The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) is a supercomputer facility located on the western end of the Ohio State University campus, just north of Columbus. Established in 1987, the OSC partners with Ohio universities, labs and industries, providing students and researchers with high performance computing, advanced cyberinfrastructure, research and computational science education services.
OSC is member-organization of the Ohio Technology Consortium,[1] the technology and information division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. OSC works with an array of statewide/regional/national communities, including education, academic research, industry, and state government. The Center's research programs are primarily aligned with three of several key areas of research identified by the state to be well positioned for growth and success, such as the biosciences, advanced materials and energy/environment.
OSC is funded through the Ohio Department of Higher Education by the state operating and capital budgets of the Ohio General Assembly.
History
OSC was established by the Ohio Board of Regents (now the Ohio Department of Higher Education) in 1987 as a statewide resource designated to place Ohio's research universities and private industry in the forefront of computational research. Also in 1987, the OSC networking initiative — known today as OARnet — provided the first network access to the Center’s first Cray supercomputer.
In 1988, OSC launched the Center’s Industrial Interface Program to serve businesses interested in accessing the supercomputer. Battelle Memorial Institute, located just south of Ohio State, became OSC’s first industrial user. Today, the Center continues to offer HPC services to researcher in industry, primarily through its AweSim industrial engagement program.
In the summer of 1989, 20 talented high school students attended the first Governor’s Summer Institute. Today, OSC offers summer STEM education programs through Summer Institute and Young Women's summer Institute, which began in 2000.
Later in the fall of 1989, OSC engineers installed a $22 million Cray Y-MP8/864 system, which was deemed the largest and fastest supercomputer in the world for a short time.[2] The seven-ton system was able to calculate 200 times faster than many mainframes at that time.
Directors of the Center:
William McCurdy, Ph.D., OSC Acting Director, 1986–87
Charles Bender, Ph.D., OSC Executive Director, 1987-2002
