Contact: Bob Ratliff
Mississippi State now is home to one of the most powerful university computing centers in the nation.
Thanks to its 64-processor SUN HPC 10000 unit, the MSU/National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center is the 13th most powerful site at an American university, according to data released at last week's Supercomputing '99 international conference.
At the meeting in Mannheim, Germany, MSU also was listed as the 39th most powerful computer site at any academic location--and 259th most powerful site of any type--in the world.
"In certain application areas, such as the ability to simulate the maneuverability of ships and submarines, Mississippi State is at the top in the world," said ERC director Don Trotter.
Since its creation in 1990, the MSU/ERC has become a world leader in applying complex geometry and physics to solve industrial problems, including those related to the simulation of fluid flow around ships, submarines and aircraft. The U.S. Navy has selected computer codes developed by the laboratory for use in construction of its ships.
Twice a year, the universities of Tennessee and Mannheim release the Top 500 of supercomputer sites. MSU first made the cut last summer at No. 326.
The state currently ranks third in computing power behind New Mexico and California.
The new rankings show "some significant changes" in the world of supercomputing, said Joe Thompson, chief technology officer at MSU and a member of President Clinton's advisory committee on high performance computing. "MIT, UCLA and Princeton are among many universities that dropped off the Top 500 list as other sites upgraded," he observed.
"Mississippi State advanced and is one of only 17 U.S. universities listed," he added. "We also are second in the Southeast."
Thompson said the acquisition and application of computing power "is helping MSU accomplish its goal of becoming one of the nation's top 50 research universities."
In addition to MSU, the state is home to supercomputing centers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg and in the Naval Oceanographic Office at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.