Project Proposed: This project, acquiring a computing cluster with multiple nodes, aims to have the equipment serve as a central resource for high performance computing at the institution. Complementing a small 8-node computing cluster, this cluster supports research and training of faculty and students in physics and cellular and molecular biology and provides the opportunity to foster an emerging community of interdisciplinary researchers from other fields interested in solving complex computational problems. Some research activities include: - Order-disorder phases of two and three dimensional magnetic spin systems; - First principle calculations using density functional theory; and - Quantum mechanical modeling of the binding pocket and antibiotic resistance in a set of beta-lactamases. The instrumentation provides a means to test, optimize, and carry out some computations locally. Broader Impacts: Serving as a powerful stimulus for the recruitment of undergraduates that include first generation, minority and non-traditional students, the instrumentation should also leverage individual research funding in a mainly undergraduate-serving institution and foster further the integration of research and education. Moreover, this acquisition should promote an exciting learning environment for the next generation of students providing an accessible entry to research and education at the frontiers of Computational Science, Information Technology, and Cluster Computing.
