UA to get $1.7 million to improve supercomputer lab

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is receiving a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve the facility that houses the supercomputers for the college.

Funds will be used to purchase air conditioners for the supercomputers and equipment that ensures that electricity can run around the clock, since many research projects require programs to run for several days and cannot sustain a power outage. The supercomputers support science research requiring massive data files and advanced visualization programs.

The funding will also enhance the network speed available to University of Arkansas researchers, and will enhance the network speed from the state's high speed optical network to the supercomputers. The high speed optical network, the Arkansas Research and Education Optical network, allows researchers using computers for advanced scientific research at Arkansas’s four-year universities to have better access to the state's supercomputing resources. The Arkansas Research and Educational Optical Network is a high-speed network owned and operated by the Arkansas higher education community.

The grant was announced by members of Arkansas' congressional delegation.

“This National Science Foundation grant will allow Arkansas to move forward substantially in the area of research computing. It will provide the infrastructure that we need to house large-scale computers and storage that support several areas of science, and will improve our ability to compete nationally. We are delighted that the National Science Foundation has chosen to support this project,” said Amy Apon, Ph.D., University of Arkansas computer science professor and Director of the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center.

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