2008 Woodie Awards
Scaling very high tech
Matt Nelson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Metro
The machine stood taller than its master, but Jun Ni was unintimidated by the behemoth at his fingertips - the fastest computer on the UI campus.
Ni, who assists faculty in large-scale scientific computing, enthusiastically described the $500,000 computer - 96 of the fastest Intel multi-core processors work in tandem to create 3.4 "teraflops" of computation, 196 gigabytes of memory, and five terabytes of hard-drive storage.
In short, this isn't your roommate's laptop.
The computer is part of an Intel grant awarded to the UI for faster computed tomography image resolution in medical research centers on campus.
"Medical imaging is a big area when dealing with MRIs, CAT [scans]," said Ni, a scientist with Information Technology Services. "How to handle these are very important, and that's why we need a supercomputer."
The medical-imaging field is one of the major research areas for the UI, especially in the area of high-performance computing. Researchers and ITS employees hope the system will pave the way for a future high-performance computing facility for the general campus.
"High-performance computing is an important component of the cyber infrastructure," said Boyd Knosp, the director of research services at the UI's ITS department.
The cyber infrastructure Knosp refers to is part of a National Science Foundation initiative to develop information-technology services for education and research.
Richard Libby, a technology-initiatives manager for Intel, approached Ni in November 2006 at the 18th Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers supercomputing conference, after the company became aware of Ni's research in the area of medical imaging.
"Intel is enthusiastically supporting academic research and education, especially life-science research," Libby said. "We believe university research and education is critical to each citizen's ability to thrive in the knowledge economy."
The supercomputer was scheduled for installation in March, but it arrived at the UI's Eckstein Medical Research Building ahead of schedule in January.
Intel also has collaborated with Louisiana Tech University and Fudan University in China on medical imaging and health-science projects, and it invests $100 million in other education efforts for more than 50 countries.
"We believe [Ni's] research has great potential and broad impact to the future of medical and health sciences," Libby said. "We're pleased to collaborate with Dr. Ni's research group in high-performance computing."
E-mail DI reporter Matt Nelson at:
matthew-s-nelson@uiowa.edu
Ni, who assists faculty in large-scale scientific computing, enthusiastically described the $500,000 computer - 96 of the fastest Intel multi-core processors work in tandem to create 3.4 "teraflops" of computation, 196 gigabytes of memory, and five terabytes of hard-drive storage.
In short, this isn't your roommate's laptop.
The computer is part of an Intel grant awarded to the UI for faster computed tomography image resolution in medical research centers on campus.
"Medical imaging is a big area when dealing with MRIs, CAT [scans]," said Ni, a scientist with Information Technology Services. "How to handle these are very important, and that's why we need a supercomputer."
The medical-imaging field is one of the major research areas for the UI, especially in the area of high-performance computing. Researchers and ITS employees hope the system will pave the way for a future high-performance computing facility for the general campus.
"High-performance computing is an important component of the cyber infrastructure," said Boyd Knosp, the director of research services at the UI's ITS department.
The cyber infrastructure Knosp refers to is part of a National Science Foundation initiative to develop information-technology services for education and research.
Richard Libby, a technology-initiatives manager for Intel, approached Ni in November 2006 at the 18th Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers supercomputing conference, after the company became aware of Ni's research in the area of medical imaging.
"Intel is enthusiastically supporting academic research and education, especially life-science research," Libby said. "We believe university research and education is critical to each citizen's ability to thrive in the knowledge economy."
The supercomputer was scheduled for installation in March, but it arrived at the UI's Eckstein Medical Research Building ahead of schedule in January.
Intel also has collaborated with Louisiana Tech University and Fudan University in China on medical imaging and health-science projects, and it invests $100 million in other education efforts for more than 50 countries.
"We believe [Ni's] research has great potential and broad impact to the future of medical and health sciences," Libby said. "We're pleased to collaborate with Dr. Ni's research group in high-performance computing."
E-mail DI reporter Matt Nelson at:
matthew-s-nelson@uiowa.edu
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