The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC)

Virtually every scientific and engineering breakthrough today relies on computation, as “in silico” experimentation and data analytics have become a powerful new tool for knowledge discovery, alongside theory, physical experimentation and observation. The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) provides state of the art infrastructure for computationally intensive research that is indispensable in the increasingly sensor and data-rich environments of modern science and engineering. Computers at the MGHPCC run millions of virtual experiments every month, supporting thousands of researchers in Massachusetts and around the world.

The MGHPCC operates as a joint venture between Boston University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts. It is open for use by any research organization.

The MGHPCC provides world-class computational infrastructure, indispensible in the increasingly sensor and data-rich environments of modern science and engineering discovery. Today, virtually no major breakthrough — be it designing a new drug, developing new materials for clean energy or addressing climate change — can take place without computation. In silico experimentation adds a powerful new dimension to knowledge discovery in all fields, alongside theory, physical experimentation and observation. With the increasingly integrated role of computation in fundamental and applied research, the MGHPCC is a critical piece of infrastructure that will continue to fuel the world-leading innovation economy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through cooperative research, education and outreach activities.

Completed in November 2012, the 90, 000 square foot, 15 megawatt facility is located on an 8.6 acre former industrial site just a few blocks from City Hall in Holyoke, MA.

Currently, computers in the MGHPCC run millions of virtual experiments per month, supporting thousands for researchers in Massachusetts and around the world.

High-performance computing (HPC) systems that bring together large numbers of CPUs and massive amounts of storage, are playing a transformative role in research. For example, high performance computers are used to create, simulate and solve models of complex phenomena that range from protein structure, to turbulent fluid flows, to the dynamics of the earth’s atmosphere, to pathways of human social interaction, to galactic evolution. These models provide new perspectives and new ways of making discoveries. The following is a small sample of the computationally-intensive research being conducted at the MGHPCC universities.