WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Facebook for scientists — but built to facilitate serious research rather than socializing — and an award-winning method for putting idle computers to work on scientific breakthroughs are Purdue-developed technologies in the spotlight at the SC09, the world’s largest high-performance computing conference.

Purdue's DiaGrid team includes, from left, Andy Howard, Phil Cheeseman, John Campbell, David Braun, Preston Smith and Carol Song. The team is posing with images from the scientific research enabled by DiaGrid, projected in a multiwalled virtual environment at ITaP's visualization facility. Campus Technology Magazine selected DiaGrid for a 2009 international Campus Technology Innovators Award. (Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)

Purdue is highlighting the HUBzero and DiaGrid technologies at the university’s booth at SC09, which opens today (Monday, Nov. 16) in Portland, Ore.

HUBzero is a soon-to-be open source software platform developed by Purdue for deploying and applying computational research tools, visualizing and analyzing results interactively and publishing them, all through a familiar Web browser. Built-in social networking features akin to Facebook create communities of researchers and educators in science, engineering, medicine and almost any field or subject matter.

DiaGrid works by pooling computers over the Purdue campus network and off campus via the Internet and fast research networks. Whenever machines in the pool are idle, such as at night or when their owners are at lunch, the system sends work to them. Campus Technology Magazine selected DiaGrid for a 2009 international Campus Technology Innovators Award.

Purdue has created an automated system to link the computers of SC09 participants to the pool during the conference. The Purdue booth includes a scoreboard to keep track of whose machines are running the most jobs.

The booth is designed to promote Purdue; Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), the university’s central information technology organization; and the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, ITaP’s research and discovery arm. ITaP technologists developed HUBzero and DiaGrid.

“DiaGrid and HUBzero are model technologies for enabling research that Purdue is making available to the world,” says John Campbell, associate vice president in charge of research computing for ITaP, who heads the Rosen Center. “As the premier conference for research computing, SC09 is a prime place to showcase these technologies.”

Purdue’s booth also will provide academic information to potential Purdue students and information to job seekers about positions with Purdue, ITaP and the Rosen Center. Nearly 10,000 people attended the conference in 2008.

Purdue has become a recognized leader in cyberinfrastructure with the development of HUBzero, which powers nanoHUB.org and many other Web-based “hubs” for research collaboration, says Michael McLennan, senior research scientist and hub technology architect at Purdue. NanoHUB is an international resource for nanotechnology theory, simulation and education with tens of thousands of users.

“Like no other platform, HUBzero can host interactive simulation tools. So, users aren’t just reading about research, they can experience it,” McLennan says. “HUBzero allows users to work together as they interact with content.”

Other hubs link researchers transforming laboratory discoveries into new medical treatments, and Purdue is now working in a consortium with Indiana and Clemson universities and the University of Wisconsin to advance the technology even further.

A hub will be at the center of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), a $105 Million National Science Foundation program announced in September, which is led by Purdue. Purdue electrical and computer engineering Professor Rudolf Eigenmann, co-principal investigator of NEES, will give a workshop titled “Cyberinfrastructure for Earthquake Engineering” at the Purdue booth.

McLennan will host two workshops on HUBzero and one about nanoHUB during the conference. Purdue scientist Mathieu Luisier will offer a workshop on using massive supercomputers to simulate nanoscale electronic devices for the next generation of electronics, a central focus of nanoHUB.

DiaGrid includes computers in student computer labs, offices, server rooms and supercomputing clusters and is the first multi-campus collaboration of its kind. Purdue’s partners in DiaGrid are IU, Indiana State University, the universities of Notre Dame, Louisville and Wisconsin, Purdue’s Calumet and North Central campuses, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Together, they now make nearly 30,000 processors available for research jobs ranging from understanding the Solar System’s formation to imaging the structure of viruses at near-atomic resolutions in an effort to develop new ways of battling viral illnesses, from swine flu and the common cold to West Nile virus and AIDS.

“The sheer size and ingenuity of the initiative, as well as the diversity of computing resources represented in the grid, really set the project apart,” Geoffrey Fletcher, editorial director of Campus Technology, said in announcing the Campus Technology Innovators Award for DiaGrid.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University agricultural economist and energy policy analyst has changed his tune on renewable fuels.

“We don’t just talk about ethanol. We talk about biofuels,” said Wally Tyner.

“Ethanol is the product from corn, but you also can produce gasoline and diesel directly from cellulosic feedstocks. And when you bring up the blending wall for ethanol, that means the door may be open wider for processes that will take us directly from corn stover, switchgrass and Miscanthus to biogasoline and biodiesel. We need to be thinking in those terms.”

Tyner and fellow Purdue agricultural economist Steven Wu will discuss biofuels and the future of renewable energy during Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability. The Dec. 1 conference is a collaborative effort between Purdue and sister land-grant universities in 11 other Midwest states.

Purdue Extension and Purdue’s Energy Center at Discovery Park are hosting a conference viewing site in Stewart Center on the university’s West Lafayette campus. The conference also can be viewed online.

The event is geared toward anyone with an interest in biofuels. Conference topics range from advances and breakthroughs in biofuels to biochar, which is the leftover material after cellulose is converted into fuel.

Tyner said there’s still a future for ethanol, but much of the future growth will be in cellulosic biofuels. Cellulose for liquid fuel comes from plant material, including the non-grain parts of corn.

Ethanol growth is restrained by a “blending wall” – the amount of ethanol gasoline companies are permitted by law to blend with petroleum-based fuel. Current federal standards set the amount at 10 percent of gasoline consumption.

No such blending limit exists with cellulosic biofuels, Tyner said. There are other differences between biogasoline and ethanol, he said.

Biogasoline is produced through a refining process and is chemically similar to petroleum-based gasoline, while ethanol is produced by a fermentation process, Tyner said. Biogasoline can be transported through gasoline pipelines; ethanol is corrosive to pipes and must be transported by rail or truck.

However, cellulosic biofuels face three challenges, Tyner said.

“You’ve got market uncertainty, technology uncertainty and government policy uncertainty,” he said.

There are no commercial cellulosic biofuels plants operating in the United States, Tyner said. Getting them built likely will require biofuels companies to enter into new kinds of contracts with the farmers supplying the feedstock. Dedicated energy crops like switchgrass and Miscanthus, a similar grass, produce for 10-15 years. A 50-million-gallon biofuels plant would need a truckload of cellulose every 10 minutes from day one.

“These plants cost $400 million to build, and nobody’s going to sink $400 million into concrete and steel until they’ve got a guaranteed supply of feedstock,” Tyner said. “And getting a guaranteed supply of feedstock means convincing farmers that they are going to be there 10 years from now to take their Miscanthus or switchgrass. The plant has to be convinced that the farmer is going to be there 10 years from now, as well. It’s a whole new ballgame.”

Government subsidy programs for renewable fuels would need to change, as well, for the biofuels industry to take off, Tyner said.

“Right now, everything in the U.S. is on a per-gallon basis. So today, for cellulosic biofuels you get $1.01 per gallon whether you’re producing ethanol or biogasoline,” he said. “Biogasoline has 50 percent more energy than bioethanol, yet it gets the same subsidy. We could consider moving to the kind of system Europe has, where everything is based on energy content. That would level the playing field.”

Wu’s presentation follows Tyner’s. Wu will discuss contracting issues for second generation perennial energy crops.

The conference’s keynote speaker is James Lovelock, a renowned thinker on global environmental science. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu are invited speakers.

The conference runs from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST.

Registration is $75 for those viewing the conference at Stewart Center and $50 for online viewing. Complete registration information is available by visiting the Purdue Conference Division’s upcoming events page at https://www.cec.purdue.edu/ec2k/Upcoming.asp and clicking on the link to Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability. Registration is recommended by Nov. 24.

For a complete conference agenda, visit the conference Web site at http://www.bioeconomyconference.org. Additional information also is available by contacting Chad Martin, Purdue Extension renewable energy specialist, at 765-496-3964, martin95@purdue.edu.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The NEXTRANS Center, with the assistance of the government of Canada (avec l’appui du gouvernement du Canada) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), will host a Nov. 16 conference on U.S.-Canada border trade, security and mobility challenges.

The daylong event — titled In Step, In Line, On Time: Regional Strategies for Trade, Security, and Mobility Challenges at the U.S.-Canada Border — will provide an opportunity for researchers and private-sector stakeholders in the Great Lakes region to engage in a dialogue with high-level officials of the U.S. and Canadian government.

The conference will run from 7:30a to 5:30p in the Purdue Memorial Union. Registration is $50, but students are admitted free. For a complete agenda, online registration, hotels, travel information and sponsorship information, go online to http://www.purdue.edu/dp/nextrans/tech/borderconference.php

Indiana, known as the Crossroads of America, has a vested interest in the efficiency of the U.S.-Canada border. U.S.-Canada merchandise trade totaled $535 billion in 2007, supporting nearly 150,000 Hoosier jobs. In addition to an immediate need for a more secure and trade-efficient border, there is a longer-term need for building a transportation infrastructure for 21st century trade and commerce.

Greg Nadeau, deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, will deliver the keynote address. Robert Noble, Canadian Consul General at Detroit, and Kevin Johnson, U.S. Consul General in Toronto, will speak on the significance of a seamless and secure border with regard to bilateral trade between the two countries.

Paul Haddow, director general of strategic policy and governance for the Canada Border Services Agency, will speak on security issues. Industry presenters will include David Bradley, chief executive officer of the Canadian Trucking Association. Additional border trade, security and mobility experts from the public, private and academic sectors will join them to discuss:

• Major challenges and opportunities to achieve the right balance between trade goals and security needs from the perspectives of the U.S. and Canadian governments.
• Regional strategies for developing major gateways and corridors with collaborations between transportation stakeholders at the federal and state-provincial levels.
• The “thickening” of the border from the perspective of manufacturers and carriers and the feasibility of short- and near-term measures by border agencies.
• How academia can fill the data and information gaps to facilitate integrated, coordinated and performance-based operation and governance of the border region.
• Short-, medium- and long-term opportunities for collaboration and joint actions among government, industry and academia in the region and between the two countries.

NEXTRANS is the U.S. Department of Transportation Region V Regional University Transportation Center, led by Purdue and administered by Purdue’s Discovery Park. The center was established in 2007 through the USDOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration to lead a multidisciplinary program of transportation research, education and technology transfer.

Organizations assisting in the conference development include the Federal Highway Administration; Transport Canada; Customs and Border Protection; General Services Administration; Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada; Detroit Regional Chamber; Indiana Department of Transportation; Michigan Department of Transportation; and Ministry of Transportation, Ontario.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Beef researchers from several universities and industry experts will come together at Purdue University’s Beck Agricultural Center for the American Simmental Cattle Conference on Aug. 28 and 29. Both purebred and commercial producers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin are expected to be in attendance, said Matt Claeys, Purdue Extension livestock specialist and conference coordinator.

During the conference, producers will learn how they can add value to their cattle, how to effectively use the information provided by an ultrasound, and how to save money on feeding cows and effectively lower their cow costs.

“During the conference, we will discuss how producers can add value to their cattle, how to effectively use the information provided by an ultrasound, and how to save money on feeding cows and effectively lower their cow costs,” Claeys said.

The conference is $15 per person for those who preregister and $30 per person for on-site registration. Vocational ag teachers and Extension educators may preregister at no cost but will not be permitted to do so on site. A registration form is available at http://www.simmental.org/

The American Simmental Cattle Conference will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 with a reception and sandwiches, and Claeys will give a brief welcome at 6:45 p.m.

Sessions that evening include: “Single Trait Selection and Recessive Defects, Two Dangerous Situations” by Purdue’s Terry Stewart, animal breeding and genetics specialist; “Internet Access to the Genetic Status of all Animals in ASA’s Database” by Steve McGuire of the American Simmental Association; and a panel discussion on “SimGenetics Role in the Beef Industry.” Panelists include Aaron Arnett, representing Select Sires; Doug Parrett from the University of Illinois; Richard Huntrods from the Feldun-Purdue Agricultural Center; and Curt Rincker, past president of the Illinois Cattlemen’s Association. Marty Ropp of the American Simmental Association will moderate the panel.

The Aug. 29 sessions, held at the Purdue Animal Science Research and Education Center’s Beef Unit, will begin at 8:15 a.m. with a short welcome by Ron Lemenager, Purdue Extension beef management specialist, and Brian DeFreese, manager of the Purdue Beef Unit. At 8:30 a.m. participants will evaluate heifer classes and cow/calf pairs. Following the evaluation, Allen Bridges, Purdue Extension livestock reproduction specialist, will discuss fetal detection and the likelihood of re-absorption at different stages of gestation, while Dan Buskirk, Michigan State University Extension beef cattle nutrition specialist, will talk about hay feeding considerations, including intake, waste and quality. Jon Schoonmaker, Purdue beef cattle nutrition expert, will focus on the use of byproduct feeds.

At 10:45 a.m. Lemenager will speak on the future of the industry. Following Lemenager’s talk, evaluation winners will be announced, and the conference will end around 11:30 a.m.

For participants looking for hotel accommodations, rooms have been blocked at the Econo Lodge, located off Indiana 43 N. at Exit 178, for a rate of $59.99. The hotel’s phone number is 765-567-7100, and the block name is “Simmental.”

Directions to the Purdue Animal Science Research and Education Center are available at http://www.ag.purdue.edu/ansc/Pages/ASRECdirections.aspx. For questions and additional information, visit http://www.simmental.org/ or call 406-556-9636.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Some farm fields aren’t just for growing crops and providing pasture anymore. Increasingly, they’re producing electricity, said Chad Martin, Purdue University Extension renewable energy specialist.

Utility scale wind farms offer farmers and other rural landowners an opportunity to earn thousands of dollars in annual income and, at the same time, generate clean energy, Martin said.

Benton County is the home of Indiana's first operational Wind Farm and features 87 GE 1.5mw Wind Turbines. Each turbine produces enough electricity to power 600 average American homes per year.

“There aren’t many opportunities that will come along in a generation such as what we’re finding with the wind industry,” Martin said. “For the agriculture community, development companies are offering lease payments to farmers for the use of their land for wind farms. These payments can help preserve farmland but then, too, help sustain a family farming operation and provide some additional revenue.”

Martin will lead a breakout session on small wind turbines during the second day of WIndiana 2009, a statewide conference that takes place July 21-22 at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis. The conference is the Hoosier state’s premier event focusing on the emerging wind energy industry, including utility scale and small wind systems for use at residences, businesses and farms.

The Indiana Office of Energy Development hosts the conference. Purdue is a conference sponsor.

Large scale wind turbines are popping up across rural Indiana. At last count, there were about 310 turbines in Benton and Tippecanoe counties, producing more than 530 megawatts of electricity each year. Another nearly 175 turbines, estimated to generate about 200 megawatts of power, are under construction in Benton and White counties.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, Indiana leads the nation in wind energy growth, Martin said. That growth has created higher demand in windy regions of Indiana that are close to transmission access, leading to higher lease payment agreements for those farmers and rural landowners willing to give wind energy a look, he said.

“The base lease payment per turbine has definitely increased,” Martin said. “For national average figures, we’re talking $3,000 to $5,000 per year per megawatt of production. And some people are getting up into the $10,000 range per year per turbine.

“Turbines take about one to two acres of land out of production. So when you’re looking at raising corn as opposed to putting a turbine up on those two acres, there’s no question that there’s more profit potential with the turbine.”

Small wind turbines are becoming more popular for residential and business use, Martin said. Small turbine electric generation generally is measured in potential kilowatt output, he said.

A 10-kilowatt turbine can cost $30,000 to $50,000 to install. “We’re seeing a wide range in payback periods in Indiana, anywhere from 10 years to about 25 years on these small turbine units,” Martin said.

“There’s a laundry list of questions people need to ask before installing a small scale wind turbine,” he said. “First, is there enough of a wind resource within your property to actually make the turbine generate enough power to pay for itself? For these turbines to operate properly, they need to be in a good clean wind resource.

“Another area of concern is, will your power company purchase that excess power back through what we call net metering, and what kind of rate will that utility give you for that power? And another consideration is how high the turbine tower is. That really impacts the your capital cost.”

In addition to Martin’s breakout session, WIndiana 2009 features sessions on the state of the wind industry, wind resources, the wind energy supply chain and green jobs. Conference attendees also can tour a north central Indiana wind farm and see the small wind system at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. A wind energy trade show also is planned.

The conference runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 21 and 7:30 a.m. to the end of tours on July 22.

Registration is $100 per person and $50 for students. Registration includes continental breakfast both days, lunch and reception on July 21, refreshments, transportation to and from the wind farm tour and all conference materials.

To register, visit the Purdue Conferences registration Web page at http://www.conf.purdue.edu/wind09. For more information, visit the WIndiana 2009 Web page at http://www.in.gov/oed/2413.htm