KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The University of Tennessee's Tickle College of Engineering announced a partnership with IBM on Wednesday that will award the university with high-speed, supercharged computing hardware.
According to a release from UT, the hardware will be based on the world's most powerful supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This will make UT one of the few universities in the country to have a version of the world's most powerful computer.
The release also stated that the computer will be installed in the Min H. Hao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. UT's system will then be located in Claxton Complex.
“Computer science and engineering play critical roles in an ever-changing world, contributing innovative solutions to smart connected products and systems for transportation, health care, sustainability, security, manufacturing, energy production, and learning,” said Janis Terpenny, Wayne T. Davis Endowed Dean’s Chair of the Tickle College of Engineering.
Additionally, the release stated the partnership began when former Interim Dean of UT's Engineering Department, Mark Dean, facilitated his ties as a fellow with IBM. Dean has three of IBM's first nine patents related to personal computing.
Ultimately, this will provide both organizations an opportunity for real-world feedback and a hands-on experience, according to the university.
"It’s particularly important to educate the next generation of data specialists, and to give them the opportunity to work on a system with a similar architecture to the world’s most powerful supercomputers," said Jamie Thomas General Manager of IBM Systems Strategy and Development."We’re delighted to enable the faculty and students to explore the next generation of data and AI problems across industries.”
Additional faculty members involved in the UT's new computing system include Jack Dongarra, Michela Taufer and Gregory Peterson.
“This new IBM cluster will help us explore and push the boundaries of high-performance computing at UT,” Taufer said. “Jack, Greg, and I all bring different expertise, ideas, and research in our department that this will help more closely align, in addition to the collaboration opportunities it is creating with the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, with UT Chattanooga’s Sim Center, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.”
