This article was originally published here and written by Susan Grønbech Kongpetsak.
Supercomputers are ready to boost your research both here at SDU and at a number of other Danish universities. But what difference can supercomputers make? This was the focus when the Danish e-infrastructure Consortium (DeiC) visited SDU.
Supercomputers can be something of a superpower to include in your research.
That is why the Danish e-infrastructure Consortium (DeiC) is on a mission to help even more researchers start using the many digital resources that are available at Danish universities.
On 29 February, DeiC visited SDU to raise awareness of the national supercomputers and the great potential they hold – no matter what research field you work in.
The event was opened by Marianne Holmer, dean of the Faculty of Science, SDU, and board member of DeiC, who briefly talked about the development in the area of digital resources for research.
Inspiration for all researchers
She also welcomed the fact that so many SDU researchers are already seizing the potential of using the digital facilities offered by SDU’s eScience Centre and DeiC.
– It’s great that more than 9,000 users are already utilising our interactive HPC solutions here at SDU, and we hope that this event will inspire even more researchers from all corners of the University to use digital resources.
Marianne Holmer also pointed out that the development within the field of quantum computing is in full swing at DeiC: it is currently possible to apply for PhD and postdoc positions within quantum algorithms and software
Ready to help
Afterwards, Gitte Kudsk, director of DeiC, took the audience in the DIAS auditorium on a quick tour of the many different digital opportunities that researchers can access via DeiC. Among other things, researchers can apply twice a year for access to computing power on the national supercomputers for their research projects. Additionally, SDU owns a share of these supercomputers, accessible via the SDU eScience Center.
In her presentation, Gitte Kudsk also highlighted the many international digital resources that DeiC – through strong collaborations in Europe – can help Danish researchers gain access to. Finally, she stated that both DeiC and the universities’ local Front Offices – SDU eScience Centre at this university – are always ready to help researchers embark on using digital resources that can make a difference in their research.
Make the invisible visible
The kind of difference supercomputers can make became particularly evident when SDU researchers from fields as diverse as medieval literature, chemistry and pharmacy explained how they use supercomputers in their research.
Himanshu Khandelia, associate professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, gave an inspiring presentation on how biomolecular simulation on supercomputers has contributed to his research in the development of new treatments for cancer and how to remove nanoplastics, among other things.
– My research and research results would not be possible at all without High Performance Computing (HPC), he stated in his presentation.
Aglae Pizzone, professor at the Department of Culture and Language, then described how supercomputers in her field can make the invisible visible. In an interdisciplinary collaboration on scanning and advanced imaging of medieval manuscripts, she and her colleagues are discovering what authors of the time were thinking and feeling while writing their texts.
The DeiC visit to SDU ended with an introduction to the services available at the SDU eScience Centre, presented by professor Claudio Pica, head of the SDU eScience Centre.
If you are considering including supercomputers in your research, the SDU eScience Centre is ready to help. Please contact us via support@escience.sdu.dk to learn more.
National supercomputers in brief
- There are currently four national High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities at Danish universities, two of which are run and operated by the SDU eScience Centre.
- The national services are available to all researchers in Denmark and are used in all research fields. Traditionally, supercomputers have largely been used by scientific researchers and engineers, but in recent years the number of users within the social sciences and humanities has grown, and the potential is huge.
- The Danish e-infrastructure Consortium (DeiC) is a unit under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science which is tasked with developing and coordinating the collaboration on digital research infrastructure among the Danish universities.
- Every year, DeiC allocates funds from the Ministry and the 8 Danish universities to operate the national supercomputers for research. See more
