, data, and other resources offered through the TeraGrid. Read more
Workshop addresses computational challenges in biomedicine
Researchers and practitioners from the high performance computing and biomedical communities are invited to attend a workshop that addresses the challenges and opportunities collaboration and cooperation between these two communities. Called “Challenges in Biomedicine,” the workshop is sponsored by the Computing Research Association (CRA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It will be held June 15 – 16 at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, MD. Read more
Computing the future: Looking at 2016
In the mid 1990s, Amazon and Ebay were not household names, spam referred to a canned meat product, phishing was not in the dictionary, and cell phones were still a bit of a luxury. Technological advances have driven exponential change over the last decade; what will another 10 years of innovation bring? Read more
Computing, technology expert Reed offers a peek at 2016 at May 30 talk
Daniel A. Reed, a world-renowned authority on high-performance computing, will offer a glimpse of 2016 and the wonders (and annoyances) that new technologies are likely to bring over the next decade in a presentation Tuesday, May 30, on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Read more
RENCI Blue Gene/L Purchase propels North Carolina to forefront in high performance computing
The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), a multidisciplinary institute affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke and North Carolina State universities, has acquired an IBM Blue Gene®/L computing system that will give scientists and business researchers computing power never before available in North Carolina, IBM and RENCI announced today. Read more
RENCI, Duke, HASTAC sponsor new media conference
Graduate students interested in new media technologies and their impact on art, culture, science, commerce and the environment will convene on the Duke University campus June 7 and 8 to discuss the latest research in the field and new uses for technology in scholarship. Read more
Reed to co-chair PCAST networking and IT subcommittee
RENCI Director Daniel A. Reed will serve as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) subcommittee on Networking and Information Technology. The group will examine U.S. global IT competitiveness as well as social, economic and workforce issues. It also will take an in-depth look at the work of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, the multi-agency federal IT R&D effort. Read more