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The Louisville Cardinal
The independent weekly student newspaper at the University of Louisville since 1926
FEBRUARY 24, 2009
PHOTO BY MICHAEL KENNEDY !THE LOUISV1LLLE CARDINAL
Research students work on the supercomputer.
Supercomputer
comes to U ofL
By Michael Kennedy
The Louisville Cardinal
mkennedy@louisvillecardinal.com
Fast enough to make 25 trillion calculations a
second, and tasked with finding a cure to cancer,
the new cluster computing system at the Miller LT
Center has plenty of high expectations.
The $2.1 million Cardinal Research Cluster su­percomputer
has been running since Jan. 29, and is
expected to be full operational next month.
Its first application was used to search for more
efficient materials for solar panel construction, ac­cording
to the head of the project, Or. Charam
Jayanthi, a University Physics Scholar.
But there will be a variety applications for the
supercomputer. It is currently the most powerful
academic computer infrastructure in Kentucky, and
when it is fully operational will be one of the 500
fastest computers in the world. It is about 1,100
times faster than an average desktop computer.
"It's a university wide resource. It will be used
for research for every department across campus."
Harrison Simrall, a research-computing consultant
said.
A cluster computer system links together many
processors to form one task. The university has
been using a similar system with thousands of
school computers around Kentucky. When K-12
computers are not in use, the university has used
their excess processing power for research, and Uni­versity
of Louisville Provost Shirley Willihnganz
credits that system with the development of new
drugs. The CRC will perform similar tasks; with a
greater capacity and more quickly.
"These drugs that will be developed on this ma­chine,
they don't just cure cancer; they're not toxic
to people," Priscilla Hancock, Vice President of In­formation
Technology said.
Priscilla Hancock, Vice President of Informa­tion
Technology said the machine will be used in
bioinformatics, to search through thousands of
medical records, looking for patterns undetectable
to humans.
Dr. Manny Martinez, Vice President for Re­search,
said he expects the machine will work closely
with the forthcoming Conn Center for Renewable
Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship
to work toward alternative energy development.
The university paid for $600,000 of the cost
by leasing frequencies of the wireless spectrum it
no longer uses. The additional $1.5 million came
from federal funds.
The supercomputer has brought smiles to re­searchers
and faculty across campus. Kentucky law
requires that U ofL become a "premier metropoli­tan
research university," and these two projects cer­tainly
help its case.
"[CRC] will allow us to change lives in the
classroom, by bringing more academic excellence;
new ideas to our young people to help open more
minds," said Willihnganz. "It will help us do more
to make this a better world to live in."
Editorial 502.852.0663 • Advertising 502.852.0667
www.louisvillecardinal.com
ELECTIONS '09
By Amanda Free
The Louisville Cardinal
newa@louisvillecardinal.com
Eleven University of Louisville students debat­ed
in front of 200 people in the Floyd Theater on
Thur., Feb. 17.
The students are running for the positions of
Student Government Association's Student Body
President, Executive Vice President, Academic
Vice President and Services Vice President.
The lead members of slates The Cardinal Con­nection,
Dark Knights and Team 2010 and one
independent candidate were moderated by SGA
Supreme Court ChiefJustice Timothy Brauch.
''I'm running as a student, not as part of a slate
or so that I can put this on a resume. I actually
care about this university," said Joe Grossman, the
independent candidate running for Services Vice
President. Grossman talked about his experience
on the Residency Review Committee and his de­sire
to make sure that students' opinions are heard
bySGA.
The "Dark Knights" Kirk Laughlin and Kurtis
Frizzell discussed the changes they want to bring
to the SGA as President and Services Vice Presi­dent,
respectively.
Frizzell described ways he planned to improve
the routes of communication between SGA and
students as Services Vice President before discuss-ing
his opinion of the mandatory meal plan.
"Robbery: It's happening here," Frizzell said.
Laughlin wishes to bring about big changes in
the SGA.
"It is not the purpose of SGA to market their
positions to students," he said. "It is the purpose
of SGA to market the positions of the students to
the university and to Frankfurt."
The Cardinal Connection slate discussed their
plans to restore accountability in SGA.
"I want to turn campus health services into a
place that promotes pro-active health, to make
it more visible and available," said Services Vice
President candidate Levi Shanks. His plans are to
improve campus health services.
"This election is about results. It isn't about
what I think I can do. It's about my track record,"
said Michael Rolf, an Academic Vice President
candidate.
"We need to pull RSOs (Recognized Student
Organizations) in and allow them to have a voice
in SGA," said Robert Works, an Executive Vice
President candidate.
"We need to stop blaming the administration,"
said OJ Oleka, the Cardinal Connection candidate
DEBATE see page 2
THE
-BEliAMY
STUDfNT AP4~TM£NT HOMES
VoLUME 83, ISSUE 22 • 12 PAGES, 1 SECTION
Reinventing
the story
Experimental fiction writer
Helen Phillips gives reading
By Billy S. Garland
The Louisville Cardinal
bgarland@louisvillecardinal.com
On Tues., Feb.
20, the Louisville
Axton Fellowship
Reading Series
welcomed rising
experimental lit­erary
star Helen
Philips to the
University.
Phillips, who
has published
in such presti­gious
publica­tions
as "The L
Magazine", "The
Brooklyn Re­view",
and "The
Yale Literary
Magazine," read
from her latest PHOTO BY BILLY S. GARLAND
piece; a com- Helen Phillips reads Friday.
pilation novel
composed of 175 stories. Each story is exactly 340
words.
"I wanted a constraint because constraint
breeds creativity," Phillips said of her stylistic writ­ing.
"The world is so chaotic it was nice to have
something to hold on to; somewhere to start. Not
to mention that 340 words is about how many
words that you can fit onto a page if you use a
narrow font."
It is this unconventional "constraint" that has
earned Phillips the classification of being an "ex­perimental
fiction" writer.
George Saunders, a leading experimental fiction
writer and admitted role model for Phillips, de­fines
the genre as "the art of telling a story in which
certain aspects of reality have been exaggerated or
distorted in such a way as to put the reader off the
story and make him go watch a television show."
EXPERIMENTAL see page 7
Alcohol sales may
fill soccer seats
By Brett Jager
The Louisville Cardinal
sports@louisvillecardinal.com
Mter the recent success of student spirit and
support at University of Louisville baseball games,
the U ofLArhletic Department, as well as the Stu­dent
Government Association are looking for ways
to extend the spirit to other sports. One idea which
has been looked into is the possibility of regulated
sales of alcohol at events at Cardinal Park, more
specifically, soccer games.
"I set objectives at the beginning of the year and
one of them was to delve into this," Trevor Joelson,
SGA Student Athletic Director, said. "We are just
looking into the possibility and seeing what stu­dents
think."
ALCOHOL see page 3
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