World Class Research Gets IT Support

As Boston’s only public research university, having the proper equipment and services to conduct research is essential to UMass Boston’s operation. That is why the university’s Research Computing department provides high performance computing (HPC), specialized storage and software, analytical applications, and other related services. According to Jeff Dusenberry, Director of Research Computing, the department also acts as a liaison between researchers and IT, providing consultation for networking, equipment specification and purchasing, data security, risk mitigation, and more.

On the HPC front, Research Computing has made some recent upgrades to provide the best research experience to the university’s dedicated Principal Investigators (PIs). In March 2021, Dusenberry and Runcong Chen, Research Computing Associate, made upgrades to the Chimera cluster, including replacing the 8-year-old head node and several older computer nodes as well as adding several new nodes.

Prior to these upgrades, the hardware in use at UMass Boston HPC facilities couldn’t support cutting-edge applications that were being requested by PIs. Computationally intensive research can now be completed with the most up-to-date technology. The upgrades also provided researchers with machines containing roughly 20 times the memory of a regular 32 GB laptop. That’s a lot more memory for people who need it to efficiently conduct their research. Following these upgrades, the usage of the Chimera cluster increased, indicating improved productivity.

As part of an initiative to increase awareness, utilization, and appropriateness of research computing services, the Department has formed a Research Computing Advisory Committee, with representation from almost all the schools and colleges at UMass Boston. Efforts are currently underway to improve research computing services to disciplines that are not traditional HPC users.