Morehouse College has been chosen to house one of the most powerful academic supercomputers in the Southeast.
As part of a $457 million project, the college has received an initial $5 million of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to start construction on a site that will be home to Horizon, a cutting-edge supercomputer which will be part of NSF’s Leadership-Class Computing Facility (LCCF).
Additional funding will be coming to support ongoing operations.
“The supercomputer will push the boundaries of artificial intelligence, providing greater access to areas such as climate modeling, machine learning, and biomedical research,” said the school in a news release.
The computing project is being led by the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
However, as a primary partner, Morehouse will play a pivotal role in the deployment of Horizon, serving as a national epicenter for programmatic support, leading free initiatives such as a summer enrichment program for middle and high school boys, a postbaccalaureate program in artificial intelligence, and three weeklong faculty accelerators in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, focused on research, teaching, and grant proposal writing.
Dr. F. DuBois Bowman, the school’s 13th president, says Morehouse College is honored to be a partner on this transformative project.
“By hosting one of the Southeast’s most powerful academic supercomputers, we are providing HBCUs with unprecedented computational power to explore bold ideas, accelerate discovery, and unleash new frontiers of creativity and innovation,” Bowman stated.
“This investment positions our students and faculty to help shape the future of science, technology, and global problem-solving.”
Dr. Kinnis Gosha, Principal Investigator of the grant and Hortinius I. Chenault Endowed Professor and Chair of Computer Science says this will cement Morehouse’s place as the undisputed HBCU leader in artificial intelligence.
“As a national resource provider, we will empower other HBCUs and non-research-intensive institutions to contribute to growing their research capacity and enhancing student learning.”
The school says this partnership underscores Morehouse College’s commitment being a leader in global STEM research and a champion for equity in a field with a workforce that is still lacking diversity.
According to national labor statistics, some 62 percent of tech jobs are held by white Americans.