Purdue trustees approve purchase of supercomputer, 10-year capital plan, budget for animal disease and diagnostic lab

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Aug. 7) approved the purchase of a high-performance computer cluster called Anvil from Dell Inc.

Anvil is a powerful new supercomputer that will provide advanced computing capabilities to support a wide range of computational and data-intensive research, spanning from traditional high-performance computing to modern artificial intelligence applications. Anvil will significantly increase the capacity available to the National Science Foundation’s Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which serves tens of thousands of researchers across the U.S. and in which Purdue has been a partner for the past nine years.

Anvil will be funded by a $10 million NSF grant that was awarded recently to ITaP’s Research Computing Team. Additional funding from the NSF will support Anvil’s operations and user support. Anvil will enter production in 2021.

In other action, trustees reviewed and approved the university’s 10-year capital plan, which informs the 2021-2023 Legislative Capital Request the university submits to the state. Developed pursuant to Purdue’s strategic initiatives, the 10-year capital plan prioritizes facility needs for the near, mid- and long term.

Additionally, trustees approved the 2021-23 budget for the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The ADDL aids in the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases for the state of Indiana and provides prompt and accurate diagnostic services. It is the only veterinary diagnostic laboratory in the state, providing these services on behalf of the State Board of Animal Health. The approved budget is $3.7 million for 2021, $4 million for 2022 and $4.1 million for 2023.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Sources: Rob Wynkoop, wynkoop@purdue.edu

Michael B. Cline, mbcline@purdue.edu

Eva Nodine, enodine@purdue.edu

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