NEWS TIP SHEET
New INSTAAR Computational and Imaging Facility to be Dedicated Oct. 1
CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research will dedicate a powerful new $1.2 million computational and imaging facility on Monday, Oct. 1, that will help researchers and students study marine geophysics, ice sheet changes and natural disaster mitigation.
The facility, which includes supercomputers, powerful new servers and processors, new terminals, scanners and other technical support, will be dedicated at a special ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. in room 308 of the RL-3 building. RL-3 is located on the East Campus at the corner of 30th Street and Marine Street.
The new facility provides INSTAAR with "leading-edge power in our quest to remain a national leader in the development of numerical models of complex Earth systems," said INSTAAR Director James Syvitski. The computers can process high-resolution data from satellites and other geophysical instruments, he said.
In addition to aiding the U.S. government in obtaining marine geophysics information from remote coastal zones, the new system also can simulate three-dimensional sediment flow during the growth of continental margins, benefiting ocean geographers and the petroleum industry.
The new facility also will allow researchers to anticipate potential damage from powerful tropical storms and model the 3-D behavior of fluctuating polar ice sheets.
Administrators at the event will include Syvitski, CU-Boulder Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Jerry Peterson and INSTAAR Associate Director Tad Pfeffer. The event also will include executives from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and Sun Microsystems, which made extensive contributions to the project.
A reception will follow the ribbon cutting in room 248 of RL-3. For more information contact INSTAAR at (303) 492-7909 or Jim Scott in the CU-Boulder News Office at (303) 492-3114.