Dukka KC, Computer Science, associate dean for research, is the principal investigator of a new two-year, $432,111 National Science Foundation grant titled, “MRI: Acquisition of a GPU-accelerated cluster for research, training and outreach.”
Co-PIs of the project are Zhenlin Wang (CS), Laura Brown (CS), Jinfeng Jiang (BME), and Issei Nakamura (Physics).
The multi-disciplinary project also involves more than 20 additional Michigan Tech faculty as Senior Personnel: Tao Liu, Benjamin Ong, Junqiao Qiu, Ashraf Saleem, Xiaoyong Yuan, Snehamoy Chatterjee, Gregory Odegard, Nathir Rawashdeh, Sidike Paheding, Weihua Zhou, Timothy Havens, Christo Christov, Susanta Ghosh, Gowtham, Yakov Nekrich, Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova, and Elena Giusarma.
“This is truly a multi-disciplinary project that would not have been possible without the active involvement of more than 20 faculty across the campus,” says Dukka.
Project Abstract
This project will enable ground-breaking research at Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech) by acquiring a high-performance computing cluster to be named DeepBlizzard. DeepBlizzard will accelerate scientific discoveries in basic research and technological innovations by addressing emergent and longer-term needs with broad societal impacts in multiple disciplines: chemistry, forestry, mathematics, physics, engineering (biomedical, mechanical, materials science), and computer science. DeepBlizzard will be utilized by over 125 users across 20 departments and 5 Colleges at Michigan Tech and by partners at North Carolina A&T University. DeepBlizzard will catalyze and accelerate research, enable dissemination of results, and expand opportunities for collaboration, thereby promoting the advancement of these diverse scientific domains. The project will also provide various training, teaching, and outreach activities to produce a highly trained and diverse technical workforce, including the next generation of scientists. Throughout its life, DeepBlizzard will serve as the epicenter of innovative research by enabling and supporting cross-disciplinary and collaborative research opportunities.
The DeepBlizzard high-performance computing cluster is designed by a team of experts from Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, and Biomedical Engineering in coordination with Information Technology (IT) professionals. The instrument architecture is based on graphical processing unit (GPU) based accelerators. DeepBlizzard is configured to meet three major requirements: high-performance deep learning and inference; high-performance single, double, and mixed-precision calculations; and the ability to execute codes using high levels of parallelism. These requirements map to the needs of ongoing and proposed computational research endeavors at Michigan Tech. In addition, several outreach and training activities – developed in partnership with Michigan Tech’s existing NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site, NSF/NSA GenCyber Camp, and other programs involving K-12, undergraduate, and graduate student, and historically marginalized groups in STEM – will provide seamless integration of research activities with outreach.