Our Mission
The University of Pittsburgh Center for Research Computing and Data (Pitt CRCD) plays a vital role in advancing leading-edge research. The CRCD, formerly the Center for Simulation and Modeling, is singularly focused on increasing the productivity of Pitt researchers through the application of advanced computing. In addition to supporting research in fields such as engineering, chemistry and genomics, Pitt CRCD—a unique resource for the entire University community—now adds value to work in biostatistics, economics, and linguistics, among many other areas.
The mission of Pitt CRCD is to increase the research productivity of Pitt faculty through the use of advanced computing. We fulfill this mission through outreach to the university community that includes:
- Offering access to cutting-edge computer hardware and software for enabling transformative research.
- Workshops teaching the most effective ways to use Pitt CRCD's computing resources.
- Personalized consultation on refining projects at the computational code level -- such as stronger algorithms to take advantage of parallel processing -- and at the level of improving the user experience for researchers who begin taking advantage of high performance computing using a familiar graphic user interface.
Pitt CRCD Serves Pitt
University faculty members obtain fee-free access to computing resources via a streamlined submission and proposal process. Each faculty member is automatically eligible for 25,000 computation hours on Pitt CRCD computer clusters. Short proposals are required for work that will extend 25,000 computation hours. Pitt CRCD serves Pitt; faculty members do not compete for resources with outside researchers.
Pitt CRCD staff members are on-campus PhD-level research faculty working to expand and improve computation at Pitt. By delivering training workshops and providing one-on-one consultation, staff members collaboratively facilitate research with greater productivity, innovation, and impact through advanced computing.