Cornell University has given its high-performance computing centre a makeover, with a new name, new director, and plans to expand and develop in the near future.
Previously known at Cornell University’s Theory Centre, the department will be renamed the Centre for Advanced Computing. Using significant support from the university, it will continue to develop advances in supercomputing while also acting as an HPC backbone to the universities various research groups and collaborators.
More and more researchers are now collecting large volumes of digital data, which need vast storage capabilities and high-speed processing to be analysed and processed into a useable format. It is hoped the new centre will be able to provide the support necessary for cutting-edge research.
David Lifka, the centre’s new director, will try to develop partnerships with other important organisations, including universities, the National Science Foundation, and industrial companies
Lifka was previously the director of high-performance and innovative computing at Cornell. He has a PhD in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and 19 years experience in high-performance computing at Cornell and Argonne National Laboratory.
The university has also named three assistant directors for the centre: Resa Alvord was appointed for systems, Susan Mehringer for consulting, and Paul Redfern for strategic partnerships.
Lifka explained his hopes for the new centre: ‘Cornell has unique strengths, both applied and fundamental, in computing, database, networking, and security technologies. Integrating these faculty strengths, complementing them with world-class collaborators, and focusing on breakthrough science will enable us to make vital contributions to the development of next-generation cyber-infrastructure.’
