- To provide computing, networking, and supercomputing resources for support of academic and research programs of Nevada's universities, community colleges, secondary and primary schools, advanced technology companies, and local, state and federal governmental agencies.
- To provide high-performance computing and networking resources for research and development programs requiring collaboration at the state, national and international levels.
- To facilitate high-technology economic diversification in Nevada by providing services not available in the private-sector and by promoting partnerships between university faculty and external entities.
Background
The National Supercomputing Center for Energy and the Environment (NSCEE) was established at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1989 by an act of Congress of the United States of America (PL-101). The Center is a full-service supercomputer facility with on-site and off-site user training and national network accessibility.
In 1989 the Congress of the United States appropriated $10,000,000 for the purchase of a supercomputing facility to be operated by UNLV. The NSCEE was established when a Cray Y-MP 2/216 and ancillary equipment became operationally available in July 1990. Westinghouse provided operational support for the facility from May 1990 through April 1991. UNLV assumed operational responsibility for the Center in September 1991 when the contract between Westinghouse and UNLV terminated, with UNLV taking full operational control.
The initial mission of the Center was to provide supercomputing support for studies of nuclear waste isolation, disposal, and transmutation in parallel to Department of Energy Studies of the Yucca Mountain.
UNLV maintains the most advanced high-performance computing systems in Nevada. These computer systems are made available to other educational and research centers, state and federal government agencies, and the private sector in Nevada.
Recently, the mission of NSCEE has diversified to address a range of national scientific challenges, including applications in high-performance computing, networking and health care delivery. During this period NSCEE has brought national and international attention to Nevada. More than two hundred scientific projects of national and international importance, related to global atmospheric modeling and fossil energy research, have been supported by NSCEE.
