October 15, 2012
The National Science Foundation (NSF) dedicated the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), its first facility in decades in Wyoming and one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, as part of dedication ceremonies held in Cheyenne today.
“The NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center will offer researchers the opportunity to develop, access and share complex models and data at incredibly powerful speeds,” said NSF Director Subra Suresh. “This is the latest example of NSF’s unique ability to identify challenges early and make sure that the best tools are in place to support the science and engineering research communities.”
The NWSC will be managed by NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The supercomputer, known as “Yellowstone,” has the ability to work at 1.5 petaflops–equal to 1.5 quadrillion (a million billion) mathematical operations per second. Its speed is comparable to 7 billion people (the world population) each simultaneously conducting 200,000 calculations a second.
Yellowstone’s capabilities will improve scientific understanding of climate change, severe weather, air quality, and other atmospheric and geosciences research. It allows researchers to address research challenges with software, data storage and management, and data analysis and visualization.
Based in Cheyenne, the NWSC is located on a 24-acre site. It houses high-performance computers, mass storage (data archival) systems, and required mechanical and electrical infrastructure. It is a LEED-certified building, showcasing sustainable technologies as well as energy-efficient design and operation. A main component is a public visitor center that illustrates the types of computational science research that will be carried out by scientists across the nation and explains the impact of that research.
Wyoming is part of NSF’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which allows the agency to strengthen research and education in science and engineering throughout the United States and improve R&D capacity and competitiveness.
In addition to NSF Director Suresh, the dedication ceremony included Wyoming Governor Matt Mead, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research President Thomas Bogdan, NCAR Director Roger Wakimoto, University of Wyoming Vice President for Research Bill Gern and NSF’s Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Division Director Michael Morgan.
The NWSC, funded by NSF with additional support from the state of Wyoming and a broad public-private consortium, will be a mainstay of U.S. geoscience computing for decades to come. Its extraordinary computing power will enable scientists to capture many aspects of our planet’s workings in unprecedented detail. The results will improve forecasting of hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms; map critical supplies of water; boost predictions of wildfire behavior; help protect society from solar disruptions; and address many other concerns.
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Program highlights included top tech trends and leading-edge applications for R&E
Seattle, October 8 – With over 75 participants from research and education (R&E) networking organizations, The Quilt’s 2012 Fall Member Meeting was The Quilt’s most attended event to date. The meeting was held on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio September 11-13 in conjunction with the 25th anniversary celebration of Quilt member Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet). The Quilt is the national coalition of advanced regional R&E networks.
Sessions focused on transformational technologies for R&E networks, including 100G infrastructure and software-defined networking. Quilt members planning to deploy 100G networks addressed the drivers for their deployments and the goals each organization aims to achieve with the new infrastructure. Regional network implementations of software-defined networking were presented, along with an update on The Quilt’s recent OpenFlow Request for Proposal.
Don Welch, president and CEO of Quilt member Merit Network, discussed the new cyber range that Merit is creating and how it will serve as a live testbed for critical cyber security research and innovation.
A Quilt member panel talked about new value-added services they are rolling out, including managing identity and access management at the state level; the role of regional networks in support of mobile device management and wireless access for campuses; and a report on the increasing number of partnerships among regional networks for member services.
The program also featured guest speakers from NOAA and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). Paul Schultz of NOAA’s Earth System Resource Laboratory discussed NOAA’s N-Wave Network and its importance to NOAA’s weather forecasting models. The N-Wave infrastructure is the result of a longer-standing partnership with the R&E community. Keith Krueger, CoSN CEO, shared his perspective on the top emerging technologies and trends likely to have the greatest impact on K-12 education.
“As a leader of a research and education networking organization, The Quilt member meetings are the most valuable meetings I attend all year,” said Dan O’Hanlon, director, West Virgina Network for Educational Telecomputing or WVNET.
“In addition to having a program agenda that reflects our members’ priority areas of interest, another equally important objective of The Quilt’s biannual member meetings is ensuring lots of opportunities for informal networking and exchange of experiences,” said Jen Leasure, president and CEO, The Quilt. “Regional R&E networks often face common challenges, such as rapid technology change or pressures on traditional business models, and thus we can learn a great deal from each other.”
Immediately after the Member Meeting, The Quilt hosted an optional Communications and Outreach Workshop for its membership. Focus was on helping R&E networks build the skills and capacity to communicate about their organizations and their impact on their respective communities.
About The Quilt
The Quilt is the national coalition of advanced regional networks for research and education, representing 31 networks across the country. Participants in The Quilt provide advanced network services and applications to over 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions. For more information, visit www.thequilt.net
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Park City superintendent to lead statewide education network
(Salt Lake City) – Dr. Ray Timothy will become the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Utah Education Network (UEN) effective October 1. The UEN Board announced the decision August 30 following a nationwide search. Currently the superintendent of the Park City School District, Dr. Timothy is also a former superintendent of the Millard County School District and a deputy superintendent of the Utah State Office of Education (USOE).
“I have always considered UEN to be one of Utah’s greatest assets. It has a strong record of excellence. I am looking forward to working with all stakeholders to continue to advance Utah’s educational technology and enhance UEN’s position as one of the nation’s premier education networks,” said Dr. Timothy.
“The UEN Board was enthusiastic in its selection of Dr. Timothy and we’re thrilled that he will join UEN shortly. He brings us an ideal mix of proven leadership in education and innovation,” said Dr. Eric Denna, the higher education co-chair of the UEN Board and CIO of the Utah System of Higher Education and the University of Utah. Denna has served as UEN’s interim executive director since the resignation of Mike Petersen in January. Petersen left UEN to accept a faculty position with Utah State University.
“Ray Timothy’s extensive experience with school districts and at the state level qualifies him to work collaboratively with Utah schools,universities and libraries. We’re confident he will bring expert leadership to UEN’s award-winning staff,” said Brenda Hales, the public education co-chair of the UEN board and associate superintendent at USOE.
UEN provides network services, application services and support services to public education, higher education and libraries. It is a public/private partnership that connects every public school, charter school, college, applied technology college and university in Utah. UEN provides connectivity and educational resources to more than 750,000 students and more than 61,000 educators and staff in Utah public and higher education.
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