Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

SU joins New York State higher education grid computing project

Wednesday, September 13, 2006, By News Staff
Share

SU joins New York State higher education grid computing projectSeptember 13, 2006Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

Syracuse University has joined forces with seven public and private universities in a new venture to provide researchers access to high-powered computing resources through the New York State Grid. In addition to SU, the universities involved in the project are the University at Buffalo (project lead), Binghamton University, the University at Albany, Cornell University, New York University, the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester.

In order to join the Grid, SU is building a prototype Beowulf Class computer cluster, which will eventually be available to all researchers on campus and centrally supported by SU’s Information Technology and Services (ITS). To learn more about the new SU computer cluster and the University’s role in the New York State Grid project, all SU researchers are invited to attend a luncheon at noon on Sept. 20, hosted by Ben Ware, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School. Please RSVP via e-mail to Kathleen Leavens at klleaven@syr.edu by no later than Sept. 18.

“Sharing computing resources expands our capabilities and reduces our costs,” Ware says. “The NYS Grid is the best opportunity we have seen to participate in a generalized grid development that can benefit researchers in many different fields of research.”

The centrally supported Beowulf computer cluster will be the third “super computer” cluster available at SU. Five years ago, the Department of Physics in The College of Arts and Sciences built the Weasel, a second-generation, 102-node Beowulf cluster; three years ago, the Maxwell School built a 37-node Beowulf cluster. Both clusters are working at maximum capacity.

The ITS-supported cluster will initially have a much smaller local capacity than either the Weasel or the Maxwell School cluster, however, the ITS cluster will be the gateway to the NYS Grid, which could provide virtually unlimited computing resources for the SU research community.

“Scientists will be able to log into the grid, indicate the amount of CPU resources and computing time they need, and the grid software will look at all available resources and grant access to a cluster that will enable them to do their calculations,” says Jorge Gonzalez-Outeiri?o, scientific IT analyst for SU’s Information Technology and Services.

Gonzalez-Outeiri?o, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, is building the SU cluster and is the SU representative on the NYS Grid project. Before arriving at SU in April 2005, Gonzalez-Outeiri?o was a postdoctoral research associate in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia, where his research group, led by Robert J. Woods, built the center’s first Beowulf cluster. “We called it the eBay cluster, because we initially had few funds and bought most of the parts on eBay,” Gonzalez-Outeiri?o says.

However, that eBay cluster, and the later addition of two more Beowulf clusters, enabled Gonzalez-Outeiri?o and his partners to conduct groundbreaking research that is part of the first steps in developing a vaccine for Group B, Type III streptococcus (GBS-III). GBS-III is carried by an estimated 25 percent of pregnant women and is responsible for life-threatening illnesses in newborn babies. Gonzalez-Outeiri?o’s research group was the first to predict a model of the three-dimensional structure of the GBS-III protein-carbohydrate complex and its components. The discoveries required more than a month of computer resources running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The research has been published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2006) and in Carbohydrate Research (2005).

“Without the Beowulf computing resources, we would not have been able to do the simulations needed to determine the molecule’s structure,” Gonzalez-Outeiri?o says. “We need to provide these kinds of computing services to all scientists. That is why SU is involved in the grid computing project.”

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Pre-Registration Open for On-Campus Vaccine Clinic
    Friday, April 16, 2021, By News Staff
  • Commencement 2021 Update
    Friday, April 16, 2021, By News Staff
  • Activities for the Weekend of April 15-19 | Submit Proof of Vaccination
    Thursday, April 15, 2021, By News Staff
  • ‘Biden is Considering Overhauling the Supreme Court. That’s Happened During Every Crisis in US Democracy’
    Thursday, April 15, 2021, By Lily Datz
  • ‘It Was Never All or Nothing in Afghanistan’
    Thursday, April 15, 2021, By News Staff

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Spring 2021

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

“Why aren’t NY farm workers in the Covid-19 vaccine line?”

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, associate professor of food studies in Falk College, was interviewed for the Syracuse.com story “Why aren’t NY farm workers in the Covid-19 vaccine line?” Minkoff-Zern, an expert on the intersections of food and social justice, comments on the…

“Biden to broaden US-Mexican relations, keep immigration at top.”

Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history in the Maxwell School, was quoted in the Al Jazeera story “Biden to broaden US-Mexican relations, keep immigration at top.” McCormick, an expert on US-Mexico relations, believes that Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador…

“The long game: COVID changed the way we play, watch, cheer”

Dennis Deninger, professor of practice in Falk College and the Newhouse School, was quoted in the Associated Press story “The long game: COVID changed the way we play, watch, cheer.” Deninger, an expert on sports television and media, believes that…

“Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Ratings: Oprah Interview Draws 17.1 Million Viewers.”

Robert Thompson, Trustee Professor of television, radio and film and director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture in the Newhouse School, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal story “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Ratings: Oprah Interview…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.