The Texas Advanced Computer Center (TACC) has released the inaugural edition of Texascale, its annual magazine. Texascale contains stories that highlight the people, science, systems, and programs that make TACC one of the leading academic computing centers in the world.
“We have launched this magazine to bring news from our center to the many stakeholders who support us,” wrote Dan Stanzione, Executive Director of TACC. “The work we do at TACC has never been more central to research at The University of Texas at Austin, and around the state, the nation, and the world.”
Several of the inaugural issue’s feature stories are highlighted below.
Computation for the Endless Frontier
In an inconspicuous-looking data center on The University of Texas at Austin’s J. J. Pickle Research Campus, construction is underway on one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
The Frontera system (Spanish for “frontier”) will allow the nation’s academic scientists and engineers to probe questions both cosmic and commonplace — What is the universe composed of? How can we produce enough food to feed the Earth’s growing population? — that cannot be addressed in a lab or in the field; that require the number-crunching power equivalent to a small city’s worth of computers to solve; and that may be critical to the survival of our species.
Protecting Pregnancy with Smartphones
Women in the U.S. are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than other women in the developed world. About 700 women die each year in the U.S. as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications.
Unlike other leading causes of death such as cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, birth-related deaths are largely preventable. Today, however, most adverse pregnancy outcomes are not predictable, and thus cannot be avoided, partly because of a lack of medical data.
Fighting Cancer With Supercomputers
Cancer kills more than 500,000 people each year. There’s a greater than 40 percent chance on average that you will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in your lifetime, and a one in five chance that it will be terminal. But the tide might be turning on this terrible disease, thanks to developments in cancer treatments, diagnostics, medical imaging, and basic knowledge.
Hundreds of cancer researchers use supercomputers at TACC to explore aspects of the disease that can’t be studied in labs or clinical trials. What follows are eight ways TACC is helping oncologists, surgeons, and computer scientists improve our fundamental understanding of cancer and the methods for its diagnosis and treatment.
To read more stories from the inaugural issue of Texascale, follow this link.