The grant provided nine supercomputer units known as NVIDIA’s DGX1 that can dramatically accelerate multidisciplinary research and educational projects. Each unit, valued at approximately $25,000, represents a substantial investment in the university’s future.
The donation is expected to have a transformative impact on both research and education at Cal Poly Humboldt. Faculty and students alike will have access to these supercomputers, enabling them to work on cutting-edge projects that require immense computational power. These powerful computers can perform 170 trillion operations per second using half-precision processing. This significantly helps with analyzing and processing large amounts of data efficiently.
“The advanced computing units donated by NVIDIA to Cal Poly Humboldt will significantly boost the university’s capacity for complex mathematical modeling and deep learning, enriching the curriculum and expanding research opportunities to better prepare students for advanced careers,” NVIDIA said in a statement.
Moreover, the availability of these resources is likely to attract top-tier students and faculty to the university. As Cal Poly Humboldt continues to modernize its curriculum with the new polytechnic designation, including the introduction of new courses in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, the DGX1 units will play a critical role in ensuring that graduates are equipped with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving job market.
"We want our students to have significant experience in the world of AI and machine learning before they graduate and these supercomputers are helping us provide that experience," says Chair of the Department of Computer Science Dale Oliver. “We are working collaboratively with NVIDIA to support the next generation of technology workers and technology professionals.”
The collaboration between Cal Poly Humboldt and NVIDIA began through a series of fortunate connections and shared interests. Oliver says the relationship with NVIDIA developed over the past year, particularly after alumnus Eric Brower (‘97, Environmental Science & Management), reached out to establish connections between the University and the tech giant. Soon after, Forestry Professor Erin Kelly made a different connection, linking the University with KC Broberg, Senior Manager of Enterprise Sales at NVIDIA, who played a key role in bringing the DGX1 computers to the University.
The donation through NVIDIA's Academic Hardware Grant Program was motivated in part to support high-impact research, in areas related to climate change. Cal Poly Humboldt, with its strong programs and faculty in natural resources and environmental sciences, was an ideal candidate. The NVIDIA DGX1 units boast computational power far beyond anything the university previously had, making them invaluable assets for research and education.
For those unfamiliar with deep-learning hardware, the DGX1 is capable of handling enormous datasets. Specific projects in Environmental Science, Geospatial Analysis, Chemistry, Biology, Data Science, and Computer Science will directly benefit from the DGX1 systems, which can process data at a speed and scale that would be impossible with standard computing resources, opening new avenues for research that were previously difficult to access at Humboldt.
Information Technology Services at Cal Poly Humboldt has begun integrating these powerful machines into the campus computing infrastructure. Although the university currently has only two of the nine units operational due to needed upgrades in the University’s data center, students are already receiving the benefits. The DGX1 units have been utilized in the Computer Science department’s new "Accelerated Computing" course, which teaches students about modern supercomputing and parallel processing techniques.
The remaining units will be deployed once the data center upgrades are complete, allowing the university to leverage these resources fully. The University is now a contributing member to the National Research Platform, a network that shares computational resources across institutions, further enhancing free access for Cal Poly Humboldt students and faculty to high-performance computation.
The DGX1 units represent more than just an upgrade in technology; they are a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and growth, ensuring that Cal Poly Humboldt becomes a leader in the field for years to come.
NVIDIA’s gift is a gift-in-kind, a kind of charitable giving other than a financial commitment. To learn more about how your gift, whether a gift in kind or a financial commitment, can make a positive influence on future generations of Cal Poly Humboldt students, visit giving.humboldt.edu, call (707) 826-5200, or email giving@humboldt.edu.