W.Va. State University Improves Research Capacity With High-Performance Computer
Campus to celebrate improved cyber infrastructure with CI-Day event

INSTITUTE, W.Va. –With its new high-performance computing (HPC) system on campus, West Virginia State University continues to position itself among the state’s leaders in higher education research.

The system, nicknamed ‘Stinger’ in honor of the school’s Yellow Jacket mascot, will be showcased in a special event called Cyber-Infrastructure Day (CI-Day) Friday, Aug. 31, from 9 a.m. until noon in the Drain-Jordan Library on campus.              

“This system improves the speed at which our research faculty, students and staff can process data,” said Dr. J. Ulises Toledo, associate dean of WVSU’s Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute. “These new resources and capabilities at the University are creating added research opportunities for our faculty and students.”               

Located in the Drain-Jordan Library’s new Computational Science Center, ‘Stinger’ features a HPC cluster including 10 24-GB RAM compute nodes, a visualization tile (viz-wall) display with nine 46-inch, high resolution monitors, classroom seating and conference space. Along with this HPC system, campus bandwidth in some buildings has been increased from 1 to 10 gigabits per second to meet demand.               

CI-Day will feature presentations from faculty members and students, showcasing the applications of the computer system. Keynote speaker, Dr. Ravi D. Barabote, assistant professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas, will speak on microbial genomics and bioinformatics for bioenergy. The event will also offer two mini-workshops on HPC and visualization environment basics taught by Dr. Venkat Gudivada, professor of computer sciences at Marshall University, and Dr. Jack Smith, director of information technology at the Higher Education Policy Commission’s Division of Science and Research.Funding for ‘Stinger’ comes from the Research Infrastructure Improvement Track 2 (RII Track 2) program of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). EPSCoR is an initiative of the National Science Foundation intended to promote scientific progress nationwide.               

More information about the CI-Day event at WVSU can be found online at grdi.wvstateu.edu.