High Speed Grid Computing at the University of Maryland

Grid computing uses the resources of many separate computers connected by a network to solve large-scale computational problems. Individual users can access computing resources transparently, without having to consider where those facilities are located. Applications also include multi-disciplinary collaboration at a distance. However, the vision of large scale resource sharing is not yet a reality in many areas. Professor Michael Cummings, UM's Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, is overseeing UM's own Grid system, The Lattice project. He will help us gain a better understanding of the functionality and benefits of Grid computing and facilitate a brainstorming session as we seek to identify challenges in the humanities that might be addressed by this capability.

Speakers

Michael Cummings
Michael Cummings
DirectorCenter for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Institute for Advanced Computer StudiesUniversity of Maryland

Michael Cummings is a professor of biology and director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB). He was the first faculty member hired into CBCB, where he leads the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution. He has published extensively in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, computational biology and bioinformatics (including genotype-phenotype relationships using machine learning), computer science (particularly in the area of grid computing), and bioinformatics education. He has lectured extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Korea, México, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. Because of his varied expertise, he has served the scientific community through participation in numerous national and international committees, panels, symposia, workshops and advisory boards. From 2000 through 2011, he directed or co-directed the Workshop on Molecular Evolution, with 17 instances held in Atlanta (at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Fort Collins, Washington, D.C. (at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution), Woods Hole, and Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic. From 2009 through 2011, he co-directed the Workshop on Comparative Genomics with three instances held in Fort Collins, Washington, D.C., and Český Krumlov. These advanced workshops have trained more than 1200 faculty/principal investigators, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students from more than 70 countries. He received his doctorate in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1992, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, as an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Studies of Evolution, and at the University of California, Riverside. He was a scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory and has held a guest professorship at the University of Konstanz.