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RICHARD ALÓ'S NSF GRANT UPS UHD'S COMPUTER POWER

(Houston, Texas, March 5, 2007)   A $900,000 National Science Foundation Grant received last fall was awarded to Dr. Richard Aló, principal investigator.   The grant partners UHD with the San Diego Supercomputer Center to help Minority Serving Institutions gain access to the world-wide grid which allows access to the major databases around the world necessary for research.  The Minority Serving Institutions - Cyberinfrastructure Empowerment Coalition ( MSI-CIEC) project will support universities that are members of the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

How does it work?  A very powerful computer is required to access the grid.  The grant supports a networked computer system at an institution which forms a cluster.  The cluster acts like a powerful computer - what used to be called a supercomputer.  With it, that institution can access the grid.

Why is it so important to access the grid?  A great deal of valuable research cannot be completed without the information available on the grid or the extra computer power to manage the research.  A recent example of grid-use enabled by the MSI-CIEC project is a faculty/student real-time study of the shrinking polar icecaps at a historically black university which is a member of the group.   This project, received enthusiastically by the National Science Foundation, would not have been possible without the computer cluster supported by the grant.

In another NSF grant, UH-Downtown has set up its cluster grid, composed of 48 networked computers.  This cluster grid will be used to undertake research in data mining, graph theory, multi-agent systems, and wireless networking both here at UHD and collaboratively with other institutions.   Now, previously undertaken projects can be revisited, such as one in Bulgaria by Aló and research colleagues in the UHD College of Business examining the transition of companies from a centrally-planned economy to a free-market economy, can be revisited.  Much more could be accomplished on such a project as this with the power of the cluster and the grid at our disposal.

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN
UH-Downtown is a public university of nearly 12,000 students, offering a wide variety of bachelor’s degrees, as well as master’s programs in criminal justice, professional writing, security management and teaching. One of four distinct universities in the UH System, Houston’s Downtown University is nationally recognized for its student diversity, wireless campus, outstanding academic opportunities and productive community partnerships. At UHD, the emphasis is on excellence in teaching and student success.

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