Fall 06: Research: Behind the Next Supercomputer

New center for nanotech innovation is born from a confluence of world-class resources

Supercomputer Next year, Rensselaer faculty and staff run one of the world’s most powerful supercomputing centers. Why Rensselaer? Because so many of the pieces were already in place.

“The entire process was built on two key building blocks,” said Mark Shephard, director of Rensselaer’s Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC). “The first is the relevant research expertise in scientific computation, nanotechnology, and integrated electronics focused in three Institute centers: the Scientific Computation Research Center, the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center, and the Center for Integrated Electronics. The second is the long-standing partnerships between IBM, New York state, and Rensselaer in research and education.”

This past May, Rensselaer, IBM, and New York announced the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI; see www.rpi.edu/research/ccni), a $100 million partnership to advance the science, engineering, and manufacturing of nanoscale materials, devices, and systems. With massively parallel supercomputers and more than 70 teraFLOPS of computing muscle, CCNI will enable the development and application of a new generation of modeling and simulation methods, all aimed at dramatically reducing the time and cost of design of devices and products that depend on the control of naonscale processes.

A Robust Infrastructure

Such computing muscle requires a robust cyberinfrastructure to support it—the kind that Rensselaer possesses in abundance. Already blessed with approximately 1,000 processors in department- or center-managed clusters, the Institute’s computing power saw a major expansion in 2005 with the advent of a campuswide machine room, currently containing five parallel clusters and more than 600 processors.

These processors communicate via a high-speed (10Mbps) local campus network that in turn connects to a fiber ring linking key facilities in New York’s Capital Region. The ring, in turn, is connected through the New York State Education and Research Network (NYSERNet) to the world’s key research networks.

Three Partners, One Focus

"Computational nanotechnology is absolutely essential for decreasing the time and cost of going from concept to commercialization. By producing new predictive design tools, CCNI will a play major role in driving nano industries to the next level."

—Mark Shepard, director of Rensselaer's Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC)

The focus on nanotechnology represents an ideal confluence of interests for the partners involved. “This is an obvious and natural choice for all partners,” Shephard explained. “New York state has made large strategic investments in the physical aspects of nanoelectronics. Adding the modeling technologies—and the horsepower to support the computational needs of this modeling—addresses a critical need and provides New York with a real competitive advantage.”

IBM stands to gain much from CCNI as well. “Modeling is central to IBM’s ability to develop its next generations of nanoelectronics devices,” said Shephard, “since the time and money needed to develop the fabrication facilities for a new design requires that the design be right the first time.”

With the confluence of interest and expertise in nanotechnology—and the robust Rensselaer computing and networking infrastructure—the CCNI can provide essential solutions for industry.“Technical and cost constraints are limiting the growth of the semiconductor industry and nanotechnology innovations,” Shephard said. “Computational nanotechnology is absolutely essential for decreasing the time and cost of going from concept to commercialization. By producing new predictive design tools, CCNI will play a major role in driving nano industries to the next level.”

Implementation of the CCNI

The Rensselaer CCNI team of faculty members, professional staff, and administrators are working on CCNI implementation in several parallel efforts: the design of the CCNI facilities at the Rensselaer Technology Park, the detailed CCNI computational systems, the definition of the CCNI research and development program, and the definition of a broad set of CCNI parthenships with industry, government agencies, and other academic institutions. For more information on the CCNI partnership possibilities, please contact Omkaram Nalamasu, vice president for research, nalamasu@rpi.edu; John Kolb, chief information officer, kolbj@rpi.edu; or Mark Shephard, director for SCOREC, shephm@rpi.edu.

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