MRI-R2: Acquisition of Shared Cluster and Database Computing Facilities at Wesleyan University

MRI-R2：收购卫斯理大学的共享集群和数据库计算设施

• 批准号: 0959856
• 负责人: Francis Starr
• 金额: $ 29.87万
• 依托单位: Wesleyan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-05-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0959856&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; R2; Acquisition; Shared; Cluster

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)." Proposal #: 09-59856PI(s): Starr, Francis W.; Beveridge, David, L.; Weir, Michael, P.Institution: Wesleyan University Title: MRI-R2/Acq: Shared Cluster and Database Computing Facilities at Wesleyan UniversityProject Proposed:This project, acquiring a shared, state-of-the-art, mid-sized super-computing cluster and database server, supports intensive research computing and corresponding initiatives at the institution. The current central facilities are no longer able to meet the intensive research computing and corresponding initiatives in education, as evidenced by a five-fold increase in the number of pending jobs over a period of two years. The requested cluster roughly doubles the size of the central super-computing facility, as well as adds new support for informatics-based research that relies heavily on relational database mining.Research programs in astrophysics, biomaterials, liquid state chemical physics, nanotechnology, quantum chemistry, molecular biophysics, neuroinformatics, and structural bioinformatics, all require high-end computing resources and have become increasingly dependent on high-performance computing facilities. All these areas offer courses that involve hands-on computation. Currently, a large number of faculty, staff and students are active research users, and roughly 2/3 of those are students; additionally, 40-50 students per year make use of facilities for course related computational activities.Based on consultations with the current primary users of the system and the systems administrator, the new proposed cluster consists of 40-50 CPU nodes, each with two Intel Xeon quad core processors, and containing 8-16 GB of storage. An infiniband interconnect will connect the processors to facilitate parallel applications. Data storage is provided for the user calculations via a RAID array of 30-40 TB. The dedicated database server has dual 4 or 6-core processors, a large memory footprint, and high performance local disks to store the database.The system is housed in the renovated facility on the Information Technology Services (ITS) floor of the Wesleyan Science Tower, maintained by a designated ITS systems manager and made available for research and instructional needs over the current WESNET network. A faculty Computer Advisory Committee provides academic oversight, manages allocation requests, and coordinates with ITS. The institution continues to support the administration of the new system.Broader Impacts: The instrument services both the faculty research and student education. It enables new science to be produced in the course of diverse research projects and impacts the ongoing instruction in the University, serving as a learning tool to develop student scientific computing proficiency both through existing courses and participating in faculty-led research. To further extend the educational and training goals, a new Scientific Computing and Informatics Center (SCIC) was developed with funding support from the University, aimed at facilitating the effective use of the new high-performance computing facility by all faculty and students, and supporting the educational initiatives of courses utilizing computational resources. The SCIC also operates a summer program supporting undergraduate research and developing teaching modules (in collaboration with relevant faculty) that directly impacts many courses across the curriculum. The cluster and database facility also serve as a focal point and resource for undergraduate students in computationally intensive courses of study, including a recently approved interdisciplinary 'Certificate Program in Informatics and Modeling'. This interdisciplinary program functions effectively as a minor field of study alongside major fields. The program has two elements, a computational and an informatics foci.

“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。“提案编号：09- 59856 PI（s）：Starr，弗朗西斯W.; Beveridge，大卫，L.; Weir，Michael，P.机构：卫斯理大学 MRI-R2/采集：Wesleyan大学共享集群和数据库计算设施项目建议：该项目将获得一个共享的、最先进的中型超级计算集群和数据库服务器，支持该机构的密集研究计算和相应的举措。目前的中央设施已无法满足密集的研究计算和相应的教育倡议，这一点可以从两年内待聘职位数量增加五倍得到证明。 所请求的集群大约是中央超级计算设施的两倍大小，以及为严重依赖关系数据库挖掘的基于信息学的研究提供新的支持。天体物理学，生物材料学，液态化学物理学，纳米技术，量子化学，分子生物物理学，神经信息学和结构生物信息学的研究计划，所有这些都需要高端计算资源，并且越来越依赖于高性能计算设施。所有这些领域都提供涉及动手计算的课程。 目前，大量的教职员工和学生是活跃的研究用户，其中大约2/3是学生;此外，每年有40至50名学生使用该系统的设施进行与课程有关的计算活动。根据与该系统目前的主要用户和系统管理员的协商，新建议的群集包括40至50个CPU节点，每个都有两个英特尔至强四核处理器，并包含8-16 GB的存储空间。 Infiniband互连将连接处理器以促进并行应用。 通过30-40 TB的RAID阵列为用户计算提供数据存储。 专用的数据库服务器具有双4或6核处理器、大内存占用和高性能本地磁盘来存储数据库。该系统位于Wesleyan Science Tower信息技术服务（ITS）层的翻新设施中，由指定的ITS系统管理员维护，并通过当前的WESNET网络提供研究和教学需求。教师计算机咨询委员会提供学术监督，管理分配请求，并与ITS协调。该机构继续支持新系统的管理。更广泛的影响：该仪器服务于教师研究和学生教育。 它使新的科学在不同的研究项目的过程中产生，并影响在大学正在进行的教学，作为一种学习工具，通过现有的课程和参与教师主导的研究，培养学生的科学计算能力。为了进一步扩展教育和培训目标，在大学的资助下，开发了一个新的科学计算和信息学中心（SCIC），旨在促进所有教师和学生有效使用新的高性能计算设施，并支持利用计算资源的课程的教育计划。 SCIC还开展了一个暑期项目，支持本科生研究和开发教学模块（与相关教师合作），直接影响整个课程的许多课程。集群和数据库设施也作为一个焦点和资源，为本科生在计算密集型课程的研究，包括最近批准的跨学科的“信息学和建模证书课程”。这个跨学科的计划有效地作为一个主要领域旁边的研究未成年人领域。 该计划有两个要素，计算和信息学焦点。