A Stampede for science

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and the University of Texas at Austin competed against the top supercomputing centers and universities to claim one of the most advanced systems in the world — and won. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the award, with an estimated $50 million-plus investment over a four-year period.

Stampede principal investigators from left to right: Tommy Minyard, director of Advanced Computing Systems; Bill Barth, director of High Performance Computing; Jay Boisseau, TACC director; Dan Stanzione, deputy director of Industrial Programs; Karl Schulz, director of Scientific Applications. Image courtesy TACC.

Stampede, the newest supercomputer at TACC and one of the most advanced scientific research instruments in the world, fills aisle after aisle of a new 11,000-square-foot data center on the J.J. Pickle Research Campus at the University of Texas at Austin, US. On March 27, leaders from government, TACC, and academia dedicated Stampede and kicked off a new era of advanced computing at the university and across the nation.

"Stampede will serve the university and the nation, as it enables scientific exploration that would not otherwise be possible. It continues TACC's tradition of providing powerful, comprehensive and leading edge advanced computing technologies to the open science community," says president of the University of Texas at Austin, William Powers Jr.

Stampede harnesses the power of 500,000 computer processors to tackle ever larger and more challenging computational problems. Sixteen times more powerful than the recently decommissioned Ranger system, Stampede will enable scientists to address new classes of problems – and simulate, visualize, analyze, store, and share their knowledge with others around the world.

To learn more about Stampede and the science it supports, read Aaron Dubrow’s article on the TACC website.

- Amber Harmon