July 05, 2023

A Mizzou Engineer is leading a project to improve access to research and educational computing resources needed to take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

Grant Scott — an associate professor in electrical engineering and computer science and at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics — has been awarded a $980,000 for the work from the National Science Foundation. The award, CC* Regional Computing: Great Plains Extended Network of GPUs for Interactive Experimenters, began July 1.

“This award will allow us to accelerate the adoption of advanced computing and data resources in the Great Plains Network region,” Scott said. “This project will increase the number of researchers and students served by both local and national computing resources, strengthen the capabilities of campus research computing professionals and expand the regional capacity for research.”

With the project, researchers will have the opportunity to develop initial ideas and codes into more advanced AI/ML code using regional computing resources. Researchers will be trained and supported to adapt those workbench codes into high-throughput computing codes that can run on national platforms such as Open Science Grid and the National Research Platform.

“These successes will enhance institutional buy-in for sustainable regional and national research computing systems,” Scott said.

The work will leverage existing collaborations to provide and manage graphic processing unit (GPU) resources in Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It will address computing needs of a diverse range of research within the region, work such as generating 3D protein molecules, using satellite images for deep learning in mapping wildfire burn areas, detecting dark matter and neutrinos, monitoring land surface phenology in real-time, generating cybersecurity attack graphs and implementing intelligent manufacturing through digital twins.

One of the goals is to enhance STEM research and education by promoting adoption of JupyterLab computing notebooks, part of an open source computing environment where researchers and students can analyze data, develop models and share work with others.