ACADEMIA

The Grid Infrastructure Group (GIG), the management team that coordinates the TeraGrid initiative at the University of Chicago, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dane Skow as Deputy Director. In this position, Skow will drive strategy and lead project management efforts for the overall initiative as well as play a key role in broadening TeraGrid partnerships in the international science grid community. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and built over the past four years, TeraGrid is the world's largest, most comprehensive distributed cyberinfrastructure for open scientific research. Through high-performance network connections, TeraGrid integrates high-performance computers, data resources and tools, and high-end experimental facilities around the country. “Dane brings tremendous leadership and experience in areas such as Grid security and mapping user requirements to Grid capabilities,” says Charlie Catlett, director of the TeraGrid and former chair of Global Grid Forum, in announcing this new appointment. “I'm very excited to have Dane join the TeraGrid management team and I look forward to working with him as we embark on a new era in the TeraGrid project.” Skow, who has a PhD in High Energy Physics from the University of Rochester and brings more than 20 years experience in data acquisition and computing systems for physics analysis, has first hand knowledge of the computational needs of research scientists and resource providers alike. Most recently, he has been active in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and Global Grid Forum (GGF), serving on the OSG Council and GGF Steering Committee. Skow says that there is a great need for people to bridge the gap between different viewpoints in computing. “What excites me most about the TeraGrid is the opportunity to interact with a broad spectrum of scientists and to provide high-end resources which will enable them to do science which they could not do before—either by providing capabilities unavailable in previous systems, by providing access to resources previously unavailable, or by helping to create new collaborations,” Skow says. “We're finding that the TeraGrid is in large part about the human side of collaboration, and making these relationships easier and more productive will be one important measure of our success.” “TeraGrid is a strong central element to the U.S. national cyberinfrastructure to support our researchers and students,” Skow continues. “As such, TeraGrid will need to continue to operate world-class facilities, address the immediate needs of researchers, and work to create a broad, open national framework. We have our work cut out for us, but there are very interesting activities happening on all these levels and the future is very promising.” TeraGrid is an open scientific discovery infrastructure combining leadership class resources at eight partner sites to create an integrated, persistent computational resource. Deployment of TeraGrid was completed in September 2004. The system provides scientists nationwide with more than 40 teraflops of computing power, nearly two petabytes of rotating storage, and specialized data analysis and visualization resources, interconnected at 10-30 gigabits/second via a dedicated national network. Skow officially starts in his new position on January 4, 2006. The TeraGrid is a partnership of researchers, computational experts, and resource providers that together provide a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure to enable discovery in science and engineering. TeraGrid and its education and mentoring programs connect and broaden scientific communities. NSF established the TeraGrid resources and their integration as part of a Major Research Equipment construction project from 2001 to 2004. In August 2005, NSF extended its support for the TeraGrid a set of awards for operation, user support and enhancement of the TeraGrid facility over the next five years. Eight resource provider partners were funded along with an award to the University of Chicago to coordinate and integrate TeraGrid via the Grid Infrastructure Group (GIG). The resource providers include Argonne National Laboratory, Indiana University, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center. For more information about TeraGrid, please visit its web site.