Background

The Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) is a department in the College ofEngineering. It was established in 2001 by combining the Center for ParallelComputing (CPC) and the Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LaSC). The Centerfor Parallel Computing was established in 1992 to operate a parallel computingfacility. LaSC was established in 1986 to provide expert consultation andassistance in scientific computing to University of Michigan faculty, staff,and students. LaSC also administered the Doctoral Program in ScientificComputing. The initial portfolio of CAC's activities was the combinedactivities and responsibilities of CPC and LaSC.A significant amount of support for CAC was provided by an NSF infrastructuregrant called NPACI. When that grant ended in 2004, the College of Engineeringprovided funding for CAC to continue as a College of Engineering activity. TheCAC, in with additional support from CAEN and the College of Information'sOffice of Information Technology, currently supports computing cluster andother related facilities for researchers in the College of Engineering. Sincethe end of the NPACI grant, CAC has provided free access to cluster computingto users from across campus as well to those from the College of Engineering.

Staff

Dr. Sharon Glotzer is the Stuart W. Churchill Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Physics, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Applied Physics.  Dr. Glotzer is the Director of the Office of Scientific Computing and the Director of the Center for Advanced Computing.  For more on Dr. Glotzer see here.

Dr. Ken Powell is a Arthur F Thurnau Professor, Professor ofAerospace Engineering and the Faculty Liason for the Center for AdvancedComputing. Dr. Powell focuses on the faculty relations mission of the CAC and onhelping other researchers, especially those new to the College of Engineering,determine the most appropriate hardware for their needs. For more on Dr. Powellsee here.

Andrew Caird is the Director of High Performance Computing forthe College of Engineering. Andrew focuses on the operational aspects of theCenter for Advanced Computing, addressing user support, hardware,software, and facilities issues. Andrew graduated from U-M with a B.S.and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering and began his career as a student employee andthen a regular employee of the Center for Parallel Computing from 1992-1996,then returned to the CAC in 2004.

Matthew Britt is a Senior High Performance Computing SystemsAdministrator. Matthew focuses on the systems level details of supporting over1000 computers, three different operating systems, and scheduling over4,000 jobs on them per day subject to a dozens of policy constraints. He alsoadvances the technology the CAC uses to provide a stable platform to over 350users. Matthew graduated from U-M with a B.S. in Computer Science and began hiscareer as a student employee and then a regular employee at the Center for Parallel Computing in 1996.

Brock Palen is a High Performance Computing SystemsAdministrator. Brock focuses on applications support, end-user consulting,delivering workshops, and supporting our high-speed storage system. He alsospends time on overall system efficiency issues, resource management withrespect to hardware, software, and storage, and data analysis. Brock graduatedfrom U-M with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering and began his career as a studentemployee and then a regular employee at the Center for Advanced Computing in2003.

Contact Us

The best way to contact us with technical, operational, or policyquestions is via email to cac-support@umich.edu.

Questions about the academic program should be directed to cac-info@umich.edu.