Math & Computer Science Research
New Equipment Brings Research Opportunities in Computer Science/ Bioinformatics
Dr. Barry Myers
The recent addition of new lab equipment to the Computer Science (CS)/Bioinformatics (CSB) lab has created many new research opportunities. For example, we are working on benchmarking the performance of various applications on the cluster versus other computing configurations. We are also researching cluster and grid computing and are in the process of creating a cross platform grid using OSX and Linux. This research and application development is being done in order to provide a high-performance computing platform for use on campus. We are continuing to develop expertise and research proposals for bioinformatics applications. I am interested in exploring the algorithms currently used for storing, manipulating, and searching genomic data to find options that may be more efficient. I also plan to explore the ethical side of computing and genomics. For example, who should own and have control over personal genetic information that resides in electronic databases? We are also developing collaborative relationships with other researchers in the state of Idaho, potentially including researchers from the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, and/or Boise State University. I also enjoy human interface and design issues. Every application can have many methods of providing an interface to and interacting with the user, but which of these correct designs are best for which situations and users?
Equipment recently added to the C.S./Bioinformatics lab:
1) Ten-node Apple Workgroup Cluster in a dual Xrack configuration, consisting of:
-One dual processor (Xserve G5 – 64-bit, 2.3 GHz) head node with 8 GB RAM, 250 GB HD, dual Gigabit Ethernet, fast I/O ports and an optical drive
-Nine dual processor (Xserve G5 – 64-bit, 2.3 GHz) slave nodes with 2 GB RAM
-Mac OSX Server version 10.4 “Tiger”
-Xserve RAID (2.8 TB (7X400GB) in a 2.1 RAID 5 configuration) with a 2Gb Fibre Channel Interface
-3com Baseline 16-port Switch
-Apple Remote Desktop 2
-APC Smart-UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
-The BioTeam iNquiry™ (iNquiry provides an intuitive human readable interface to over 200 cluster-enabled bioinformatics tools.)
2) Power Mac G5 (dual 64-bit 2.3 GHz G5 processors) with 2 GB RAM, 250GB HD, ATI Radeon 9650 w/256MB, Apple Cinema Display (20" flat panel)
3) 17-inch PowerBook G4
4) Five Dell OptiPlex GX620 (3.0 GHz) Client Workstations with 1GB RAM, 80 GB HD, 17” Flat-Panel Monitor (dual-booting WindowsXP and Linux)
Already existing lab equipment included 5 P3 client workstations, 3 HP RISC workstations, an SGI Indy RISC workstation, a Sun dual processor Server, and a soon-to-be-upgraded Intel dual processor Server.
