Super-duper computer coming

When he came to Case in 2020 as the inaugural chair of the Department of Computer and Data Sciences, Vipin Chaudhary, PhD, cited a goal of bringing advanced computing power to the School of Engineering. 

Mission accomplished. 

This summer, the university will begin installing an Artificial Intelligence SuperComputer, or AISC, the largest and most powerful computer ever offered to CWRU researchers. The new system is expected to accelerate machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tasks by at least 10 times current capabilities, accord-ing to a news release from the university. 

Chaudhary led the effort to secure funding from the National Science Foundation and the Ohio Department of Higher Education Action Fund for the nearly $1 million system. As part of his NSF proposal, he surveyed faculty and student researchers and learned of their needs for more computing power for projects ranging from photovoltaic research to financial fraud protection and cybersecurity. 

“To solve large problems and to create solutions that will have an impact, you have to have the infrastructure to do the work,” Chaudhary said. “I believe this will boost a lot of ongoing research and enable a lot of new work.” 

Dean Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan expressed excitement. 

The AISC will offer researchers “the power to explore further and faster than ever before, and will prove catalytic in advancing breakthroughs in disciplines across the university,” the dean said in a statement. 

The supercomputer will be housed in at least five refrigerator-sized computers in the university’s data center.