Pitt Launches Center for Advanced Scientific Computing
Center for Simulation and Modeling features projects ranging from global public health to the factors behind climate change
From mitigating
the causes of global warming to designing proteins for the treatment of
diseases, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh will now be able to
increase their potential for faster, more efficient and effective real-world
solutions through the University’s Center for Simulation and Modeling.
Launched Oct. 24, the center will allow faculty members from a variety of
disciplines to more creatively and productively address their research
challenges through collaboration and increased computing power.
A joint project of Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences and Swanson School of
Engineering, the center comprises more than 50 faculty members from such
disciplines as chemistry, physics, biology, materials science, chemical and
mechanical engineering, computer science, and the social and health sciences.
The center will initially be located in Pitt’s Bellefield Hall.
The new center is expected to help position Pitt as one of the leaders in
advanced scientific computing. Faculty members will have access to parallel
processors—which allow simulations to run on several microprocessors at
once—through the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. This capability will allow
Pitt researchers to tackle some of the biggest challenges in their fields—many
of which require multiscale modeling—increasing the potential to conduct
transformational research in energy and sustainability, nanoscience and
materials engineering, medicine, global public heath, economics, and other
fields. Several PhD-level computational experts will be hired through the
center to assist faculty members and their more than 100 graduate students.
“These consultants will work with researchers to convert their data and
calculations into high-performance computer models that address complex
problems, including improving energy efficiency, unraveling complex biological
systems, and predicting the behavior of social systems,” said the center’s
codirector, Kenneth Jordan, Distinguished Professor of Computational Chemistry
in the School of Arts and Sciences. J. Karl Johnson, interim chair, W. K.
Whiteford Professor, and NETL Faculty Fellow of chemical and petroleum engineering
in the Swanson School, will serve as the other codirector.
The center also will allow researchers to tap into the expert advice and work
of on-campus faculty who are engaged in data modeling and visualization, or
converting mountains of numbers into a visual representation of the research.
Projects using simulation and modeling tools at Pitt include:
* Donald Burke, dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, UPMC-Jonas
Salk Chair of Global Health, and associate vice chancellor for global health,
simulates the spread of pandemic diseases. His group received a $10 million
grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to construct a model of how
vaccines might contain epidemic diseases. Burke also is exploring models to
outline the spread of such behavioral public health problems as smoking,
obesity, and drug use.
* Peyman Givi, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor of mechanical engineering
and materials science, studies the complex field of engine turbulence. By
creating computer models of engines, Givi helps engineers design more
efficient, cleaner-burning engines while saving the time and expense of
constructing an actual test engine.
* Kenneth Jordan models the structure of methane hydrate, a methane-containing “ice”
found in large deposits in the deep ocean and in permafrost. Methane hydrate is
an enormous reserve of harvestable natural gas, but if the ice melted, it would
release massive amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas twice as potent as carbon
dioxide. Jordan focuses on how heat transfers through ideal and defective
methane hydrate crystals.
* G. Bard Ermentrout, University Professor of Computational Biology and
professor of mathematics, uses computational modeling to simulate complex
medical phenomena. For example, Ermentrout and his colleagues use models to
understand the immune responses during sepsis, a potentially fatal condition in
which the body’s response to infection inflicts “collateral damage” on internal
organs like the lungs.
* Ivet Bahar, John K. Vries Chair and professor of computational biology, and
colleagues in Pitt’s School of Medicine simulate the interaction of proteins
with potential inhibitors, small compounds that can limit undesirable
activities of some proteins. In collaboration with the Drug Discovery
Institute, Professor Bahar’s lab members conduct “virtual screenings” of
hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds for their potential to interact
with target proteins with the ultimate goal of speeding up the process of
identifying promising new therapies and drugs.
* Karl Johnson is using quantum and statistical mechanics to help develop new,
cost-effective materials for capturing carbon dioxide from power-plant smoke
stacks.
For more information, visit the center’s Web site at www.sam.pitt.edu.
There is always newsworthy research and events happening in the Swanson School of Engineering.
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