Acquisition of High Performance Computers for the Northeastern Undergraduate Research Chemistry Consortium

Hamilton College, Clinton NY

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, a consortium of universities in the northeastern United States will acquire a suite of high-end computers. Faculty members from Hamilton, Colgate, Vassar, Holy Cross, St. Lawrence, Connecticut, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges will share the equipment to carry out research in environmental sciences, biochemistry, materials chemistry, and bioinorganic chemistry. The consortium will purchse two workstations for each institution and a 32 processor supercomputer will be located at Hamilton College. This equipment will enable new teaching laboratories in the physical chemistry courses at these institutions and will provide hands-on training for student researchers at these primarily undergraduate institutions. A cluster of fast, modern computer workstations is vital to serving the computing needs of active research departments. Such a "computer network" also serves as a development environment for new theoretical codes and algorithms, provides cutting-edge graphics and visualization facilities, and supports research in state-of-the-art applications of parallel processing. These studies will have a significant impact in a number of areas, including biochemistry and materials sciences.