ACADEMIA

There's a great conversation going on at NCSA, on the University of Illinois campus where it makes its home, and throughout the country through projects like the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid. The center's staff and collaborators are discussing new applications that will model violent weather, viruses, and earthquakes, making us safer, healthier, and more prosperous. They're discussing Blue Waters, which is expected to be the most powerful supercomputer for open scientific research when it comes online. They're talking about new data mining techniques, new ways to visualize scientific output so it's easier to understand, new ways to make data and computer networks more secure. Now NCSA is making that conversation available to the public. NCSA Video on Demand brings you talks, presentations, briefings, and other video content. You can get it from iTunes or sign up for an NCSA RSS feed that delivers the content to you automatically. "This is 'Popular Science' for the supercomputing set and interested people everywhere," says Thom Dunning, NCSA's director. "These videos are on complex topics, but they cut to the basics of the work we are doing with our collaborators. They represent the heart of why we're here—to generate new knowledge and help the world put that knowledge to use." Early topics featured on NCSA Video on Demand will include an explanation of NCSA's role in national scientific efforts, researchers' descriptions of what they do on NCSA resources and how that impacts the world, and discussions of Blue Waters, the world's first sustained-petascale computing system for open scientific research. NCSA Video on Demand will be updated regularly with new stories, interviews, and talks. Gearhead or layperson, colleague on the other side of the world or curious citizen next door, you can sign up for NCSA Video on Demand at its Web site.