State's supercomputer a catalyst for research, education, economy

Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

1/28/2008 - 1/29/08

Gazing at the green and yellow flashing lights of the third fastest supercomputer in the world, Lorie Liebrock, a computer science professor at New Mexico Tech, explained its coolness factor by comparing it with a building.

On the surface, a building doesn't seem much more than concrete and glass, maybe some rebar, she said.

But a building actually is much more than that.

There are water systems, electrical systems, sewage systems, calculations of how the building will respond to windstorms and dust storms. There are people inside the building — cooking, talking, living. There's wear and tear over time, reactions to heat and cold, Liebrock said.

To think about all those factors working at the same time in a single system is more than the human brain can do — and more than most computers can do.

But the $11 million computer system the state has constructed at Intel in Rio Rancho can.

It can do that and a trillion other things — all dictated by scientists, engineers and students at New Mexico's businesses, research universities, colleges and high schools, Liebrock said.

And that idea had her grinning and speed-talking about the system at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday afternoon.

"One of the big problems in supercomputing is visualization — how do we get that information to a human being?" Liebrock said. "In an example like the building, I've got millions of numbers, but what does that mean to you? Nothing. With this, we can do much bigger, much larger problems and also find ways for people to visually understand how those problems work."

The computer has been installed but not yet calibrated. It won't be fully operational until the end of June, although some research will begin on it next month.

When the supercomputer is up and running, the state plans to use it as a catalyst to encourage young people to go into science careers and as a tool for economic development, Gov. Bill Richardson told the crowd at the ceremony. "We're very serious about developing our high-tech economy," he said. "We're hearing from companies all over the country that want to do business with us."

Richardson said he foresees the system fostering statewide water modeling projects, forest fire simulations, city planning and the development of new products, and as a lure to bring more high-tech industry to New Mexico. "It is not simply a high-tech toy for elite scientists," the governor said. "This project invests in our future."

The supercomputer, named Encanto, which is Spanish for "enchanted," was built through a $14 million appropriation from the 2007 Legislature.

The computer cost $11 million, and the other $3 million will be used to set up "gateways" where people across New Mexico can access it. The first gateways will be at the state's three research universities: The University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech and New Mexico State University. And more are being discussed for other parts of the state, including one at Santa Fe Community College, said Thomas Bowles, Richardson's science adviser.

The New Mexico Computing Applications Center, which is the overarching title for the effort, also is trying to get a $5.8 million special appropriation for operations and equipment from the Legislature to add more gateways, fund staff and some research projects, and cover the annual operating costs of $1.9 million, Bowles said.

The Computing Applications Center also is hoping that the Research Applications Act, House Bill 262, sponsored by Rep. John A. Heaton, D-Carlsbad, will pass this session. The bill, which is in the House Business and Industry Committee, would set up how the facility will operate and switch its management to a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that could charge companies for use of the system.

That is how the project will become self-sufficient at the end of five years, said Liebrock, who also is the center's interim education director.

"Other supercomputers like this in other states are all paid for by those states," she said. "This one is unique; it will be self-sustaining. Other states can't say that."

Students at New Mexico's high schools and colleges will be able to create research projects and use the supercomputer free, said Reed Dasenbrock, secretary of the state's Higher Education Department. "We badly need more scientists and engineers in this country," he said. "Kids like neat things, and this is a neat thing."

Liebrock said she imagines high-school and perhaps even middle-school students getting involved with the supercomputer through simulations of things like the spread of epidemics. "In a model, they could change people's behavior or the policy and then see how that changes the way an epidemic spreads," she said.

The students also could play with New Mexico's power grid and do things such as remove the state's coal-fired power plants and replace them with solar to see how well the grid stands up, Liebrock said. "There's so much we can do with it," she said, waving her hand at Encanto. "I have a group of students that really want to see what that thing can do."