Dear Faculty:
After 30 years of service to the international research community, Dr. Michael Levine and Dr. Ralph Roskies, founders of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), will be stepping down as the center’s co-directors this coming year. We all are deeply appreciative of the leadership that Mike and Ralph have shown in building and maintaining one of the world’s premier supercomputer centers. Their efforts have been especially impactful on the research communities at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
The PSC was formed in 1986, when Drs. Roskies and Levine teamed up with Jim Kasdorf of Westinghouse (also now retiring) to receive a grant from the National Science Foundation to create a supercomputing center in Pittsburgh. For three decades, it has served as a top high-performance computing and networking center, providing university, government and industrial researchers with access to many of the most powerful systems available, by working with leading vendors to enhance state-of-the-art high-performance computing. In that time, the PSC has grown to house a staff of over 70, attracted over $600 million in external funding, and provided and supported extraordinary scientific achievements, making it a significant contributor to each university, the region, the country and the international high-performance computing community.
We will initiate the search for a new director as soon as possible with a search committee composed of key faculty members from both Pitt and CMU, as well as senior staff members from the PSC. The committee will be co-chaired by Gary Fedder and Mark Redfern, vice provost for research at CMU and Pitt, respectively.
We are committed to the future of the PSC and understand the critical role the center will continue to play in the success of both universities. Dr. Levine and Dr. Roskies have agreed to continue in their roles as co-directors of the PSC until a new director has been found in order to ensure a seamless transition in leadership.
On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, we thank Ralph, Mike and Jim for their great contributions to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, to both universities and to the national scientific research communities.
Sincerely,
Patricia E. Beeson
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
University of Pittsburgh
Farnam Jahanian
Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Carnegie Mellon University