Research Infrastructure: CC* Campus Compute: Next-Generation Shared HPC Cluster to Coordinate Campus Cyberinfrastructure and Accelerate Interdisciplinary Research

This project acquires and deploys state-of-the-art high-performance computing (HPC) resources to serve the researchers and educators of the four-campus Montana State University (MSU) System. The resources will significantly improve speed and capability of HPC-enabled simulations, computational modeling, data analysis, and machine learning, which will accelerate research productivity and capacity and enhance educational curricula. The resources will promote economic development around emerging technologies and strategic problem solving, such as advancing quantum science, addressing energy security, securing infrastructure, advancing semiconductor research, and improving environmental and climate forecasting. Combined with increased low-barrier access to HPC, new classes, trainings, workshops, and hands-on assistance enable more students and researchers to develop skills needed to apply HPC, and will thus broaden the workforce and research base for in-demand fields in a low-density and historically underinvested state. Targeted partnerships with minority-serving units on campus and institutions across Montana focus on increasing opportunities for underrepresented populations in or through the use of expanded computational science capabilities. The deployed resources are optimized for accelerating growing areas of data intensive research at MSU and partner institutions, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and material science, bioinformatics, precision agriculture, microbiology, computational chemistry, spatial sciences, topological data analysis, optics and photonics, and more. Resources include next-generation machine learning optimized graphics processing units (GPUs) paired with the latest central processing units (CPUs) and leverage an established foundation of high-speed storage and networking for a high performance/cost ratio. A portion of these resources will be available to the national research community through Open Science Grid. This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.