National Center for Supercomputing Applications - NCSA

10/15/2026

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ranks No. 48 worldwide in the 2027 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, which include 2,297 institutions across 118 countries and territories!

THE publishes annual rankings comparing research-intensive universities worldwide across teaching, research, international outlook and industry engagement. Explore Illinois’ global standing: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-illinois-urbana-champaign

10/13/2026

The first day of the NCSA Industry Conference has already been a great success with opening remarks from NCSA Industry Program Director Brendan McGinty and a keynote speech by Intersect360 Research Co-Founder and Chief Executive Addison Snell kicking things off this morning.

This afternoon we're tackling solutions for , , and more before heading over to Gies Memorial Stadium for dinner and a view of the technological marvel that is the biggest scoreboard in college football. Photos to come!

For now, let's hear from former NCSA Director Larry Smarr about the importance of NCSA partnering with industry members early on in the center's history.

"One of the really unexpected outcomes of the NCSA private sector program was that once we got these companies to have their leading researchers in house using our cutting edge equipment, before long we were developing new types of computational equipment we probably would not have done without the driving force of the companies," said Smarr.

NCSA Founder Larry Smarr reflects on the unexpected breakthroughs a...

10/12/2026

The NCSA Industry Conference begins tomorrow and we're excited to welcome industry leaders, innovators and researchers to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus to explore the latest in advanced computing solutions, opportunities and worldwide impact. Details here: https://publish.illinois.edu/ncsa-industry-2026/

As former NCSA director Dan Reed said, "Industry partnerships are really critical." See everyone tomorrow!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hz60MlKQR4

Former NCSA Director Dan Reed discusses the vital role industry par...

10/02/2026

NCSA's Phuong Cao presented research he co-authored with Matthew Chou titled "Network Impact of Post-Quantum Certificate Chain sizes on Time to First Byte in TLS Deployments" at IEEE Quantum Week in Toronto: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24869

NCSA was well represented at the conference, and Cao and colleagues returned energized and inspired about what comes next for the quantum community after connecting with so many researchers, engineers, industry leaders, students and innovators working to turn quantum ideas into real-world impact.

Until next year!

10/01/2026

“Lots of researchers have domain expertise, but they don’t know how to use supercomputing systems. We want to create a computationally competent workforce that can extract deeper meaning from their research.” - R Srikant, NCSA Director

“At NCSA, we’re creating environments where scientists can be productive. We’ve built applications, resources, and communities that help researchers do critical work.” - John Towns, NCSA Deputy Director

“Trustworthiness is one of the major challenges to overcome in medical sciences, which we must address because AI is going to reshape the field. AI will improve the tradeoff between speed, image quality, and cost.” - Mark Anastasio, Mallinckrodt Endowed Professor of Imaging Sciences at Washington University

Listen to this panel's thoughtful remarks outlining the future of innovation during NCSA's 40th anniversary celebration.

NCSA's Christina Fliege hosted a short speaker series on the future...

09/30/2026

The Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) at NCSA is partnering on the upcoming GenAI Works Open Agent Hackathon, a global, six-day (October 15-20) online event focused on building innovative agents and products.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students are encouraged to form small teams (two to four members) and register together. The event features a $20,000 prize pool, international collaboration and a fast‑paced environment ideal for emerging AI talent. Registration closes Tuesday, October 13.

GenAI Works Open Agent Hackathon – UPDATED PROGRAM – Registration Open The Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) is excited to highlight an upcoming opportunity for Illinois students to showcase their creativity, technical skill, and collaborative spirit: the GenAI Works Open Agen...

09/29/2026

Illinois professor Kaiyu Guan and Illinois alumnus Liangfang Zhang have been named 2026 MacArthur Fellows, commonly known as a “genius grant.”

09/29/2026

Register by Thursday, October 1 for the 2026 Ashby Prize in Computational Science Hackathon!

The hackathon, held the weekend of October 17-18, brings together talented University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students from across disciplines to tackle a real-world cancer research challenge using artificial intelligence, foundation models, machine learning and advanced computational resources. This year’s challenge will focus on applying and computational tools to cancer-related pathology and clinical data, giving participants an opportunity to work across the intersection of computing, medicine and cancer research.

More than $5,000 in prizes is available to participants so register today! Cancer Center at Illinois

Details: https://cancer.illinois.edu/2026-ashby-prize-in-computational-science-hackathon/

09/28/2026

VOTING ENDS FRIDAY: This week is your last chance to cast a vote for the 2026 HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards, and NCSA is nominated nine times in a variety of categories (see below)! Don't miss the October 2 deadline to support all of the tremendous research that has enormous societal impact.

- Best Use of HPC/AI in Life Sciences
- Best Use of HPC/AI in Physical Sciences
- Best Use of HPC/AI in Energy
- Best Use of HPC/AI in Industry (Automotive, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Chemical)
- Best HPC/AI Response to Societal Plight
- Top HPC/AI-Enabled Scientific Achievement
- Workforce Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Award



Vote here:

Welcome to the 2026 HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards Voting! The HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards recognize the most outstanding individuals, organizations, products, and technologies in the industry. The finalist(s) in each category who receive the most votes will win this year’s awards. Winners...

09/24/2026

“I was a top three user of the Blue Water system and it underpins much of my work with farmers who are trying to answer production questions every day. Agriculture is local, but the science is bigger." - Kaiyu Guan, Levenick Endowed Professor in Agroecosystem Sensing and Modeling at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

"Computing power and data processing allowed us to capture deeper, richer images and the learning it made possible was unmatched. Rubin and AI has opened up a world of opportunity." - Gautham Narayan, Associate Professor of Astronomy at Illinois

"My work with Mayo Clinic and leading the Healthcare Innovation Program Office is the work I’m most proud of in my career. NCSA plays an important role expanding science and understanding and I am proud to have been part of it." - Colleen Bushell, Founding Director of the Healthcare Innovation Program Office at NCSA

Listen to this panel's thoughtful remarks reflecting on NCSA's historical impact during NCSA's 40th anniversary celebration.

NCSA's Maria Jaromin hosted a short speaker series on NCSA's impact...