Adriana Rovers/University Photography
Adriana Rovers/University Photography
Theory Center visualization specialist Richard Gillilan, far right, takes Assemblyman Jay Dinga, center, and Linda Callahan, director of external relations at the center, on a virtual reality tour of a thatched roof hut in South America, where Chagas disease afflicts more than 18 million people. Researchers are using virtual reality techniques to explore the disease's molecular structure and develop a cure.
By Larry Bernard
New York State Assemblyman Jay J. Dinga (R-123rd), who represents parts of Broome and Tioga counties, spent an afternoon at Cornell Feb. 21 to learn about the university's activities.
Dinga, who is the ranking minority member of the Assembly's Higher Edu cation Committee and is a member of the Committee on Aging, said he was im pressed with the range and breadth of Cornell's programs.
"This has been just incredible," Dinga said after a brief tour of the Cornell Theory Center. "This is my first time here, and I'm going to have to come back (to see more)."
At the Theory Center, Director Malvin H. Kalos described the center's mission as a national user center and how it helps promote economic development in the state.
"Our primary mission is to support science and engineering research all over the country. We are responsible for pushing the frontiers of high-performance com puting," Kalos said of the center. "We've been partners with IBM for a long time and, as a result, they have a new division in parallel processing that is likely to be a foundation for the future."
Cornell's Theory Center, one of four high-performance computing and com munications centers supported by the National Science Foundation, also de pends on funding from New York state, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health, IBM and other members of the Theory Center's Corporate Research Institute.
The Theory Center's IBM SP supercomputer, the world's largest and fastest general purpose supercomputer, was built at company facilities in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. But more New York companies join the Theory Center to learn how they can benefit from high-end computers, Kalos said.
Assemblyman Dinga also saw a virtual reality demonstration run by Richard Gillilan, Theory Center visualization specialist. Dinga donned a helmet and took the controls as he "flew" through a virtual molecule being used in the study of Chagas disease. Cornell researchers are working on a treatment for the disease, also called American trypanosomiasis, which afflicts more than 18 million people in Central and South America. Virtual reality tech niques on the IBM SP system help them explore the disease's molecular structures. By examining the disease's defense system, the researchers hope to design a drug that will inhibit those defenses.
Earlier, Dinga met with Brian F. Chabot, Cornell associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Chabot provided detail on the effort and impact of the land grant mission, by detailing how the extension, research and education components all work together.
Dinga also met with Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, and Juan Arroyo, a graduate student, to learn about student aid issues.
At the end of the day, Dinga met with Francille Firebaugh, dean of the College of Human Ecology. "Mr. Dinga was clearly concerned about financial aid and its potential impact on students, and I was pleased that he was also so interested in the curriculum content in the college and what our graduates are doing," Firebaugh said. "As a member of the Aging Committee, he also wanted to know about our Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center and the Cornell Applied Gerontology Research Institute and the re search these programs are conducting. I appreciated his enthusiasm and vigor and was impressed by his genuine interest in learning about our programs and increasing his awareness of Cornell and Cornell Cooperative Extension."