Western Kentucky gets new Education-funded HPC center

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According to a recent news release Western Kentucky University is getting about $2.4M from the U.S. Department of Education of put gear in a new HPC center at the university’s Center for Research and Development.

The funding was secured by Sen. Mitch McConnell during the 111th Congress (the current session) in an earmark put into the Labor-HHS-Education bill. According to OpenSecrets.org, McConnell ranks 40 out of 100 senators in number of earmarks this session, having sponsored or co-sponsored 71 earmarks at a total cost to the taxpayer of $159,678,325 in FY09.

No specific word on what the university will procure

The HPCC will contain an ultra high performance, multi-node supercomputer with high-volume data storage and network connectivity. The HPCC will provide the requisite cyber infrastructure needed to support research across academic disciplines at WKU and will expand capacity to create strategic partnerships between University faculty and global business and industry.