Launch of New Center Organizes Campus Activities, Enhances GeorgiaTech's Scientific Contributions and Impact in High Performance Computing

ATLANTA - March 1, 2010 - Today the Georgia Institute of TechnologyOffice of the Provost announced the formation of the Georgia TechInstitute for Data and High Performance Computing (IDH) in recognitionof the need to advance and coordinate institute research and educationactivities in this area. High performance computing (HPC) continues togrow as a strategically important area for Georgia Tech, both in itsapplication to key areas of science and engineering as well as in theadvancement of the technology itself.

"As we look to high performance computing to drive advancedbreakthroughs in science, health, energy and other industries,leveraging Georgia Tech's strongest assets - world class researchers incomputing, experts across nearly every problem domain, and low barriersto collaboration - is what will set us apart," said Dr. Mark Allen,Senior Vice Provost for Research and Innovation at Georgia Tech. "Thecreation of the Institute for Data and High Performance Computingprovides the organizational foundation to harness our strategiccapabilities and attack the most challenging problems that face societytoday."

A key mission of IDH will be to enhance Georgia Tech's scientificcontributions, reputation and impact, focusing on the exploitation ofHPC technology coupled with the development of novel computationalmethods. The institute will promote the development of software andtools to enhance multidisciplinary research and enable discovery andinnovation. In addition, it will work closely with the Office ofInformation Technology to ensure effective, faculty-driven governanceconcerning the acquisition and use of HPC resources on campus.

The institute's interim director will be Dr. Richard Fujimoto,Regents' Professor and head of Computational Science & Engineeringin the College of Computing. One important objective for Dr. Fujimotowill be to focus on developing new innovations in computational methodsinto useable tools and software to advance research in the applicationdomain. Creating computational artifacts that provide value toapplication researchers and can be exported beyond the Tech campusprovides a critical avenue to maximize the impact of Georgia Techresearch innovations.

"Georgia Tech has made substantial infrastructure and personnelinvestments in high performance computing, and achieved many importantsuccesses, over the last five years," said Dr. Fujimoto. "I fullyanticipate that IDH will enable us to advance beyond prototypes to newlevels of accomplishment in the high performance computing area."

Key participants in the preliminary groundwork leading to thecreation of the institute include Dr. David Bader, Professor in theCollege of Computing, and Dr. Ron Hutchins, Chief Technology Officerfor Georgia Tech. Their expertise and community-building activitieshelped bring together the various Georgia Tech constituencies withinterests in the HPC area, and they will remain active players in IDHas it develops and grows.

The Georgia Tech Institute for Data and High Performance Computing will begin operation immediately.