03/12/2009
Contact:
Prof. Catherine Cooper, School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences, 509/335-1501, cmcooper@wsu.edu
E. Kirsten Peters, Communications Office, College of
Sciences, 509/335-4262, epeters@wsu.edu
Green Supercomputer Installed at WSU
PULLMAN, Wash. – A next-generation, energy efficient miniature supercomputer has been installed at Washington State University for use in enormously complex calculations that will advance fundamental work in the geological sciences.
The $150,000 computer has 600 processors compared to the usual single processor in a standard personal computer. Because of advanced engineering, it will get as much as 14 times the computing power per unit of electricity as does a standard computer.
“I’m super-excited to have the machine installed here. It will perform the calculations that make my research on Earth processes possible,” said Catherine Cooper, a new member of the faculty in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Cooper’s work creates mathematical models of how the heat and movement in the internal Earth create earthquakes, faults and folding at the surface of the globe. Her general field of study has practical applications in the energy exploration field where better understandings of what lies beneath the ground in oil fields can yield more fuel with less disruptive drilling. The work also can aid large metal-mining operations better understand where ore may exist at substantial depths.
“Computers can consume significant energy. One of the main reasons I choose to purchase this machine from a New England firm called SiCortex is that it’s engineered to work on much less electricity,” Cooper said.
The computer was installed this week at WSU by a team of staffers from SiCortex. The need for “greener” computing power was recently high-lighted by analysis of a larger supercomputer in Britain that will be used to model the effects of global warming. It’s been shown in news reports to consume so much electricity that, in itself, it contributes to the problem it seeks to understand.
“Some energy use cannot be avoided, of course,” Cooper said. “But the bottom line is that we need to be as efficient as we can, and this machine fits with that goal.”
Up until now, WSU has not had major computing power dedicated to geophysics.
“We’re pleased to acquire this capability and help nurture more expertise in this fundamental field that’s important to geology and the environmental sciences,” said SEES director Steve Bollens.
The machine will be available to other researchers at WSU, both in the sciences and other fields, Cooper said.