ACADEMIA

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) announced today that John Towns will lead the center’s Persistent Infrastructure (PI) Directorate, which provides scientists and engineers with accessible, robust, easy-to-use high-end computing and data resources interconnected with high-performance networks. Towns has been serving as interim senior associate director of PI since 2004. “Providing powerful, robust, and supported high-end resources for the country’s science and engineering research communities is at the heart of NCSA’s mission,” said NCSA Director Thom Dunning. “John Towns has the knowledge, energy, and dedication that are necessary to drive this vital endeavor forward.” The high-end computing and data storage systems NCSA provides to the country’s researchers are often at the cutting-edge of technology; some are first-of-a-kind systems. PI staff work closely with vendors and end users to turn these novel systems into stable platforms for frontier science and engineering. The resources provided by PI are complemented by an extensive infrastructure of open-source and commercial software. More than 100 scientific and engineering applications, some standard and others experimental, are installed and supported at NCSA. The most important resource provided by PI is the knowledge and support provided by its staff. Operations staff maintain the center's computing, data storage, and networking systems 24 hours a day year-round, with security staff constantly monitoring the environment. Consulting staff provide support to users of all NCSA hardware and software resources, and NCSA's Strategic Applications Program encourages more in-depth collaborations between NCSA staff and users. Online training resources and documentation developed by expert staff complement these services. Prior to his current appointment, Towns led NCSA’s Scientific Computing Division. He has held a number of management and research positions within NCSA since joining the center in 1992. Towns received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Missouri–Rolla and went on to earn two master’s degrees, in physics and astronomy, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. NCSA’s other key leaders are: Director Thom Dunning; Executive Director Danny Powell; John Melchi, senior associate director of the Administration Directorate; Robert B. Wilhelmson, chief science officer and senior associate director of the Cyberapplications and Communities Directorate; and Rob Pennington, chief technology officer and senior associate director of both the Integrated Cyberservices Directorate (interim) and the Innovative Systems Laboratory. For details on NCSA’s organization, go to http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/AboutUs/People/Divisions/.