The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday that a $108 million contract has been awarded to OSC (Ohio Supercomputer Center), Mississippi State University (MSU) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). OSC competed nationally in conjunction with the other two centers for the contract. This award to support the High Performance Computing Modernization Program is one of the largest in Defense Department history to further academic research and training. Contract work will begin on June 1, 2001, with a three-year basic contract and up to five one-year extension options. The total portion granted to OSC is at least $27 million during a performance period of up to eight years. Dr. Charlie Bender, OSC Executive Director, will be one of the co-principal investigators. Dr. Dick Pritchard, OSC Director of Federal Programs, will be the overall program manager. Some of the research will be handled by the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering at The Ohio State University. "This award will continue OSC's significant work with the Department of Defense and the federal government," said Pritchard. "With this Defense contract, Ohio is seeing major returns on the investments it has made in OSC." The full Department of Defense program is divided into four components. As part of the contract, the OSC team will support three of the four major Defense Department high performance computing centers, including the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. For further information visit http://www.osc.edu