UNC-CH Information Technology Services

RENCI to host open house Friday

The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) will open its doors to the public Friday, March 2, for an open house that will showcase a wide range of technologies and projects related to disaster research, bioinformatics, public health, high performance computing and high resolution visualization.

The open house will take place at RENCI’s anchor facility at 100 Europa Drive, Chapel Hill between noon and 3 p.m. Free parking is available, and visitors should enter the building from the parking lot entrance. Refreshments and light snacks will be provided. For directions to RENCI, see http://www.renci.org/about/europa.php.

Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI brings together diverse teams of people and technologies to address major issues facing our state, our nation, and the world, including disaster planning and response, public health and biomedical research. The open house will include demonstrations and information about RENCI’s major initiatives.

Highlights will include:

• Tours of the robotics laboratory and the high-performance machine room. The robotics lab develops embedded devices and robotic tools that can be used to access and respond to disasters or remotely monitor chronic health conditions. The machine room is home to RENCI’s IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer, Ocracoke. The 11-teraflop system is the most powerful computer in North Carolina.
• Demonstrations of HydroMet, a comprehensive forecasting system that combines atmospheric, hydrological and coastal storm surge data. These models will be used to produce more accurate flood and landslide predictions in North Carolina.
• Up close looks at RENCI’s autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its experimental disaster response vehicle. The UAV can be used during disasters to gather data from areas too dangerous or too remote to be reached by humans. The experimental disaster response vehicle is a prototype meant for use in emergencies or for training disaster response teams.
• Information about the RENCI Outpatient Health Monitoring System (OHMS). This new collaboration with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine will examine how wireless networking and tiny devices can be used to remotely monitor chronic conditions, such as asthma.
• Stereoscopic and high-resolution visualization. RENCI’S visualization and collaborative environments group will show how three-dimensional animations and graphic displays of scientific data have revolutionized research and discovery.