Renaissance Computing Institute


Renaissance Computing Institute


Established 2004
Focus disaster research, biosciences, healthcare, cyberinfrastructure
Director Stanley C. Ahalt
Location Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Affiliation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Website renci.org

Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) was launched in 2004 as collaborative institute involving the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University. RENCI develops collaborations that combined the expertise and resources of these three universities and North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park area. RENCI comprises a virtual organization that includes the three Triangle area campuses and East Carolina University, UNC Asheville, UNC Charlotte, and UNC’s Coastal Studies Institute.

How RENCI Works

The institute applies the latest cyber tools and technologies to research and practical problems. RENCI works with scientists who study issues from climate change to the causes of cancer. It forms research teams that involve faculty members at universities across North Carolina and the U.S. in an effort to help North Carolina compete for major research awards. RENCI also partners with North Carolina government agencies. The goals of these programs are generally to use technology in ways that make the state more effective and efficient.

The institute builds software tools, creates visualizations, and employs data management systems, networks, and computing systems to address problems in health and medicine, weather impacts and disaster management, and energy. RENCI partners include faculty and units at UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University, Duke University, and other UNC system schools, research universities across the U.S., state and federal agencies and industry. Everything learned at RENCI by applying cyber technologies is documented, with the idea that this will push the development of better technologies.

Mission statement

RENCI develops and deploys advanced technologies to enable research discoveries and practical innovations. RENCI partners with researchers, policy makers, and technology leaders to engage and solve the problems that affect North Carolina, our nation and the world.

Key focus areas

Disaster and Environmental Research

These projects range from creating advanced computer models of storm surge as part of an effort to create new coastal floodplain maps, to research into the possible effects of sea level rise on North Carolina's coast. Models that combine real-time atmospheric data with hydrological, wave and topographical data are another area of research. Various technology tools to help emergency managers and the state deal with natural disasters have been created, including the NC-FIRST weather information portal

Biosciences and healthcare

Much of this work involves partnering with the Clinical Translational Science Awards at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University to ensure these large NIH-funded projects are successful. For example, RENCI researchers are developing methods that will allow the CTSA researchers to share patient data in secure environments. Evidence-based medicine, which uses historical and real-time data to predict patient outcomes, is another focus.

Cyberinfrastructure Development

RENCI develops and makes available for use a variety of visualization systems, including a multi-touch wall (at Duke), several multi-touch tables (at UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Charlotte), and a Social Computing Room (at UNC Chapel Hill). It houses several high performance computing systems and has developed the Breakable Experimental Network (BEN), a dark fiber network for use by networking researchers for experiments. The institute also includes data storage systems and works closely with data experts who are part of the Data Intensive Cyberenvironments Center at UNC Chapel Hill.

RENCI Engagement Centers

External links

Coordinates: 35°56′22″N 79°01′08″W / 35.939561°N 79.018753°W