New York State: NYSGrid announced today that Polytechnic University, New York’s leading technology-focused higher educational institution, has become the 20^th member of NYSGrid, a collaboration among New York institutions to create an advanced technological infrastructure in the State. Founded in 1854, Polytechnic, the nation’s second oldest private engineering school and pre-eminent resource in science, technology and research, is the home of one of the original four New York State Centers of Advanced Technology (CAT).

NYSGrid was formed in 2006, when member institutions decided to facilitate information and technology exchange regarding cyber-infrastructure, to develop an advanced technological infrastructure across the state, and to provide access to computational and data resources on a statewide grid. In addition, NYSGrid pursues relationships with organizations such as the Open Science Grid to expand grid capabilities for New York researchers.

“Polytechnic brings significant expertise to NYSGrid,” said Chris Haile, chair of the NYSGrid Steering Committee. “In addition to the CAT in Telecommunication and Distributed Information Systems (CATT), Polytechnic also houses a Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology (WICAT) and enhanced programs in cyber-security and network assurance,” she noted, “all of which contribute to New York's cyber-ecosystem.”

“As a technology leader in higher education for New York and the nation, Polytechnic is excited to  partner with NYSGrid and their innovative technologies and bring its researchers onto the grid computing environment,” said Kurt Becker, Associate Vice Provost for Research and Technology Initiatives   at Polytechnic. Becker will serve as Polytechnic’s representative on the NYSGrid Council effective immediately.

Larry Gilbert, business director of the CATT at Polytechnic, stated, “This dynamic partnership between Polytechnic and NYSGrid will contribute innovative technologies to New York State and bring New York to a leadership position in collaborative research and emerging applications.”

The technologies and expertise that comprise cyber-infrastructure, alternatively called cyber-ecosystem, are becoming increasingly important for researchers, educators, and librarians across the state. NYSGrid provides a focal point for information about New York's cyber-ecosystem, which includes major computational resources at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Brookhaven National Laboratory/Stony Brook University, the University at Buffalo, New York University, and Cornell. In October 2007, NYSGrid became an initiative under NYSERNet, New York's advanced networking technology provider.  

Polytechnic University is the New York metropolitan area's preeminent resource in science, technology, research, and management education. In addition to its main campus at MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, Polytechnic offers programs at sites throughout the region, including Long Island, Manhattan and Westchester. Additionally, the University offers several programs in Israel. To learn more about Polytechnic University, and the Power of PolyThinking, please visit www.poly.edu.  To learn more about CATT please visit http://catt.poly.edu

Linda Callahan
NYSGrid Program Manager

Roger Highfield, Science Editor of Telegraph, UK reports "An ambitious plan to create a "virtual human" in a computer has passed its first test, heralding a day when drug trials will rely more on silicon chips than animals.

The virtual medical man The combined supercomputing power of Britain and America has enabled scientists to simulate an Aids infection in the virtual being, so they could see how effective an Aids drug really is in blocking a key protein used by the lethal virus to multiply.   A computer simulation of blood flow in a virtual human brain To the relief of the researchers behind the effort that will cost an estimated £350 million, the study provides encouraging evidence that the first £65 million stage of the Virtual Physiological Human project behaves like the real thing, suggesting that this approach could one day be used to tailor personal drug treatments, for example for HIV patients who are developing resistance to their drugs. Full Story Here