Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


New U Illinois Institute Pushes Parallel Computing Research into Double Time

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 04/14/11

A new institute within the University of Illinois' Coordinated Science Laboratory will focus on research and development in the area of parallel computing. The Parallel Computing Institute will promote interdisciplinary projects by providing access to resources and infrastructure, teaching students, going after grants, and facilitating partnerships among academia and industry.

The parallel computing scenario sets up multiple processors to work together on complex computing problems. The institute is the latest in a number of parallel computing-related operations at the university, including the Microsoft- and Intel-sponsored Universal Parallel Computing Research Center and the Institute for Advanced Computation and Applications Technology. Currently, U Illinois is also building Blue Waters, a joint effort with IBM and the Great Lakes Consortium for Petascale Computation, funded by the National Science Foundation. Blue Waters will be used for open scientific research and is anticipated to be one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world when it's done.

"Illinois is already a leader in parallel computing, with tremendous depth and breadth in this area," said Bill Gropp, director of the new institute and a researcher in the Coordinated Science Lab. "What [the institute] aims to do is to provide researchers in different disciplines the opportunity to collaborate in an innovative, resource-rich environment. By approaching problems in a strategic, interdisciplinary way, we can develop solutions with greater impact."

One of the institute's first areas of focus will be research and education related to making it easier to program on parallel platforms. Areas of research will include building compilers for single-chip parallelism and designing new architectures for massively parallel systems.

The institute's administrators will work with researchers to prepare and submit proposals, reach out to potential industry partners, and make introductions among scientists in different fields to tackle problems in a systematic, interdisciplinary way.

The institute will capitalize on growing industry interest in parallelism, said Wen-mei Hwu, the institute's chief scientist. "Many commercial developers and software vendors are beginning to tackle parallel programming issues. We want to be the place where they come for help."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Abstract background with digital shield made of data particles glowing blue blocking against cyber attacks

    Report: AI Attacks Push Organizations Toward Autonomous Cybersecurity Defense

    Artificial intelligence is raising the stakes of cyber conflict as attackers use the technology to accelerate reconnaissance, uncover vulnerabilities, and launch attacks faster than many security teams can respond.

  • Hootsuite

    Beyond the Feed: How Higher Ed Turns Social Media Into a Measurable Enrollment Engine

    More than half of prospective students research programs on social media before visiting a university website, and nearly half will skip applying to a school that looks inactive online. Hootsuite, the all-in-one social OS platform trusted by more than 2,000 higher education institutions, helps campus teams turn everyday posts into measurable outcomes, from applications to alumni giving.

  • Blue digital wireframe classical building structure

    Before AI, Fix Your Data

    Institutions don't have to solve every data problem before they can begin using AI responsibly. But they do need to treat information as a strategic asset — not a byproduct of operations — and start building toward AI-ready data now.

  • Silhouettes of business professionals stand against a blurred futuristic city skyline at night, with a glowing digital network data connection

    It's Time for Higher Ed to Get Serious About AI Strategy

    Without a coordinated strategy that involves multiple academic and administrative units across the entire campus, colleges risk wasting resources, duplicating efforts, and ultimately failing to deliver on the promise of deploying technology to improve learning and operations.