MRI: Acquisition of a High Performance Central Computing Facility at University of California Santa Barbara

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project, acquiring a computer cluster (mini-supercomputer) to replace the old one, aims to serve the computational needs facilitating scientific research and education in multiple areas. The machine includes 120 node Infiniband interconnected cluster for efficient message passing interface (MPI) parallel processing, four shared memory "fat nodes" with 1 Terabyte (TB) of memory/node, four graphic processing unit (GPU) nodes built around NVIDIA Tesla P100 1 Gigabyte (GB) GPUs, and four Intel Knight's Landing nodes. This blended system will serve the computational needs of the vast majority of campus researchers. This system will also service users needing large-scale resources by allowing development, prototyping, and benchmarking calculations locally, prior to production runs at supercomputer centers. The research enabled spans multiple departments and supports research in many campus centers including AlloSphere Research Facility, the California Nanosystems Institute, the Center of Polymers and Organic Solids, the Earth Research Institute, the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics, the Marine Science Institute, the Materials Research Laboratory, and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. This interdisciplinary and mainly collaborative research will be facilitated by the presence of an available local facility, without the administrative hurdles and delays associated with application to supercomputing centers. Broader Impacts: The cluster is expected to play a prominent role in educating the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The NSF Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program in Network Science and Big Data will also employ the cluster that will additionally be utilized by undergraduates, high school, and community college students and K-12 teachers via existing sponsored programs. It will also contribute to attract others students and researchers. Furthermore the facility will service graduate participants in the University of California Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (UCLEADS) and the Bridges to Doctorate programs. These programs help increase the number of under-represented students involved.