MINNEAPOLIS—Officials at the Minnesota Supercomputer Center are providing 334 scientists with free computer time until the end of the month while the state's congressional delegation wages an uphill battle to restore the center's recent loss of funding from the National Science Foundation.
The free time on the center's Cray II and Cyber 205 supercomputers was made available after NSF gave center president John Sell two days' notice in mid-February that his facility would receive no more funding. Sell hopes that the state's congressmen, led by Rep. Martin Sabo (DMinn.), will somehow find federal money to support the center and its clients, but he admits the outlook is "gloomy."
Minnesota was one of three university sites chosen in 1984 in the first phase of NSF's effort to establish a national supercomputing network. In 1985 NSF selected five other sites for the second phase of its program, and notified Minnesota, Purdue and...
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member?