From Left: UCAR President Thomas Bogdan, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead, National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh, and Vice President of Research and Economic Development at the University of Wyoming William Gern cut the ribbon at the NWSC facility October, 15th (photo: Trevor T. Trujillo)

Opportunities for students and the University as a whole were spoken about during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the NCAR Wyoming Super Computer facility in Cheyenne, Monday.

William Gern, Vice President of Research and Economic Development at the University of Wyoming was one of five speakers at the invitation-only ribbon cutting.  He said that he was feeling good about the opening of the facility.

“The first email that we received was in 2006.  So, six years later here we are.  It’s just a wonderful day for Wyoming and a great opportunity for the University.”

Gern, during his address at the ribbon cutting, said that the university has hired a number of computational scientists since that initial e-mail in 2006.  ”They’re going to be using this machine to understand water availability in the West; how water is partitioned into streams, lakes and aquifers ” Gern said.  ”We’re going to understand how gas, oil and water move in the sub-surface and how to extract them more efficiently so we can gain more of those hydrocarbons.  Those require really intense computing.”

Furthermore, Gern says, the NWSC facility will offer opportunities to U.W. students as well.  ”There are already students who are coming in and working with us and NCAR, to start to understand high-performance computing and the opportunities that high-performance computing presents to them.  As well as a career path.”

The facility’s visitors center will be open to the public starting October, 16th.  For more information you can visit their website.

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