Seton Hall Among Partners of New Jersey Supercomputer Initiative

Seton Hall University is among eight New Jersey higher education institutions participating in the New Jersey Supercomputer Initiative (NJSCI), a statewide public-private partnership intended to expand advanced research, education and workforce development opportunities across the state.

Announced by Governor Mikie Sherrill, the NJSCI will establish a shared supercomputing resource intended to provide researchers, students, entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations across New Jersey with access to advanced computing capabilities that exceed those of conventional computing systems.

Monsignor Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., president of Seton Hall University, noted:

By giving our faculty and students access to cutting-edge computing capabilities, this initiative will open new possibilities for research, discovery and learning, while preparing our students to lead in a rapidly changing world. In accordance with the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Seton Hall recognizes that innovation must serve a greater purpose: advancing knowledge, upholding human dignity and contributing to the common good

Access to advanced computing infrastructure could expand faculty and student research requiring advanced modeling, large-scale data processing, simulation and analytical capabilities.

“The NJ Supercomputer provides Seton Hall with a significant resource for our University research and academic work that requires high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities beyond what we now have with our on premise HPC resources and through cloud HPC capabilities from Amazon Web Services,” said Jose Lopez, Ph.D., director of Office of Grants and Research Services and professor of Physics.

“The ability to use shared HPC infrastructure with enhanced computing power and mixed in cutting-edge AI models is really going to provide a significant boost to all our research and academic work at Seton Hall,” he added.

In addition to expanding research capabilities, the initiative also includes the creation of the AI Higher Education and Workforce Collaborative, which will work across participating colleges and universities to help strengthen educational and workforce development opportunities related to AI, advanced computing and data science.

The University holds an R2 designation, placing it among the nation's institutions with “high research activity” as classified by the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education. Participation in the NJSCI could help support future research efforts across disciplines and in partnership with peer institutions. 

The initiative’s consortium structure, Lopez noted, may offer benefits beyond just access to computing resources.

The consortium setup of the NJ Supercomputer with our neighboring universities and regional industrial partners might serve as an important bridge leading to potential collaborations for research and enhanced opportunities for our current and future students along with our broader alumni and Seton Hall community.

Alongside Seton Hall University, seven other universities serve as institutional partners in the NJSCI: Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rowan University, Rutgers University and Stevens Institute of Technology. 

In announcing the NJSCI, the Governor’s Office noted possible applications:

Dozens of projects are being reviewed for potential supercomputer use in 2027, including those that leverage high-performance computing and artificial intelligence capability to model flooding and protect coastal communities, detect and treat cancer and other diseases earlier, accelerate drug development and improve the safety of large language models. 

According to the state's announcement, the supercomputer is expected to be administered beginning in 2027. The effort is expected to double the current supercomputing capacity available in aggregate across all of New Jersey’s research universities. 

It is also anticipated to "dramatically increase available capacity for the most advanced supercomputing hardware, while also expanding education and training, unlocking economic opportunity and creating good-paying jobs for New Jerseyans."

The initiative is supported through a combination of public and private investments, including a $75 million gift from Chris Malachowsky, co-founder of NVIDIA and his wife, Melody Malachowsky; a $25 million investment from SHI International; and $25 million appropriated by the State of New Jersey.

Categories: Research, Science and Technology