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First Round of Derecho Professorships Awarded by UW School of Computing

The University of Wyoming’s School of Computing has identified the initial recipients of UW Derecho Professorships. These prestigious professorships grant access to up to 5 million core hours on the new state-of-the-art Derecho supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), empowering researchers across a range of academic fields.

The awardees are dedicated to harnessing the immense power of the Derecho supercomputer to support scientific discovery, and their work aligns with the mission of the NCAR-Wyoming Alliance to address grand challenges problems in geoscience and atmospheric science through a community of practice at UW.

The diverse group of scientists represents fields such as anthropology, atmospheric science, chemistry, electrical engineering, computer science, and environment and natural resources.

“The School of Computing extends its warmest congratulations to these accomplished researchers and eagerly anticipates the groundbreaking discoveries that will result from their access to the Derecho supercomputer and the fruitful partnership with NWSC,” says Gabrielle Allen, director of the School of Computing.

The collaboration between UW and NCAR has been instrumental in attracting and retaining top-tier faculty, whose cutting-edge research in computing is bolstered by guaranteed access to this resource. The nearly 20-petaflop Derecho supercomputer will provide an impressive 3.5 times more scientific throughput than its predecessor, the Cheyenne system. The HPE Cray EX cluster will be fully operational this year, with 20 percent of its computing power derived from graphics processing units and the remainder from traditional processors.

The new faculty recruitment awardees are:

-- Melissa Bukovsky, of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, will use regional earth system models to advance the understanding of environmental challenges posed by climate change in Wyoming.

-- Sean Field, of the School of Computing and the Department of Anthropology, will conduct research on how communities in the U.S. Southwest cope with climate stress using computational archaeology, climate modeling, geospatial analysis and remote sensing.

-- Stefan Rahimi, of the Department of Atmospheric Science, will apply advanced numerical techniques and high-resolution models to provide more accurate assessment of risks and hazards associated with weather phenomena such as fires, extreme heat, wind, flooding and extreme rainfall, enabling better preparation and planning for the western U.S.

-- Masanori Saito, of the Department of Atmospheric Science, will generate reliable observational data sets tied with field campaigns conducted by NCAR and UW, contributing to scientific questions in cloud physics, dynamics and microphysics.

Current faculty awardees are:

-- Lars Kotthoff, of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will develop novel techniques that improve robustness, ease of use and performance of artificial intelligence approaches for multiple scientific applications.

-- Daniel McCoy, of the Department of Atmospheric Science, will research climate model development and applications of remote sensing through large data analytics, machine learning and high-performance computing.

-- Laura Oliveira, of the Department of Chemistry, will expand the capabilities of large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to understand chemical and physical processes for the design of new smart materials.

UW will award a total of 20 UW Derecho Professorships, which can be held by faculty in all disciplines and at all ranks. More information about the program can be found at www.uwyo.edu/soc/initiatives/uw-derecho-professors.html.

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


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