Designed especially for neurobiologists, FluoRender is an interactive tool for multi-channel fluorescence microscopy data visualization and analysis.
Deep brain stimulation
BrainStimulator is a set of networks that are used in SCIRun to perform simulations of brain stimulation such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and magnetic transcranial stimulation (TMS).
Developing software tools for science has always been a central vision of the SCI Institute.
cuda-coeUniversity of Utah Latest in a Growing List of Exceptional Schools Demonstrating Pioneering Work in Parallel Computing

Santa Clara, CA & Salt Lake City, UT - July 31, 2008 - NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies, and the University of Utah today announced that the university has been recognized as a CUDA Center of Excellence, a milestone that marks the beginning of a significant partnership between the two organizations.

NVIDIA® CUDA™ technology is an award-winning C-compiler and software development kit (SDK) for developing computing applications on GPUs. Its inclusion in the University of Utah's curriculum is a clear indicator of the ground-swell that parallel computing using a many-core architecture is having on the high-performance computing industry. The University of Utah is also the second school to be recognized as a CUDA Center of Excellence along with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Over 50 other schools and universities now include CUDA technology as part of their Computer Science curriculum or in their research.

Distinguished members of the University of Utah's faculty and alumni have been behind a remarkable fraction of the graphics innovations made in the last 40 years, as well as pioneering companies such as Adobe, Evans & Sutherland, Pixar and Silicon Graphics. Together, NVIDIA and the University of Utah will continue this industry-changing work and deliver technologies that harness the processing power of the GPU (graphics processing units) and the award-winning CUDA programming environment.

"Often before a great discovery there is the creation of a new tool or a tool that is used in a different way than before," said Chris Johnson, director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute at the University of Utah. "GPUs and the algorithms and software that they use are today's tools and with them we are entering a golden age, where scientific computing is going to truly change the way we do science and medicine."

As a CUDA Center of Excellence, the University of Utah will be using CUDA technology extensively across three faculties:

  • Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute
    • The SCI Institute has established itself as an internationally recognized leader in visualization, scientific computing, and image analysis. The overarching research objective of the SCI Institute is to create new scientific computing techniques, tools, and systems that enable solutions to important problems in biomedicine, science, and engineering. For more information: www.sci.utah.edu
  • The School of Computing (until 2000 the Department of Computer Science)
    • The School of Computing has a long history of distinguished faculty and alumni who have made substantial contributions to research and industry. For more information: www.cs.utah.edu/school/history. The CUDA Center will play a key role in the School's new Digital Media Initiative linking Computing with Fine Art and Film and funded by the USTAR Initiative
  • Center for the Simulation of Accidental Fires and Explosions (CSAFE)
    • As one of the Department of Energy's five Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) centers, Utah runs detailed simulations of high energy devices and hydro-carbon fires, designed to increase the safety of dangerous material transportation and storage.
"The synergy of graphics combined with computational horsepower provided by NVIDIA GPUs and the CUDA programming environment provides incredible opportunities in science, industry and commerce," stated Dr. Steven Parker, adjunct professor of computer science at the University of Utah and principal research scientist at NVIDIA.

"The worlds of scientific computing and computer graphics owe a great deal to the University of Utah and those who have passed through its halls," said David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA. "CUDA technology has the potential to truly transform industries, as we have already seen in fields such as medicine, geophysics and finance. With a school of Utah's caliber incorporating it into their curriculum and across many of its research facilities, I am personally very excited to see what advances can be made."

The CUDA Center of Excellence at the University of Utah will be using GPU technology to make significant advances in a number of scientific applications, including seismic data processing and visualization, MRI and diffusion tensor image reconstruction, cardiac electrical wave propagation simulation, combustion and fluid dynamics simulation, and several projects in large-scale scientific visualization.

About the University of Utah

With a rich 151-year history, the University of Utah's mission of teaching, research and service lives through its people and purposes. From its beautiful campus in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, the university reaches out to its diverse student body from all 29 Utah counties, all 50 states and 102 countries with top-rated academic departments, competitive athletics, wide-ranging cultural offerings, and innovative medical programs. In 2005 the University established the office of Technology Venture Development to accelerate the entrepreneurial spirit at the University. Since then, 61 companies have been launched from University technologies.


About NVIDIA

NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) is the world leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the GPU, a high-performance processor which generates breathtaking, interactive graphics on workstations, personal computers, game consoles, and mobile devices. NVIDIA serves the entertainment and consumer market with its GeForce® products, the professional design and visualization market with its Quadro® products, and the high-performance computing market with its Tesla™ products. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. NVIDIA's inaugural NVISION 08 conference will be held August 25-27, 2008 in San Jose, California. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com and www.nvision08.com.