We request funding to purchase a modest 16 node, Beowulf computational cluster to be used for research and research training in biology, mathematics, physics, and computer science at Earlham College. The cluster's architecture, configured with commodity server units and network components, would be easily adaptable to support a mix of computationally intensive research projects.
The primary goal of this aquisition is to provide the resources necessary for Earlham's science faculty to extend computational methods into a broader range of research projects. The capabilities afforded by this new Beowulf cluster will be used by faculty and students to extend ongoing research projects in computer science and physics. These resources would also support pursuit of new work in biology, mathematics, physics, and computer science.
The new Beowulf cluster will complement an existing, three year old prototype cluster, built by Earlham students and faculty from hardware donated by an alumus, by providing a production quality environment for mature projects to receive much larger and more predictable resource allotments and hence better turn-around times. This would also enable our existing cluster to serve as a development environment for projects working with early releases of software packages and/or for projects exploring new computational methods.
Beowulf computational cluster and associated support hardware.