News

September 2023 Maintenance
On Wednesday, September 6, 2023, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. MSI’s storage, compute clusters, and front-end servers will be unavailable for some portion of the day. Reminder: any SLURM batch job submitted that has a time limit beyond the beginning of maintenance (5 a.m. Wednesday, September 6) will not be queued to start until after maintenance is completed.
Biosurveillance to Fight Plant Pathogens
Anyone living in Minnesota over the past decades is familiar with Dutch elm disease and the emerald ash borer, two pathogens that have caused a huge impact on local trees. MSI PI Robert Blanchette (professor, Plant Pathology) and members of his lab are using biosurveillance methods to detect and manage new pathogens before they can spread through the plant population.
A New Topological Semimetal Material May Reduce Energy Consumption in Electronics
In recently published research, three MSI PIs and their colleagues have synthesized a topological semimetal that, while using less energy than current materials, is able to generate more computing power and memory storage. Tony Low (associate professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering), K.
DSI-MnDRIVE PhD Graduate Assistantship Program 2024
Research Computing has opened the application period for the 2024 DSI-MnDRIVE Graduate Assistantship program. This program supports U of M PhD candidates pursuing research at the intersection of data science and any of the five MnDRIVE areas: Robotics; Global Food; Environment; Brain Conditions; and Cancer Clinical Trials.  “Data science” in this case is defined broadly as the collection of approaches and disciplines encompassing the entire data pipeline. Proposals must align with one of the Data Science tracks:
A Material That Can Absorb Nearly All Light
A team led by researchers at the U of M has developed a material that can absorb nearly 100 percent of light. The team includes MSI PIs from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor Steven Koester and Associate Professor Tony Low and their colleagues. The research, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, may have applications in optical communications as well as military applications such as stealth technology.
August 2023 Maintenance
On Wednesday, August 2, 2023, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. MSI’s storage, compute clusters, and front-end servers will be unavailable for some portion of the day. Reminder: any SLURM batch job submitted that has a time limit beyond the beginning of maintenance (5 a.m. Wednesday, August 2) will not be queued to start until after maintenance is completed. Software license reservation calendars are again available for the following packages: Imaris, Materials Studio, USEARCH, Graphpad Prism, COMSOL, Abaqus, and Mimics.
U-Spatial 2023 Mapping Prizes
U-Spatial has named the winners for their 2023 Mapping Prizes. This annual event, which is open to students at the University of Minnesota, honors provocative and innovative map-making. See the winners on the Spatial University website: U-Spatial Mapping Prize. Submissions for the 2024 competition are due on May 10, 2024. The link to the submission information is on the U-Spatial Mapping Prize page linked above.
MSI PIs Receive 2023 Research Infrastructure Investment Program Awards
Six MSI PIs have received awards from the 2023 Research Infrastructure Investment Program. This Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) program is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary partnerships and strengthen the University’s research infrastructure. OVPR made 19 awards this year. Below are the MSI PIs who received awards:
Studying the Fundamentals of the Universe
MSI PI Nadja Strobbe (assistant professor, Physics and Astronomy) is featured in a recent story on the College of Science and Engineering’s website. Professor Strobbe is working with data from the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. Professor Strobbe is using MSI for this research, which involves the creative use of machine learning to design physics analysis that is both highly sensitive and robust, and for event reconstruction for high-energy physics.
A New Biocomputing Platform
MSI PI Kate Adamala (assistant professor, Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development) and colleagues have developed a breakthrough in biological computing (biocomputing), which uses systems of biologically derived molecules that perform computational processes. Trumpet, or Transcriptional RNA Universal Multi-Purpose GatE PlaTform, is a platform for DNA-based molecular computing that uses biological enzymes as catalysts.
MSI PIs Among 2023 Winners of Awards for Academic Unit Service
Several MSI PIs are among the inaugural winners of the University’s new Awards for Academic Unit Service. These awards recognize faculty for exceptional service that has strengthened the functioning and climate of a local unit or department and are a collaboration between the Provost’s Office and the Faculty Consultative Committee. The awards include the Provost’s Unit Service Award (one winner; $15,000), the University of Minnesota Unit Service Award (five winners; $5,000 each), and the Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service (40 winners, $500 each).
July 2023 Maintenance
On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. MSI’s storage, compute clusters, and front-end servers will be unavailable for some portion of the day. Reminder: any SLURM batch job submitted that has a time limit beyond the beginning of maintenance (5 a.m. Wednesday, July 5) will not be queued to start until after maintenance is completed.
Improving Minnesota Strawberries
Researchers at the U of M’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) have been working for 50 years to improve Minnesota’s strawberry crops. Strawberries are a very popular fruit nationwide and can be a valuable source of income for farmers. MSI PI James Luby (professor, Horticultural Science) is part of this research, which has developed varieties that can be grown in Minnesota and can thrive in the state’s changing climate.
Successful Organ Transplant After Cryopreservation
Successful organ transplantation is hampered by the short time that organs can be preserved outside the body. Long-term cryopreservation is possible, but when re-warming the organ, cells can be damaged by ice or cracking.
Sustainability Projects Funded by the Institute on the Environment Include MSI PIs
The Institute on the Environment has announced funding for projects that seek to solve challenges in sustainability. The projects are interdisciplinary and involve team members from the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses, systemwide Extension units, other Minnesota institutions of higher education, nonprofits, community farms, government, and the private sector. Four of the eight 2023 funded projects include MSI PIs. These projects are (MSI PIs are shown in bold type): Carbon credits for food recovery
A New Device to Alleviate Tinnitus
MSI PI Hubert Lim (professor; Otolaryngology; Biomedical Engineering) is part of an international team that has developed a non-invasive device that can help millions of people with tinnitus, also known as “ringing in the ears.” The device, called Lenire, has been approved by the FDA; it has been used in Europe since 2019. Studies of Lenire showed high rates of improvement after treatment with the device.
June 2023 Maintenance
On Wednesday, June 7, 2023, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems. MSI’s storage, compute clusters, and front-end servers will be unavailable for some portion of the day. A global system reservation will start at 5:00 a.m. on June 7. Jobs that cannot be completed before 5:00 a.m. on June 7 held until after maintenance and then started once the system returns to production status.
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Treat Muscular Dystrophy
MSI PI Rita Perlingeiro (professor, Medicine; Institute for Engineering in Medicine) recently gave a presentation to the 2023 Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinical and Scientific Conference about the use of induced pluripotent stem cells for treating muscular dystrophy.
Studying Bear Hibernation to Help Humans
A story about the research of MSI PI Paul Iaizzo (professor, Surgery; Institute for Engineering in Medicine) appeared recently on the Lake Country Journal website. Professor Iaizzo studies bears and their hibernation. Such research not only benefits the bears themselves by giving wildlife scientists better information with which to manage the state’s bear population, but also can be used to improve healthcare for humans.
Inclusive Authorship
The Nutrient Network, NutNet, is an international research collaboration studying the effect of nutrients on grasslands. They have extensive experience publishing papers with numerous authors. The NutNet group recently published a new framework for writing these papers, a method that reduces barriers to meaningful participation for all authors.

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