Intel Corporation awarded University electrical engineering professor Ruby Lee a research grant for her work in transforming simple microprocessors into supercomputers.
Lee, the Forrest G. Hamrick professor in engineering, discovered she would receive the $30,000 grant a couple months ago, which she will use to further her research.
"I'm certain that the work I'm doing is extremely important," she said.
Lee said the main purpose of her work is "to make a simple common microprocessor work like a supercomputer."
Lee's research is important for "advanced bit" applications. Lee explained that the smallest unit of information in a digital computer is a bit, which represents a zero or a one. A normal computer processes bits in terms of words, which are about 64 bits.
However, some applications, such as cryptology, pattern matching and genomic sequencing, require manipulation of individual bits. But microprocessors are inefficient at performing these operations, because they usually process groups of bits or words, she said.
For this reason, Lee has been working to convert the common computer into a supercomputer that could better manipulate individual bits.
Wilfred Pinfold, head of the Advanced Computing Center at Intel, said the company awarded the seven grants to professors who are improving and enhancing this supercomputer technology.
"We were looking for researchers to provide a broader use of high-performance technology," Pinfold said.
Princeton was one of the seven U.S. universities to receive a research grant from the chip-maker. Intel awards the grants to professors who are developing innovative ideas for emerging technologies.
The Advanced Computing Center Program began a year ago and has spent the year choosing the recipients of the first round of grants.
A team of top researchers reviewed proposals from universities around the world.
"It's fairly competitive to win these dollars," Pinfold said.
Intel announced the U.S. university recipients in a press release Monday.
Other than Lee's, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University and University of Florida represented recipients in the U.S.
In addition to the Intel grant, Lee is receiving funding from the Department of Defense. "[My] technology could be useful for both commercial and military purposes," she said.
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