U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supports biomedical engineering research at VCU through technology grant
Funding supports upgrades to computing facility critical to high-level research projects
Enhancing biomedical research capabilities is the goal of a recent grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) College of Engineering. Totaling nearly $750,000, the funding seeks to upgrade the capabilities of the High Performance Research Computing (HPRC) core facility. Additional funding from Virginia’s Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund (HEETF) will provide $613,000 to acquire a 5.5 petabyte system for improving the storage capacity of the HPRC.
These grants will upgrade VCU’s aging nine-year-old computing cluster with a state-of-the-art system, expanding CPU, memory capacity and GPU computing capabilities; upgrading shared storage; and improving network connectivity. The new cluster will support more than 40 projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including 23 research project (R01) grants, and benefit nearly 1,000 researchers university-wide.
“This investment is absolutely critical in this age of AI-enabled solutions for healthcare,” said Preetam Ghosh, Ph.D., professor of computer science and HPRC faculty director. “Growing the capabilities of our High Performance Research Computing core facility will empower students and faculty to push the boundaries of biomedical innovation.”
Upgraded infrastructure will support research in genetics, genomics, cancer therapeutics, substance use disorders, molecular modeling and more. It will also benefit numerous VCU research centers, including the Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, and the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics.
All VCU students will have access to the new computing resources, enabling hands-on experience with advanced AI tools and research modules.
The Department of Computer Science provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to perform real-world research as soon as they enroll. From designing algorithms to solving complex computing problems to working with cutting-edge AI technology, students gain understanding of many important computing topics. Browse videos and recent news from the Department of Computer Science to discover how the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.
Categories Computer Science, Research Grants