News Archive

As the internet has become ubiquitous in modern society, the infrastructure and networking to deliver this utility to the entire population has become a human priority. This infrastructure, however, was designed decades ago, when computer networking architecture was in its infancy and many bottlenecks had yet to emerge. That’s where FABRIC, a new $20 million … Continued

Homeowners often invest in energy-saving upgrades to make their homes more comfortable and lower their expenses, hoping to see reductions in their upcoming utility bills. Government-backed and utility-backed programs that provide energy-efficient home improvements share the same goal of reducing costs. But measuring the costs and effects of hundreds of different retrofits in thousands of … Continued

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) are proud to announce that the Center will be partnering with the University of California San Diego and the San Diego Supercomputing Center (SDSC) on the newly announced EarthCube Office (ECO) award. This office will be tasked with advancing innovative geoscience … Continued

NCSA, Illinois, and the National Geospatial Agency (NGA) have entered into the first phase of what is expected to be a long-term strategic relationship to produce geospatial data products. This initial phase will provide $11.1 million in funding which is anticipated to keep the Blue Waters supercomputer running through the end of 2020. The project’s … Continued

What do a bird and an alligator have in common? Let me assure you there really is a similarity but it’s one you easily can’t see. The answer is: their lungs. Breathing is a complex process, which seems to vary depending on the species. And biologists are learning that lungs in vertebrates seem to evolve … Continued

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has announced a new collaboration between the Blue Waters Project, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the University of Minnesota and The Ohio State University to produce digital elevation models (DEM) of the entire Earth, among other geospatial research projects. The collaboration, … Continued

URBANA, IL – Donna Cox, Director of the Advanced Visualization Lab (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and Professor in Illinois’ School of Art and Design, College of Fine and Applied Arts, will be receiving the Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art at SIGGRAPH 2019 next week. She will … Continued

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service, “estuaries are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. Many animals rely on estuaries for food, places to breed, and migration stopovers. Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique … Continued

Between January and June of 2019, there have been 53 tropical cyclones across the globe. Combined, these storms have inflicted great destruction, causing over $5 billion in total damage and killing over 1,500 in the first half of 2019, alone. It is clear that these storms have deeply human ramifications, from the destruction of critical … Continued

Fate played a role in Antonio Abinader’s success as a student at the University of Illinois. The instructor for his very first class at the university was Dr. Volodymyr Kindratenko, a researcher in NCSA’s Computing and Data Sciences group and an assistant professor of computer science. By pure coincidence, Kindratenko was Antonio’s academic advisor. When … Continued

The National Science Foundation (NSF) this month announced the second phase of funding for the regional Big Data Innovation Hub (BD Hubs) program. Under the planned four year, $4 million award, the Midwest Big Data Hub will continue to be led from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at … Continued

Black holes are one of the most awesome and mysterious forces in the Universe. Originally predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, these points in spacetime are formed when massive stars undergo gravitational collapse at the end of their lives. Despite decades of study and observation, there is still much we don’t know about this … Continued

In 2007, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) launched a citizen science campaign called Galaxy Zoo to enlist the public’s help in classifying the hundreds of thousands of galaxy images captured by an optical telescope. Through this highly successful crowdsourcing effort, volunteers reviewed the images online to help determine whether each galaxy had a spiral … Continued

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce that team applications for the Blue Waters Petascale Computing Hackathon are now open. The event will take place September 9-13, 2019 at NCSA. The deadline to apply is July 8, 2019. The Hackathon will pair research teams … Continued

by Ananya Saxena The complexities of genomics are challenging enough to trouble an adult, much less a student of any age. However, high-schoolers Angelynn Huang (junior) and Sophia Torrellas (freshman) defy this commonly held belief. These two University of Illinois Laboratory High School students are a powerhouse duo from NCSA’s Frankel Scholars program. Through their … Continued

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) has named seven new Faculty Fellows for the 2019-2020 academic school year. The NCSA Faculty Fellowship is a competitive program for faculty and researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which provides seed funding for new collaborations that include NCSA staff as integral contributors to the project. … Continued