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1/11/2007 12:04:00 AM Change the world with your computer Rice recently became a partner in the IBM-led World Community Grid, a group of more than 245 companies, associations, foundations, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions that contribute idle computer time for humanitarian research. World Community Grid uses Web-based technology to combine the processing power of computers in scattered locations to establish a permanent, flexible infrastructure that researchers can use to help solve complex problems related to cancer, AIDS and other pressing problems. Grid technology joins together many individual computers, creating a large system with massive computational power that far exceeds the power of a few supercomputers. Contributing computer power to the World Community Grid does not detract from local work performed on individual machines. Grid tasks are performed only when a computer is idle. At Rice, the World Community Grid works this way: Idle computers across campus request data from the World Community Grid’s server and then perform computations using the data. When the calculations are complete, results are returned to the server, which then hands out a new set of data for processing. Whenever a user sits down and resumes work at their desk, grid work is immediately halted to give the user full access to the computer’s resources. “The goals of IBM’s World Community Grid are well-aligned with Rice’s own efforts, providing an effective and efficient way for the Rice community to make real progress toward eradicating many serious problems that plague humanity,” said Kamran Khan, vice provost for IT. “We are asking individuals to join World Community Grid as part of our overall efforts to enrich the lives of our communities.” Security is a top concern for World Community Grid, and it is addressed seriously and vigilantly. For additional details on the grid’s security measures, refer to the security overview at <www.rice.edu/vpit/pdf/wcg-security.pdf>. In its first year, World Community Grid ran the Human Proteome Folding Project, which provided scientists with data on how individual proteins within the human body affect human health, enabling them to develop new therapies for diseases like Lyme disease, malaria and tuberculosis. The program provided scientists with descriptions of 120,000 protein domains that are critical to human well-being. Without the benefit of this free grid technology, it’s estimated the project would have taken about five years to complete instead of just one. In November 2005, World Community Grid launched FightAIDS@Home. Sponsored by The Scripps Research Institute, FightAIDS@Home is using computational methods to identify new candidate drugs to block HIV protease, a key molecular structure that, when blocked, stops the virus from maturing and developing into full-blown AIDS. In July, World Community Grid launched a new effort to assist in cancer research using the massive computational power of World Community Grid. The Help Defeat Cancer Project analyzes tissue microarrays — new investigative tools that will ultimately help doctors select proper treatments and provide accurate prognoses for cancer patients. To contribute your computer’s idle time to the World Community Grid, go to <www.worldcommunitygrid.org>, download and install the free desktop software, and identify your computer as part of the Rice University team. Computers on and off the Rice campus can join the Rice team, so personal and home computers can also donate idle time to this worthwhile humanitarian research effort. —Kim Andrews is Rice University’s manager of research computing. |
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