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Media Advisory: Groundbreaking for Institute for Geophysics
and Texas Advanced Computing Center
Sept.
26, 2005
Event: Groundbreaking for new home of two research
units at The University of Texas at Austin, the Jackson
School of Geosciences’ Institute for Geophysics and the
Texas Advanced Computing Center.
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When:
5:30-6:30 p.m., Sept. 29.
Where: Site of the new building, adjoining the Jackson
School of Geosciences’ Bureau of Economic Geology on The
University of Texas at Austin J.J. Pickle Research Campus. Map
is available at
university maps site.
Who may attend: The event is open to the public.
Background: Construction is set to begin on a new
94,000-square-foot home for the Texas Advanced Computing Center
(TACC) and the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Institute for
Geophysics. The two units, which already work closely together,
anticipate stronger collaboration as they help the university
compete for federal research funds. Researchers at the institute
study processes shaping the earth's structure and environment,
including sea-level fluctuations, climate change and geologic
hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis. They also develop new
mathematical techniques for data processing and imaging,
research that relies on high-end computation. TACC is one of the
leading advanced computing centers in the United States, serving
researchers in Texas and across the nation.
As demand for
supercomputing has increased, TACC has grown from a staff of 14
to 60. The new building will offer room for further expansion,
as TACC researchers continue to work on projects like TeraGrid,
the world's largest cyberinfrastructure for open scientific
research. TACC will occupy the building's lower floor, which
will house a 6,000 square-foot, raised-floor machine room for
computer systems.
The Institute
for Geophysics will occupy the top two floors. In addition to
gaining ready access to TACC's computing systems, researchers at
the institute will be physically connected by covered walkways
to the Jackson School's other research unit, the Bureau of
Economic Geology. The new building will mark the first time the entire staff of the institute will be on The University of
Texas at Austin campus. Since moving to Austin from its dockside
facilities at The University of Texas Medical Branch in
Galveston in 1982, the institute has been housed in rental
space.
Designed by
PBS&J and constructed by Flintco, the building is intended to
meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Green Building Rating System. Construction is expected to be
complete by fall 2006.
Note: An
architect’s rendering of the new building is
available online.
For more information contact Kathy Ellins at the
Institute for Geophysics, 512-471-0347,
kellins@ig.utexas.edu,
or Faith Singer-Villalobos at the Texas Advanced Computing
Center, 512-232-5771, faith@tacc.utexas.edu.
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