Solving big questions requires big computation

Stanford News

A common thread among research efforts across Stanford’s many disciplines is the growing use of sophisticated algorithms, run by brute computing power, to solve big questions.

In Earth sciences, computer models of climate change or carbon sequestration help drive policy decisions, and in medicine computation is helping unravel the complex relationship between our DNA and disease risk. Even in the social sciences, computation is being used to identify relationships between social networks and behaviors, work that could influence educational programs.

“There’s really very little research that isn’t dependent on computing,” says Ann Arvin, vice provost and dean of research. Arvin helped support the recently opened Stanford Research Computing Center (SRCC) located at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which expands the available research computing space at Stanford. The building’s green technology also reduces the energy used to cool the servers, lowering the environmental costs of carrying out research.

“Everyone we’re hiring is computational, and not at a trivial level,” says Stanford Provost John Etchemendy, who provided an initial set of servers at the facility. “It is time that we have this facility to support those faculty.”

Here are just a few examples of how Stanford faculty are putting computers to work to crack the mysteries of our origins, our planet and ourselves.

Our Origins …..
How did we evolve?…..
Can we predict future climates? …….
Can we build more efficient energy networks?…
How does our DNA make us who we are?…
How do we learn to read?…
How do our bodies work?

As you sip your morning cup of coffee, the caffeine makes its way to your cells, slots into a receptor site on the cells’ surface and triggers a series of reactions that jolt you awake. A similar process takes place when Zantac provides relief for stomach ulcers, or when chemical signals produced in the brain travel cell-to-cell through your nervous system to your heart, telling it to beat. Read the article