Students participating in a program starting July 14 at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) in Columbus will use computers similar to the one that Garry Kasparov lost a chess match to earlier this year.
The 16 students will use the Center's high end computing and networking resources to work on problems not unlike those that chemists, physicists, and engineers try to solve. They were selected out of 51 applicants to participate in the 1997 Summer Institute program sponsored by OSC and The Ohio State University.
The program exposes students to scientific computing and also teaches them about teamwork. The students will be divided into groups to work on computational problems ranging from simulating crystal growth in a computer to creating three-dimensional "worlds" that will be explored through the World Wide Web.
"We want the students to learn the value in solving problems as a team," said Charlie Bender, Center director. "Realizing that there is no 'I' in the word 'teamwork' is what this program is all about."
The students will come from across the state of Ohio to learn the ins and outs of the Center's supercomputers. They also will learn about the rapidly growing world of high performance computing and networking from experts in the field, including Irene Qualters, President of Cray Research and Senior Vice President of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Other activities during the two-week program will include a tour of the OSU Nuclear Reactor Laboratory and a visit to METATEC, a local CD-ROM manufacturer.
The Ohio Supercomputer Center is a state-funded resource serving Ohio's higher education community. The Center facilitates discoveries that enhance Ohio's economic development and supports statewide technological advancement and education. The Center's networking initiative provides Internet access to more than a half-million faculty, staff, and students at Ohio's colleges and universities. State government agencies in Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as well as many K-12 schools, also use OSC Networking's high-quality networking service to connect to the Internet.
