Stanford to launch new computer center

A new computer geosciences center at Stanford University will be launched June 20 in a joint effort of private industry, Stanford scientists and government agencies. “Our mission is to enhance the capacity for large-scale computational research for earth and environmental science,” said Jerry M. Harris, professor of geophysics at Stanford and director of the new Stanford Center for Computational Earth and Environmental Science. “A driving force for this is the fact that, here at Stanford, we have some of the world’s best scientists, and across the street in Silicon Valley are some of the world’s best computer designers and builders,” he added. Sun Microsystems of Santa Clara has donated $3 million for the new center and Cisco Systems of San Jose has given an additional $250,000. In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey is also a partner in the effort. Scott McNealy, chairman of the board of Sun Microsystems, will be on hand June 20 to mark the launch of the new center.