October 25, 2013
New UW-Pacific NW National Lab computing-research institute holds first public workshop
- Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing Day
- Wednesday, Oct. 30, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- Husky Union Building, room 145
- Free; registration required
The University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on Oct. 30 will hold their first public workshop spearheaded by the institute they formed last January to foster collaborative computing research.
Based at the UW, the Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing‘s first public event will feature speakers from the two institutions and industry, as well as breakout sessions that explore various aspects of science and engineering technologies.
The daylong event at the UW’s Husky Union Building is free and open to the research community with online registration. Michael Bragg, the UW’s engineering dean, will join Steven Ashby, deputy director for science and technology at PNNL, in giving opening remarks, followed by several speakers who will explain the partnership and goals of the new institute.
Co-directors Vikram Jandhyala and Thom Dunning.
The afternoon sessions are geared toward academic and industry experts. Participants can choose to attend one of six breakout sessions on topics such as cybersecurity, big data, medical records, high-performance computing, and challenges in urban science and systems. The focus will be on brainstorming issues the new center will tackle, and creating partnerships and teams to reach those goals.
“This is the first decade when the majority of people live in cities, which puts a lot of pressure on urban infrastructure,” said institute co-director Vikram Jandhyala, UW chair and professor of electrical engineering. “City-based systems produce a lot of data, from medical records, electrical grids and energy usage to communication and traffic networks. We think there’s an opportunity, recognized as urban science, to optimize these systems by using computational science and engineering and data-driven discovery.”
The new institute was announced earlier this year, and is co-led by Jandhyala and Thom Dunning. Dunning currently directs a computing institute and a national supercomputing center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but will join PNNL in January to co-direct the new institute.
“The Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing offers an opportunity for two research powerhouses in Washington, UW and PNNL, to work together to advance scientific discovery, address important societal problems, and enhance industrial competitiveness,” Dunning said. “Prof. Jandhyala and I look forward to creating an environment that fosters collaborations between UW faculty and PNNL staff to address the most pressing challenges faced by science, society and industry.”
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For more information, contact Jandhyala at vj@uw.edu or 206-543-2186.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing • Vikram Jandhyala
