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IU awarded large grant to create innovative new
computing facility
Oct. 26, 2001
GARY, Ind. -- Indiana University today (Oct. 26) announced that IU has
received a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a
new and innovative facility called AVIDD for processing data generated by large
scientific instruments. It will be a major new tool for teaching and research.
AVIDD initially will be distributed across three IU campuses -- at Gary (IU
Northwest), Bloomington and Indianapolis -- and will be integrated with very
high network bandwidth using the university's new Optical Fiber Infrastructure.
AVIDD will provide an integrated and coherent way of managing, analyzing and
visualizing the vast amounts of data generated by the new generations of large
scientific instruments used by IU faculty, scientists, researchers and students
on their campuses and in collaboration with researchers worldwide.
Funded out of NSF's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, AVIDD will
comprise a new experimental supercomputer, massive amounts of disk storage, and
multiple visualization devices. This new experimental supercomputer will
strongly complement the new production supercomputer announced by IU and IBM
last week and has about half the power of that system.
"This major grant adds yet another significant element to the university's
world-class information technology infrastructure which has been built to
support teaching and expand research capabilities across all IU campuses," said
IU President Myles Brand. "AVIDD will not only provide new and local research
resources for our faculty, but at our IU Northwest campus it will also enable us
to offer our students a broader selection of classes in the sciences and
mathematics," Brand said.
This distributed facility for managing, analyzing and visualizing
instrument-driven data flows, known as AVIDD, is designed to support the full
"data life cycle" for information generated by research and scientific
instruments, particularly in data-intensive sciences such as biology, chemistry,
computing, anthropology and geology.
This life cycle includes data capture, transfer, real time analysis and
processing, storage -- both local and remote -- and retrieval. In addition, the
AVIDD facility will include visualization and data presentation environments
that will support high-quality 3-D visualization, collaborative research and
distance education.
IU Northwest Chancellor Bruce Bergland is particularly enthusiastic about the
educational aspect of the grant, specifically the 8-by-6-foot visualization
display wall that will be installed on campus as part of AVIDD for teaching and
distributed education.
"The ability to offer a broader array of classes in scientific computing,
mathematics and the sciences means that our students will feel more confident
and be better prepared to pursue further education and careers in these fields,"
Bergland said. "The IU Northwest student body includes a high percentage of
students from traditionally under-represented groups, and we want not only to
prepare but encourage these students to become members of the scientific
computing community, where so many key advances in science are made."
"I am pleased to see that Indiana University will receive National Science
Foundation funding to support research and student training across a broad range
of instrument-driven and data-intensive science areas," said U.S. Rep. Peter J.
Visclosky. "This funding, more importantly now than ever, is a sound investment
in the area of research and development, which will lead to better products and
services that improve the quality of life and stimulate economic growth."
"With its MRI program, NSF helps universities across the United States to
upgrade important facilities for research and education," said George Strawn,
NSF assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.
"This award to Indiana University is a prime example of cyber-infrastructure,
one purpose of which is to provide real-time access to scientific
instrumentation across the Internet, along with tools to manage the massive
amounts of data generated by such devices."
Michael A. McRobbie, IU vice president for information technology and the
principal investigator for the AVIDD grant, said, "Following closely on the
heels of IU's acquisition of the nation's largest university-owned production
supercomputer, this grant will enable the establishment of an experimental
facility that will leverage and complement IU's other facilities in massive data
storage and networking facilities while providing a new capability principally
for data-intensive science.
About Indiana University Northwest
Indiana University Northwest is the campus of Indiana University serving the
seven northwest counties of Indiana. With more than 70 degree and certificate
programs, the campus offers students access to an excellent combination of
liberal and professional studies.
About Indiana University
Indiana University is one of the oldest state universities in the Midwest and
also one of the largest universities in the United States, with more than
110,000 students, faculty and staff on eight campuses. IU has a growing national
and international reputation in the areas of information technology and advanced
networking. IU's extensive IT environment is made up of high performance
computing resources, facilities for massive data storage, and advanced
visualization laboratories that enable leading scientists to visualize, analyze
and store vast amounts of data and information. IU's two main departments of
computer science include internationally recognized experts in high performance
computing and visualization.
(Jeff Lorber, 219-981-4232, jlorber@iun.edu or Craig Stewart, 812-855-4240, stewart@indiana.edu)