Now Ohio’s research scientists and faculty members alike can use the Ohio Supercomputer Center’s (OSC) high performance computing resources (HPC). Graduate and postdoctoral students enjoy the same access through their professors.
Unlike many computing facilities, OSC’s liberal user policy puts some of the world’s most powerful supercomputing resources at the fingertips of academic researchers and computational scientists – resources that were once exclusively reserved for tenure-track faculty members.
“We have extended eligibility to include research scientists who maintain full-time positions administered by an Ohio academic institution,” says Leslie Southern, director of OSC’s HPC division. “With the growth in research activities at universities, colleges, and institutions throughout Ohio, computational scientists can use OSC to leverage their quests for funding and to produce the significant studies that place them among the nation’s leading researchers.”
Today, many of these leading scientific researchers are chasing increasingly scarce funding dollars. OSC gives Ohio’s academic researchers an edge in this competition, enabling them to strengthen both their own work and the reputation of their institutions and the state.
Access to OSC’s resources isn’t the only advantage scientific researchers experience at the Center. At OSC, scientists can use state-of-the-art HPC facilities at no charge. Their research groups share the same privileges and often consist of peers from all over the world including postdoctoral assistants gaining invaluable experience in their fields, and graduate students, Ohio’s next generation of scientists.
OSC’s HPC resources are also a significant asset to researchers seeking outside funding since the Center is nationally recognized as a supporter of important research in many disciplines. The number of publications acknowledging researchers’ use of OSC grows weekly.
Applying HPC methods is critical to tomorrow’s scientists. OSC enables professors to incorporate these methods into their curricula through class accounts on its supercomputers and by using statewide software licenses for undergraduate research. The experience of completing class research assignments on OSC’s computers enhances students’ career opportunities after graduation. In fact, the Center has several lead researchers whose professors introduced them to OSC and HPC in graduate school. The retention of gifted scientists in Ohio strengthens the state’s economy and status.
In addition, OSC’s Ralph Regula School of Computational Science (RRSCS) is a virtual statewide school focused on teaching computer modeling and simulation to K-20 students. A collaborative project of OSC, the Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio Learning Network (OLN), RRSCS instructs students on modeling and simulation applications to solve real-world problems in a wide range of fields including medicine, manufacturing, finance, and earth science. As a result, RRSCS graduates will be better prepared for their chosen fields of study, placing them at the cutting edge of innovation and discovery.
For more information about obtaining an OSC account, visit http://www.osc.edu/supercomputing.
About OSC
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007, the Ohio Supercomputer Center is a catalytic partner of Ohio universities and industries to enable Ohio to compete for international, federal, and state funding, focusing on new research and business opportunities. It provides a reliable high performance computing and high performance communications infrastructure for a diverse statewide/regional community including education, academic research, industry, and state government. OSC promotes and stimulates computational research and education in order to act as a key enabler for the state's aspirations in advanced technology, information systems, and advanced industries. For additional information visit: http://www.osc.edu.
