UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 25, Page 11
March 26, 1992
CCM to hold Technology Fest '92

     The University's Center for Composite Materials (CCM) will host
Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) in presenting Technology Fest '92.
     The seminar, which is open to the public, will be held from 8 a.m.-5
p.m, Tuesday, April 14, in Room 106 of the Composites Manufacturing Science
Laboratory.
     SGI is known for its high-performance computing, 3-D graphics and
visualization equipment. According to John W. Gillespie Jr., CCM associate
director,"We see a real need to familiarize people with 3-D graphics
technology, not only in conducting research but also in educating students,
who will gain a competitive edge by going out into the workforce with
skills in this area. Our recent acquisition of a VGX high-performance
graphics/four-processor server system and Iris Indigo workstations in
support of our research activities has confirmed the value of access to
high graphics capabilities."
     Gillespie, who also is a research associate professor of mechanical
engineering, uses SGI equipment for the work he and his research group are
doing on computational mechanics of composites. The wide-ranging
applications for the company's high-performance workstations also include
computational chemistry, fluid dynamics, industrial design, computer-aided
design and engineering (CAD/CAE), visual simulation and animation.
     "This event will give anyone who might be interested in any of these
applications an opportunity to test out the equipment and discuss it with
other users," Gillespie said.
     John McCalpin, assistant professor of marine studies, also is an avid
user of SGI equipment. "I work in computational fluid dynamics, looking at
time-dependent solutions," McCalpin said. "Silicon Graphics makes the only
equipment fast enough to animate the solution and enable me to actually see
what's happening in real time. The machine has to work quickly enough to
provide an intuitive sense of how the system is changing."
     At the seminar, SGI will display its image-processing,
parallel-processing and multi-media capabilities as well as its computing,
file and data base server technologies. Showcased will be SGI's new Crimson
product, based on the MIPS R4000 processor, as well as Indigo, the
multimedia 3-D desktop workstation.
     For more information about Technology Fest '92, contact Gillespie at
831-8702 or Stu Lauer, SGI sales representative, at (215)-638-3707.
     -Diane Kukich