This award is to University of Louisiana Lafayette to support the activity described below in 24 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF-05566).
Partners The partners include University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lead institution), Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Lafayette Consolidated Government, Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Board of Regents, Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Zydetech Technology Council, Silicon Graphics Inc, James River Technical, and Christie Digital Systems. Current and prospective clients and users include ADMIN.701, Global Data Systems, Merlin Oil & Gas, Fenstermaker & Associates, Bizzuka, Stone Energy, Landmark Graphics, Northrop Grumman, 3001, Inc., Idaho National Laboratory, Harris Corporation, NASA Stennis Space Center (Center for Higher Learning), C-K Associates, and Premiere Performance Systems.
The primary objective of the proposal follows. In order to revitalize its stagnant economy, Louisiana has made over $60M investments into high performance computing, visualization, and bandwidth through the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE) and the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI). At this time, no incubator in the state is equipped to provide the requisite infrastructure, expertise, or support to leverage these investments and create new economic opportunities statewide. This presents both a need and an opportunity to incubate technology businesses, foster entrepreneurship, and to accelerate innovative technology enterprises to the frontiers of High Performance Computing (HPC) & High Performance Visualization (HPV). Louisiana Technology Incubator for Entrepreneurial Success (Louisiana TIES) will serve this need and realize this opportunity.
The intellectual merit of the proposal lies in the creation and application of a state-of-the-art grid HPC & HPV infrastructure. Traditional constraints that govern the design of existing commercial software applications are challenged in the grid environment comprising tremendous processing power, storage, and bandwidth. In addition, opportunities for collaborative problem solving enabled by visualization on the grid truly engender new ways of thinking. This project will catalyze the creation of new innovations and the migration of exiting software not just to the next level, but also to the frontier of the HPC & HPV universe. The proposal leverages strengths of UL Lafayette to address data intensive domains such as oil and gas, geology, engineering, and health to allow Louisiana to leapfrog other regions into the knowledge economy.
The broader societal impact of the proposed activity will exceed its economic impact and job creation potential. Louisiana TIES will cultivate an innovative entrepreneurial culture to reinvigorate Louisianas technologically underserved and economically disadvantaged population. Concerted efforts will be made to recruit, educate, and support both students and entrepreneurs from Louisianas female and minority populations. The projects goals are to serve as the social and economic development complement to Louisianas major infrastructure investment initiatives currently under way. More than just the fundamental expansion of knowledge, Louisiana TIES focuses on the application of knowledge for societal well being. Its goals are to firmly establish Louisiana as a source of innovative businesses, ideas, and workers. Its goals are to show the world and Louisianas own citizens that when it comes to technology innovations--discovered here, invented here, and invested here-- are possible in a new Louisiana.
