Clemson University is leading a project that has earned a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Experimental Programs to Stimulate Competitive Research. The federal funding will provide South Carolina institutions with supercomputing abilities so they can collaborate and access national data resources.
Various schools in South Carolina and Tennessee will partner to advance the study of advanced materials engineering and systems biology. Institutions also include the University of South Carolina, Clafflin University, the College od Charleston, The Citadel, the Medical University of South Carolina, and South Carolina State University. Also participating are the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Vandebuilt and the University of Michigan.
Clemson’s Chief information officer, James Bottum, is principal investigator for the grant.
“These are research dollars going into the research infrastructure.” Bottum says cyber infrastructure is a term that people will be increasingly familiar with. “Physical infrastructure consists of roads and electrical grids. The cyber infrastructure is digital and supports commerce and research.”
Bottum says part of the project is education and workforce training, and he says that’s extremely important for the future of the state. “Hopefully these are the things that will help to transition places like South Carolina from the economies of the past to the knowledge economies of the future,” he says.
