News

October 2018 Maintenance
On Wednesday, October 3, 2018, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. Primary Storage, Mesabi, and Itasca will be unavailable throughout much of the day. A global system reservation will start at 5:00 am on October 3. Jobs that cannot be completed before 5:00 am on October 3 will be held until after maintenance and then started once the system returns to production status. October maintenance will include:
U of M Receives Federal Grant to Improve Electronic Circuit Design
The University of Minnesota has received a four-year, $5.3 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to study ways to improve electronic circuit design. MSI PI Sachin Sapatnekar (professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering) will lead the team at the U. This grant fall under DARPA’s new Intelligent Design of Electronic Assets program.
Decision Making
Research by MSI PI David Redish (professor, Neuroscience) was featured recently on the Office of the Vice President for Research’s Inquiry blog: No Simple Decisions.
MSI PI Donald Truhlar Receives ACS Award in Theoretical Chemistry
Regents Professor Donald Truhlar, a long-time MSI PI in the Department of Chemistry, has received the 2019 American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry. Professor Truhlar is one of the top theoretical chemists in the world, with many contributions that have advanced chemistry. The award will be presented at the ACS National Meeting in Orlando, Florida, in April 2019.
Generational Study of 10,000 Families
MSI PI Logan Spector (professor, Pediatrics; Masonic Cancer Center) is leading a new project that will study the health families over time. The researchers want sign up 10,000 families; these families will commit to having two members of two different generations fill out questionnaires and provide periodic samples. The goal is to study the development of various diseases and conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.
MSI PI Matthew Rouse Wins Borlaug Award
MSI PI Matthew Rouse (adjunct associate professor, Plant Pathology; USDA Agricultural Research Service) was named the 2018 winner of the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The World Food Prize Foundation announced the award at the Sustainable Development Goals Conference in the Netherlands last month.
Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center in the News
The Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) was created to address the issues created by an increasing number of invasive plant and animal species threatening Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, and streams. MSI PI Nicholas Phelps (Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology) is the MAISRC Director. He uses MSI resources for his work developing eradication tools for invasive species. Work by the MAISRC has been featured recently by several news outlets:
Machine Learning Techniques to Monitor Global Agricultural and Environment Change
The University of Minnesota has been awarded a $1.43 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop machine-learning techniques that can be used to better monitor global agricultural and climate change. A team of researchers from the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Sciences, and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute will be working on this project.
Studying the Fundamental Science of Waves
MSI PI Doug Arnold (professor, Mathematics) is part of an international collaboration to study the basic science behind waves. The collaboration, which will receive $8 million in funding over four years from the Simons Foundation, is headquartered at the University of Minnesota and includes members from France, the UK, MIT, and UC Santa Barbara. This research seeks a deeper understanding of a wave phenomenon called localization. Eventually, it could have impacts on the design of structures and electronic devices.
MSI PIs Develop New Material
Four MSI PIs have published a paper in the journal Nature Materials in which they describe a new material that may improve computer processing and memory capabilities. The PIs are Jian-Ping Wang (professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering); Mo Li (associate professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering); K.
Creating a Bionic Eye With 3D Printing
MSI PI Michael McAlpine (Mechanical Engineering) and colleagues recently published a study that showed how to use 3D printing technology to print an array of light receptors on a curved surface. This breakthrough helps pave the way for an artificial eye. The team used a custom-built 3D printer that was able to print on the hemispherical surface with the material running down the surface.
Studying the Gut Microbiome’s Links to Cancer
The Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota has announced that it is forming a team to study microbes in the gut and their influence on the development and treatment of cancer. This team is the first project funded by a Chainbreaker Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant; the funds for this grant were raised by the first Chainbreaker bike ride, which was held in 2017. The 2018 Chainbreaker ride was held on August.

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