8 August 2006
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| From left: University of California, San Diego, students Ms Celia Croy, Ms Iwen Wu, Mr Noah Ollikainen and Ms Angelina Altshuler are participating in an e-research program at Monash's Faculty of IT. |
Four students from the University of California, San Diego, have swapped their summer break for a Melbourne winter to participate in a highly sought after e-research program at Monash's Faculty of Information Technology.
Funded through the US National Science Foundation, the students have taken the opportunity to enhance and extend their studies using the world-renowned Nimrod computing grid, developed at Monash University.
Celia Croy, a 21-year-old biology major, said the trip to Australia hadgiven the students the chance to meet Nimrod's creators and enjoy a cultural experience at the same time. "Our school wants us to be well-rounded individuals when we graduate," said Ms Croy.
Nimrod enables users to harness multiple computers, often distributed around the world, for large-scale simulations. The powerful software tool breaks large problems into smaller tasks that can be scheduled for execution at different locations.
Angelina Altshuler and fellow 19 year-old Iwen Wu is using the Nimrod software to help develop early computer simulations of the human heart. She and Ms Wu have come to Monash to learn how the grid can be used for their projects. "We're all doing projects in biological fields and it's a new thing to be using the computer technology with biology," she said.
Program coordinator, Nimrod creator and e-research pioneer, Professor David Abramson, said the program was a classic example of e-research at work, where supercomputer technology is applied to a specific area of research and research teams are linked throughout the world.
"It's bringing Information Communication Technologies together with whatever the research domain happens to be, doing things that you couldn't do before," he said. "Here we have biology and computer science being done globally -- that's e-research," he said.
Professor Abramson said he hoped the program, facilitated with the Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly, and now in its third year, would continue. "It has already forged long-term international links and collaborations, and it's the students who underpin it," he said.
The program illustrates the intent behind Monash University's Engaging the World statement, launched last week. Engaging the World views active participation in global research networks as a key part of the university's commitment to research, education and international development.
For more information contact Melissa Marino, Media Communications, on + 61 3 9905 2085 or 0437 121 978.
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