The Institute for Data Science and Computing is powered by the vast resources that established the University of Miami’s Center for Computational Science (CCS), which was in existence at the University of Miami for over a decade, and established a broad user-base and a state-of-the-art research computing infrastructure.

Now under IDSC, these resources are the Technology Platforms that enable the effective and efficient dissemination of information, offering high-level data management and the creation of custom software solutions through two resource platforms: Advanced Computing Systems and Systems and Data Engineering.  These resources are available to the research community through an established fee-for-service model or via collaborative partnerships on research projects.

Advanced Computing Systems

Advanced Computing provides comprehensive advanced resources ranging from hardware infrastructure to expertise in designing and implementing high-performance solutions to academic and research communities. Recognizing the central role of an ever-growing body of data, the IDSC Advanced Computing team designed and implemented a regional advanced computing environment supporting 1,700+ users, and a very large state-of-the-art data storage system with well over 10 PT of current “live” data.

The University’s latest acquisition “TRITON” is rated one of the Top 5 Academic Institution Supercomputers in U.S. for 2019, and is UM’s first GPU-accelerated high performance computing (HPC) system, representing a completely new approach to computational and data science for the University’s campuses. Built using IBM Power Systems AC922 servers, this system was designed to maximize data movement between the IBM POWER9 CPU and attached accelerators like GPUs.

The University’s first Supercomputer “Pegasus,” an IBM IDataPlex system, was ranked at number 389 on the November 2012 Top 500 Supercomputer Sites list, and has provided more than 90 million CPU/ hours/year to research projects, with a utilization rate nearly 85%.

Systems and Data Engineering Platform

Systems and Data Engineering consists of a team of professional software engineers who actively seek collaborative partners for new and innovative software application and systems development projects. The team has developed applications and software systems to support work in clinical research, drug discovery, genomics, mapping, and urban planning, observational biology/ecology, and the digital humanities. IDSC Systems and Data Engineering offers expertise for collaborators who need to include novel software systems as part of their projects, including expert personnel for inclusion in grant proposals, and the development of prototypes or initial analysis in preparation for proposal submission.