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Feature Story | Mathematics and Computer Science

Ian Foster: Big Computation, Bigger Knowledge

Single computers with 100,000 processors, research teams that span the globe, online access to more data than is contained in the Library of Congress. Such developments are transforming how knowledge is generated and used. Foster, with the Computation Institute, Argonne National Laboratory and professor at the University of Chicago, illustrates the implications of these trends with descriptions and demonstrations of relevant projects at the University and Argonne, including the world’s fastest supercomputer for open science; grid computing for worldwide resource federation and collaboration; and massive data sets from political science, astrophysics, and neuroscience.

Presented in partnership with the University of Chicago and as part of the annual Karla Scherer Endowed Programs for the University of Chicago.