CHPC reminds users: we’re more than just high performance computing

If you’re a University Information Technology (UIT) employee or an IT professional, then you’ve heard of CHPC – the University’s Center for High Performance Computing – but you may not realize just how much they actually do.

“At CHPC, our goal is to support research computing needs anywhere on this campus,” said Anita Orendt, CHPC’s Assistant Director for Research Consulting and Faculty Engagement.

“We make it easy for [researchers] to use the tools, so that they can focus on their science,” added Joe Breen, head of CHPC Network Architecture.

These needs include more than traditional high performance computing (HPC), such as support for big data, big data movement, data analytics, security, virtual machines, Windows science application servers, protected environments for data mining and analysis of protected health information, and advanced networking.

In addition to the support it provides to the U, CHPC has been working hard to expand its involvement into the broader community of high performance computing (HPC) centers through collaborations with research computing organizations at other schools, such as Clemson, Harvard, and University of Wisconsin.

“Through that community, we can leverage each other’s strengths and bolster each other’s weaknesses,” said Breen.

“We have strengths here in Utah,” Breen added. “We have aspects of networking, system administration, and storage. Not all HPC centers have that. We also have certain types of science here at the U that others don’t.”

Taking advantage of these collaborations provides a sharing of expertise for other HPC centers that are just starting out.

“We’re using what we’ve learned over the years, the knowledge that has built up here from our time in operation, to help other centers,” said Orendt.

It all comes down to helping researchers get their work done in the most efficient way possible.

“We’re trying to help people to do their science,” said Breen. “At the end of the day, that’s the goal.”

It also goes beyond researchers in traditional sciences, like chemistry or engineering. Researchers in fields such as humanities, fine arts, and geography also utilize the services CHPC provides.

“People have been accumulating data for years,” explained Breen. “But how do you mine it? How do you dig out what’s really unique for a specific discipline?”

That’s where CHPC can help.

“Science really does encompass multidisciplinary things,” said Breen. “And we’re starting to see those nontraditional users here on this campus."

“They’ve used their PCs and their standalone systems where they’ve been able to get some research done, but doing work in this manner has limitations. They can only look at systems of a certain size, or at a certain resolution,” added Orendt. “With the resources available at CHPC, they can move beyond those limitations. So we try to make the transition from desktop to HPC as easy as possible."

John Hurdle, a Biomedical Informatics professor at the U, was able to utilize CHPC’s resources for a project conducted by graduate student Phil Brewster, in which tobacco purchases were correlated with the quality of food purchases of household consumers. Hurdle and his team were able to develop QualMART, a tool for helping grocery stores promote healthy eating habits for their customers, thanks to CHPC providing the tools and resources he needed to conduct the research.

In the future, CHPC hopes to become more than research computing support for the U alone - and recently, the organization expanded its scope to officially support research computing for Utah State University.

“Looking to the future, we see more growth and collaboration, and more working with schools and research throughout the state,” said Breen.

Collaboration and partnerships will be big catalysts in making that happen.

“Reaching out and pulling people together, regardless of the disciplines, creates innovation,” Breen added. “And when you get multi-disciplinary groups functioning together, they spark. They come up with different ideas. And that’s one of the things that we’re very keen on, is sparking the innovation to create new things."

To learn more about CHPC and the services available, you can visit CHPC’s website at http://chpc.utah.edu, or contact Anita Orendt at anita.orendt@utah.edu.

 

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