A new center for research computing will launch Jan. 23 on the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston Campus. Recently passed by the URI Faculty Senate, with support and final approval from Vice President for Research & Economic Development Peter Snyder and Interim Provost Laura Beauvais, the URI Center for Computational Research was established with a mission to support, promote and grow high-level interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary computational research.
“The new URI Center for Computational Research will equip URI faculty and students with the tools and assistance necessary to further their research and scholarship and bring URI to the next level as a research leader in Rhode Island, throughout New England and beyond,” said Snyder.
Led by Gaurav Khanna, URI’s founding director of Research Computing and a professor of physics, and staffed by the ITS Research Computing team, the Center will support faculty research and engage with IT services teams to keep URI at the forefront of high performance computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and data science methods and technology. The Center will provide URI researchers with access to cutting-edge computing equipment; offer hands-on training and support and offer consulting services to better enable computational research.
The Center will be governed by a Faculty Senate committee, an external advisory board and URI Chief Information Officer Karlis Kaugars and will offer URI faculty and students with a supportive, broad, and deep interdisciplinary research computing environment.
“The formation of the Center represents the next step in the evolution of research computing at URI,” said Kaugars. “I am extremely proud and thankful for the great work Gaurav and his team have done over the past two years to make this critical resource available to support cutting-edge research at the University.”
In addition, the Center’s team will lead and assist researchers in seeking grant funding and facilitate access to a network of potential collaborators and resources for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. URI’s existing membership in the Massachusetts Green HPC Consortium will also be leveraged to grow research collaborations throughout the region.
“The formation of this new center is an exciting step for URI students and faculty engaged in research and will help to grow those efforts across our campuses,” said Khanna. “I look forward to establishing the URI Center for Computational Research as a center of excellence in the region and beyond.”
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