CUDA Center of Excellence

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was recently named the world’s first CUDA Center of Excellence by the NVIDIA Corporation, a world leader in visual computing technologies. As an NVIDIA Center of Excellence, Illinois is recognized as a primary collaborator with NVIDIA, and has received research funding and equipment to expand that working relationship. Recent NVIDIA support has included 32 QuadroPlex Model 4 systems, each outfitted with 64 graphics processing units (GPUs). These systems have been incorporated into a 16-node CUDA cluster, which is managed by NCSA as a key component of Illinois’s parallel computing facilities.

• NCSA GPU Cluster Overview
• ECE CUDA News Release
• NVIDIA CUDA Center News Release
• NVIDIA Introduces Nexus — the industry's first development environment for massively parallel computing that is integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio.
• GP-GPU Virtual Summer Schools — 2009 and 2008

According to Dr. David Kirk, NVIDIA chief scientist, a CUDA Center of Excellence designation also rewards schools that integrate CUDA technology in the classroom, which promotes parallel processing concepts and equips students for the future of computing. Dr. Wen-mei Hwu, professor of electrical & computer engineering at Illinois and the center's principal investigator, collaborated with Dr. Kirk to teach one of the nation's first courses for advanced students in massively parallel processing.

• CUDA Center of Excellence at Illinois Summer Challenge Internship Program
• ECE 498: Programming Massively Parallel Processors
• GP-GPU Virtual Summer Schools — 2009 and 2008