HPCwire: Golden Energy Computing Organization Established

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May 12, 2008

Golden Energy Computing Organization Established

GOLDEN, Colo., May 12 -- The Colorado School of Mines along with its partners, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has established the Golden Energy Computing Organization (GECO). This is a high performance computing group dedicated to energy science research. The four GECO research missions are to: pursue renewable resources; locate and develop existing resources; advance environmental stewardship; and, design new energy-related materials.

The Colorado School of Mines is hosting the primary computational resource for the collaboratory. Because of the energy science focus, the machine is aptly named Ra after the ancient Egyptian sun god. Ra is a Dell cluster with integration by X-ISS. It is a 268-node Rocks-based cluster containing Intel quad-core processors for a total of 2,144 cores, 5.7 terabytes of memory and a peak computational speed of 23 teraflops. Communication is handled using an InfiniBand fabric.

The May 9th dedication of Ra was officiated by Dr. Mark Lusk, the director of GECO. He highlighted the initial eight research projects that will have early access to Ra: characterization of hydrocarbon deposits; hydrate nucleation and growth; biomass conversion; photoelectrochemical production of hydrogen; next generation polymer batteries; ultracold designer solid state systems; prediction of climate changes; and, CO2 sequestration.

Education and outreach will be an important part of GECO. Dr. Lusk noted that "Our strategic goals are to hire new HPC faculty, offer new courses, and to provide five-year educational programs and a Ph.D. minor in High Performance Computing have already started to be realized ... A multi-faceted outreach program has been established to maximize the benefit of the GECO facility to underrepresented groups. For example, Salish Kootenai College, on the Flathead Indian Reservation, is a partner in this activity. The interaction is intended to enhance the educational experience of students in SKC's recently established B.S. degree in Computer Engineering. On a local front, special training and research opportunities will be made available to the CSM Society for Women Engineers."

GECO will offer their first HPC training class in June. Campus interest in the machine is high. Dr. Tim Kaiser, the university's director of HPC reported that: "We had almost four times as many people sign up for the class as we have space and will end up teaching introductory classes throughout the summer."

GECO is already looking to the future. Plans are underway for an Earth Energy Institute Building, which will have an extended machine room floor for follow on machines along with additional space for staffing, students and breakout facilities.

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Source: Colorado School of Mines

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