Core--Computational facility

核心--计算设施

• 批准号: 6233360
• 负责人: Douglas Alan Baxter
• 金额: $ 19.39万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-08-25 至 2004-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6233360
• 关键词: biomedical facility; computational neuroscience; computer data analysis; computer system design /evaluation

The objective of the Computational Core Facility is to provide a resource that greatly facilitates the initial development of neural simulations and that provides the computer power to implement these simulations in biologically meaningful ways. As such, the core will be upgraded to state- of-the-art hardware, including a multiple processor super computer purchased by the university. In addition, two highly qualified individuals will be hired: one to maintain the systems and aid in programming, and another to aid in the development of simulations for participating members of the program. These resources will be augmented by policies that ensure the faculty and students remain at the cutting edge of current ideas in computational neuroscience. Specifically, we have invited four leaders in the field (Andrew Barto, Dan Johnston, Eve Marder and Terrence Sejnowski) to meet with us at least once a year to i) advise us on direction and scope of our work, ii) advise us on training for our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and iii) to discuss their work and its implications for improvements in our work and theirs. We have also requested funds to invite three scientists to Houston per year (one week visits) to lead discussions and stimulate ideas and techniques. We have arranged for Joel Keizer and Robert Smith to visit during year one of the Project. We believe this combination of hardware, personnel resources, and scholarly environment is ideal to produce the highest quality computational work and to provide the best training possible for our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Core resources will be available to all members of the program, and priorities for allocation and access to resources will be determined by the Principal Investigator (Dr. Byrne) and by the Core Leader (Dr. Baxer). The emphasis in allocation of personnel resources (systems administrator and scientific programmer) will be to aid in the initial design and development of simulations. The expertise made available will be an invaluable resource and time savings for members of the core who are in the initial, time consuming , phase of a project. It is this phase where normally, time and programming expertise limitations can severely constrain the scientific scope and power of a project. The main purpose of the core personnel is to limit these constraints as much as is possible. The main emphases in allocation of computer resources will be i) to provide tools for the development of programs (upgrades to workstation computers), ii) to provide enormous computational power for the execution of biologically realistic programs (super computer purchased by University), and iii) to facilitate graphical analysis and presentation of results.

计算核心设施的目的是提供一种资源，可以极大地促进神经模拟的初步发展，并提供了计算机功能以生物学上有意义的方式实施这些模拟。因此，核心将升级到现状的硬件，包括大学购买的多个处理器超级计算机。此外，还将聘请两个高素质的个人：一个是维护系统和协助编程，另一个是为了帮助开发该计划的参与成员的模拟。这些资源将通过确保教师和学生在计算神经科学中保持最新思想的最前沿的政策来增强这些资源。具体来说，我们邀请了该领域的四名领导人（安德鲁·巴托，丹·约翰斯顿，夏娃·马尔德和特伦斯·塞恩沃斯基）每年至少与我们会面一次，i）建议我们就工作的指导和范围建议，ii ii）建议我们就培训我们的研究生和博士后研究员，以及iii）讨论他们的工作及其对改善我们的工作和他们的工作的影响。我们还要求资金每年邀请三名科学家参加休斯顿（一周访问），以主持讨论并刺激思想和技术。我们已经安排乔尔·凯泽（Joel Keizer）和罗伯特·史密斯（Robert Smith）在该项目的第一年访问。我们认为，硬件，人事资源和学术环境的这种结合是制作最高质量的计算工作，并为我们的研究生和博士后研究员提供最佳培训。该计划的所有成员将获得核心资源，分配和资源访问的优先级将由首席调查员（Byrne博士）和核心负责人（Baxer博士）确定。分配人员资源（系统管理员和科学程序员）的重点是协助模拟的最初设计和开发。对于在项目的初始，耗时，阶段的核心成员来说，提供的专业知识将是宝贵的资源和时间节省。正是在这个阶段，通常情况下，时间和编程专业知识限制可以严重限制项目的科学范围和力量。核心人员的主要目的是尽可能限制这些约束。计算机资源分配的主要重点将是i）为开发程序提供工具（升级到工作站计算机），ii）为执行生物学现实的程序（由大学购买的超级计算机）提供巨大的计算能力，以及iii）促进结果分析和结果。