LATEST NEWS

CMU Group Outs Printer of Embarrassing Typographic Error
Infamous Typo in Shakespeare Folio Sheds Light on His Growing Status, Reduction in Status of Printing Profession in 17th-Century England

Bridges-2 Simulations Offer Sources of Unstable, Active Magnetic Fields in Stars
Mismatch of Magnetosphere and Axis of Rotation Offers Insight into Solar Winds and Disruptive Flares

PSC Recognized for Advances in Clean Energy Technology, Application of New Technology to Industrial Problem
14th Year Center Has Received HPCwire Awards, Presented Annually to Leaders in the Global High Performance Computing Community

See you at SC23
PSC is heading to the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis — otherwise known simply as Supercomputing, or SC — in Denver the week of November 12th.

Oregon State Scientists Use Bridges-2 to Survey Plankton Populations
Vital Base of Ocean Food Web Can Now Be Studied in Bulk Using AI

PSC 2023 Summer Interns
PSC has a longstanding tradition of providing internship opportunities to undergraduate researchers in fields related to advanced computing. This year we had seven students on board learning valuable research and technical skills for their upcoming classes and future careers.

IceCube Observatory Creates First Map of Milky Way Without Using Electromagnetic Waves
Simulations on PSC’s Bridges-2 System Help Identify Signals in Huge Antarctic Ice Sheet Neutrino Detector

Increasing Vegetable Crops Won’t Ease Hunger if Supply Chains Don’t Keep Pace
Pilot Use of HERMES Supply-Chain Software Reveals Need to Analyze Food Delivery Networks

Mariah Kenney: Data Curator and Metadata Librarian
We get to know our resident data curation expert, Mariah Kenney

And the Number of the Counting Shall Be 15
CMU Team Uses Bridges-2 to Solve a 21-Year-Old Coloring Problem in Mapping

Let’s Talk Metadata with our Metadata Librarians Brendan Honick and Jackie Uranic
In this interview, we learn about the work of two of our metadata librarians.

Simulations Suggest that Muscle Disease Cause Is Complex, May Need Multiple Treatments
Bridges-2 Sims of Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome Identify Multiple Factors that May Need to Be Addressed

Harvard Team Uses Bridges-2 to Build AI Cancer Diagnosis Tool
Initial work with PSC system pilots AI that went on to predict colorectal cancer genetic status that would otherwise require lengthy lab testing

HERA Telescope Team Uses Bridges-2 for Critical Measurement of Early Universe
PSC supercomputer helps set upper limit to “brightness temperature” of hydrogen signal, narrowing possible explanations for Universe’s evolution

“Invisible” Protein Movements Revealed by Anton 2 Simulations
Interactions not before seen between medically important beta-adrenergic receptor and its associated G protein offer clues to better heart, lung, and other medications.

CMU Robotics Institute AIs Learn New Tasks with Unprecedented Flexibility
A Bridges-2-developed AirDet approach removes requirement for extensive retraining in applying AIs to new jobs

BirdFlow AI “Connects the Dots” in Massive, Volunteer Database to Track Migratory Birds
Bridges-2 central in removing biases from global eBird database so AI could predict how birds travel

Bridges-2 Simulations Reveal Promising Properties of Polymer Brushes
Proof-of-concept work suggests applications in industrial processes, environmental monitoring, and medicine

Cultural “Landscapes” Uses Metaphor of Valleys, Mountains, and Plains to Understand the Evolution of World Religions
Work on Bridges-2 shows the approach can help explain persistence of some cultural practices as well as how culture changes over time

PSC-Intern’s Work Reveals How Clam Evolution Avoids Poisoning by Toxic Gas in UPR Study
Scientists leverage past MARC program to maintain competitive bioinformatics program at minority-serving institution

Women’s History Month
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is proud to highlight the work and life of our newest women team members for Women’s History Month

Neocortex Speeds Fluid Simulation by Several Hundred Times
Real-time simulations offer better, faster predictions in dozens of real-world problems

Anton 2 Simulations Reveal Unexpected Role for Brain Neurotransmitter
Ability of D-serine to switch from boosting excitatory signals to blocking them suggests route for preventing long-term injury or stroke damage

James Barr von Oehsen Named Director of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
James Barr von Oehsen has been selected as the director of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), a joint research center of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Von Oehsen is a leader in the fields of cyberinfrastructure, research computing, advanced networking, data science and information technology.

Bridges-2 Simulations Help Explain Lack of Ultraviolet “Flash” in Neutron-Star Merger
Scientists had not predicted absence of electromagnetic signal in 2019 detection

Chris Rapier: Keeping High Performance Data Transfers Safe at Any Speed
From the beginning, Chris and the team have worked to make HPN-SSH ubiquitous, easy to use, and setup-free for data transfers. These efforts are part of the team’s goal to continuously enhance the scientific research workflow.

National Energy Technology Laboratory and Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Pioneer First Ever Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation on Cerebras Wafer-Scale Engine
Running on Cerebras CS-2 within PSC’s Neocortex, NETL Simulates Natural Convection with Multi-Hundred Million Cell Resolutions, Pointing the Way to More Powerful, Energy Efficient and Insightful Scientific Computing

CMU Research Supported by PSC Wins Artificial Intelligence Award
AAAI award cites Tuomas Sandholm’s work using three generations of PSC flagship systems on improving organ donation exchanges with AI

“Transparent” AI Improves Outcome Prediction in Medicare Patients
Bridges-2-powered AI matches life-critical performance of other AI and non-AI alternatives — unlike them, its “thinking” is understandable to humans

Anton 2, Bridges-2 Simulations Explain Life-Critical Protein in the Brain
Complementary strengths of researchers, computers help identify structure and motions of protein and its electrical conductance through the nerve-cell membrane

Ohio University Simulations on PSC Supercomputer Transform Coal-Like Material to Amorphous Graphite and Nanotubes
Offers the hope of converting coal to valuable and carbon-neutral materials key to electronic and battery technologies

2022: Year in Review
2022 was another stellar year at PSC! We won awards, worked with interns, welcomed new faces, and widened scientific knowledge. Here’s a look back at what 2022 brought to PSC.

Storm Surge Model Runs on Bridges-2 in Real Time, Predicting Hurricane Ian’s Flooding Impacts
Timely predictions assist emergency efforts throughout state, federal responses

$5.8 Million Grant Renews Pittsburgh-Led Project to Support National Goal of Mapping Human Brain
Five-year NIH funding scales up Brain Image Library to handle vastly increased data

PSC Receives International Honors for AI-Driven, Automated Discovery of MRI Agents and Control of Fluid-Flow Heat and Stress
Thirteenth Year PSC Is Recognized by HPCwire Awards, Given to Leaders in the Global High Performance Computing Community

PSC at Supercomputing 2022 | Dallas, TX
PSC Demos Recent Projects at Supercomputing

Artificial Intelligence Learns to Judge Mass of Galaxy Clusters
Predicted mass of huge Coma Cluster agrees with earlier, human-intensive attempts; offers fast, accurate measurement needed to understand early Universe

Bridges Simulations Test Mercury Formation Theory
Outward movement of Venus and Earth may have swept up lighter elements, making Mercury small and iron-rich

Students use Bridges-2 to Simulate Physical Stress in Carbon Nanotubes
Resulting database will enable AI exploration of movement-sensitive electrical components

Summer Interns Finish on a High Note
PSC offered students a variety of real-life, hands-on and skill-building projects during their internships this summer

DataJam Goes National
Student data-science competition adds teams outside Pittsburgh region, including from California Native American youth center and New Jersey schools

$20 Million in Renewed Grants from NIH Will Provide Data Infrastructure and Leadership to International Collaboration to Map Human Body at Cellular Resolution
Four years of additional funding to PSC, Pitt, CMU and Stanford will provide the HuBMAP Consortium with data infrastructure and leadership in community engagement to build a human reference atlas

Bridges Simulations Improve Quantum Approach to Computing
Work establishes benchmark for beating classical computers, optimizes quantum performance

Curtis Meyer, Michael J. Becich Named Interim Co-directors of PSC
CMU, Pitt form search committee for replacement as Shawn Brown leaves for HPE Shawn Brown has stepped down from his position as director of PSC. He is leaving to take on a strategic corporate opportunity at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). Carnegie Mellon...

Meet PSC’s Summer Interns
We didn’t have to search hard to find qualified students for PSC’s Summer Internship Program. Over 100 students applied for the five available positions. Let’s meet them and find out what projects they’re working on this summer.

Study Shows Artificial-Light Impact on Migratory Birds
Analysis of 42 species in Western hemisphere suggests most effective steps for reducing city lights’ harm

AI Predicts Synthesizability of Crystals via Abstract Images
Images derived from crystal structures help neural network running on Bridges-2 to predict ability to create a given crystal in the real world

PSC-Led Computer Program Receives $150,000 in Improvement Funding
$7-million NSF Characteristic Science Applications program to further develop 21 scientific software projects

PSC and Partners to Lead $7.5-Million Project to Allocate Access on NSF Supercomputers
Five-year RAMPS grant will democratize entry to NSF high performance computers; PSC also partner in CONECT, a $20-million grant to operate system

PSC’s Neocortex Upgrades to Cerebras CS-2 AI Systems
New Cerebras Systems technology will double capacity, allow larger deep-learning models and data

Students Gain Valuable Hands-on Experience through PSC’s Internship Program
When Robin Scibek, PSC's Senior Communications Manager, started at PSC as an intern, she never thought she'd still be working at PSC 19 years later. Hers, however, is not a unique story at PSC. Our internship program provides a valuable experience for undergraduate...

Anton 2 Sims Suggest How Fish Oil Health Benefits Start at Cell Membrane
Molecular simulations coupled with AI analysis reveal how omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may regulate the size of membrane “rafts”

Celebrating PSC Women in STEM
Spotlight on PSC Women in STEM

Electrical Charge of Vaccine Particles May Lead to Blood-Clot Side Effect
Bridges-2 simulations suggest complication may stem from oppositely charged clot-forming protein sticking to engineered adenovirus

College Students Learn Molecular Simulation on Bridges-2
Educational allocation gives students taste of computational field, tools for science careers

Bridges Anchors Simulation of Sound Waves to Manage Heat, Stress in Fluid Flow
Two-step computation holds promise in improving efficiency, reducing stress in power plants, electronics, off-shore structures.

2021 Year in Review
2021 was a big year for PSC. This wrap-up includes some favorite stories from the year that highlight our people and the research we’ve been fueling.

AI-Driven Robotic Design of MRI Contrast Agents
MCS-designed machine learning algorithm promises record performing materials with unprecedented speed of discovery.

MuST Program Simplifies Predictions of Material Properties
Open-Source Tool for Engineering New Substances Developed by PSC Scientist and Colleagues

Better Heat Dissipation Points to Improved Electronics
New Materials Simulated on Bridges, Bridges-2 May Allow Smaller Devices, Avoiding “Hotspot” Problem.

PSC Receives International Honors for Storm Damage Predictions, Classification of Star Formations
Twelfth Year PSC Is Recognized by HPCwire Awards, Given to Leaders in the Global high performance-Computing Community

Virtual Brain Injury Study Identifies Key Factors in Potential Nerve-Fiber Damage
Initial Report Uses Simulation on Bridges for a Finer-Scale Look at Stresses Leading to TBI

$125 Million in Grants to Study Cellular Aging to Be Coordinated from Pittsburgh
NIH-funded SenNet to Create 3D Atlas of Aging Tissues, Shedding Light on Nerve Degeneration, Diabetes, Cancer and Normal Tissue Functions

PSC Celebrates its 35th Anniversary with Proclamations from Local, State, Federal Government Officials
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), founded in 1986, is celebrating its 35-year anniversary.

“Digital Backbone” Holds Promise for Democratizing Data, Removing Food Disparity
PSC’s Shawn Brown Speaks at U.N. Panel on Leveraging Data, AI for Alleviating Hunger

Anton 2 Simulations Explain Mechanism for Loading DNA into Virus
Two-phase Motor Packages DNA into Viral Capsids, May Offer Drug Target

Bridges Simulations Uncover Shortcoming in Models of Early Universe
Scientists propose “hybrid approach” to correct key simplification, allowing accurate simulations of galactic evolution

Getting to Know Ivan Cao-Berg
For some people starting a new job in the middle of a pandemic would be a disheartening experience---not seeing or meeting any of your coworkers except via Zoom could be lonely and a bit depressing. But not so for Ivan Cao-Berg who hit the ground running on his first...