Development of Computer Cluster for the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

在国家科学基金会的部分支持下，麻省理工学院经济系计算机集群将升级其计算设施。由于计算在经济研究中作用的爆炸性增长，该部已达到现有硬件的极限。为了缓解这种情况，它将进行一个三部分的计划，以升级其现有的仪器。这包括：购买一台大幅升级的部门工作站和文件服务器；升级个人计算机设施，加强研究生办公室的个人计算机连接；购买一台IBM RS/6000工作站、一台专用文件服务器和增加10千兆字节的磁盘空间。三组教职员工及其附属研究生将成为此次升级的主要受益者。这些研究人员中的许多人致力于数据密集型的经验、微观和宏观经济学问题；其他人使用模拟方法来解决经济理论中的问题，而第三组人则致力于开发新的计量经济学工具。扩建后的设施还将使许多研究生和本科生受益，并为进一步的教学和研究服务。

With partial support from the National Science Foundation, the MIT Economics Department Computer Cluster will upgrade its computing facility. As a result of an explosion in the role of computation in economic research, the Department has reached the limits of existing hardware. To alleviate this situation, it will undertake a three part program to upgrade its current instrumentation. This includes: the purchase of a substantially upgraded departmental workstation and fileserver; the upgrading of PC facilities and increased connectivity of PCs in graduate student offices; purchase of an IBM RS/6000 workstation, a dedicated file server, and 10 gigabytes of additional disc space. Three groups of faculty members and their affiliated graduate students will be the primary beneficiaries of this upgrade. Many of these researchers are working on data-intensive empirical micro- and macro-economics questions; others employ simulation methods to solve problems in economic theory while a third group is engaged in developing new econometric tools. The expanded facilities will also benefit numbers of both graduate and undergraduate students and serve to further teaching as well as research.