Troy Axthelm of Cody, a UW master’s student in computer science, places a hard drive
in a management server in Mount Moran, the nickname for UW’s Advanced Research Computing
Center (ARCC). As part of a research project with Microsoft, Axthelm received a graduate
research assistantship funded by the software company. He is writing code for management
servers that connect to the Data Plant at the Dry Creek Water Reclamation Facility
in Cheyenne.
The University of Wyoming’s Department of Computer Science recently garnered a big
name -- Microsoft -- to become a partner of its Industrial Affiliates Program.
The Industrial Affiliates Program[BROKEN LINK] links industrial and business partners with potential employees and UW faculty members.
Forming these constructive relationships between industry and the department drastically
reduces recruitment costs, while also developing a channel of communication among
partners. Collectively, the mutual needs of business, industry and academia are supported.
“Industrial affiliate members are important because they let you know how students
they hired are doing and they provide curriculum feedback,” says James Caldwell, associate
professor and head of the Department of Computer Science[BROKEN LINK]. “The job market for computer science students is so good that we can’t produce enough.
We could probably graduate five times the students we do now and get them all jobs.”
Troy Axthelm, a UW master’s student from Cody majoring in computer science, received
a graduate research assistantship from Microsoft as part of a research collaboration
between Microsoft and the department. Axthelm serves as a systems administrator for
the IT-Pac, which is akin to a shipping container that houses 200 computer servers.
The Data Plant, located at the Dry Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Cheyenne, is
a zero-emission, green data center that is fueled by methane biogas. It allows UW
to run high-performance computing and modeling applications from the Laramie campus.
“My task is writing (code) scripts for varying loads, which controls the amount of
work done on each server, and for stress tests of how much computer nodes can handle,”
Axthelm says while sitting at a computer in UW’s Information Technology Center. “What
can it handle based on what the fuel cell can provide?”
Axthelm says the project has allowed him to take on a systems administration role
in a real-world project; learn about multiple aspects of high-performance computing
(HPC); collaborate with a large number of professionals across the nation; network
and develop relationships with HPC institutions and hardware vendors nationwide; challenge
him to develop HPC utilities to help with the experiments; learn to communicate HPC-related
issues at a less technical level; and work with UW’s Advanced Research Computing Center
(ARCC) team to see multiple areas of HPC and how different systems are managed.
“I am benefiting in so many ways,” Axthelm says. “It has been incredible what I’ve
been able to do with this project.”
To join the Industrial Affiliates Program, the fee structure ranges from $500 annually
for entrepreneurs and small companies to $10,000 annually for companies, such as Microsoft,
with more than 500 employees.
“It’s (Microsoft) a $10,000 partnership. It really boosts our program funding,” Caldwell
says.
Funds provided by affiliate members go toward excellence funds, or sources of money
for things the department could not otherwise afford, Caldwell says. These activities
include, but are not limited to: honoraria for outside speakers; support for student
organizations such as the Association for Computing Machinery and the Cyber Defense
Action League; sponsoring travel to conferences; programming, contests and other meetings;
scholarships; paying for equipment upgrades in one of the engineering labs; and the
annual affiliate meeting.
One of those conferences was the Computing Research Association’s Grand Cohort Workshop.
The workshop supports female graduate students majoring in computer science. Two graduate
students received funding to attend the conference and gain more computer science
skills, Caldwell says.
Last year, the Affiliates Program took in $25,000 from its business partners, Caldwell
says.
Other affiliate partners include American Express, Cheyenne Technologies, Gannett
Peak Technical Services, GHX, Greenhouse Data, Handel Information Technologies, Medicine
Bow Technologies and the Wyoming Business Council.
“The Industrial Affiliates Program is a way for the department to create relationships
with businesses,” Caldwell says. “More and more, these types of (computer) jobs are
available in Wyoming. More and more companies are hiring.”
Graduates of the department are well prepared for careers in areas associated with
software design, networks and the Internet, computer programming, database design,
artificial intelligence, management information systems and robotics.
