Greenhouses and “green” computing

By: William Gilroy
Date: April 22, 2008

On the surface, high performance computing and greenhouses appear to have little in common. But the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Research Computing and the City of South Bend have wedded them in a marriage that is environmentally friendly, economically beneficial and worthy of celebration on Earth Day.

The center, established in 2005, supports the research agenda of the University by making available managed computing assets and staff with expertise in the application of these resources to multidisciplinary research interests.

South Bend’s Potowatomi Greenhouses have provided area residents with year-round access to flowers and plants since the 1920s. In 1973, the Arizona Desert Dome was built at the greenhouses to serve as the home of a botanical collection donated by Rev. Joseph Sarto McGrath, C.S.C. The late Father McGrath was a Notre Dame chemist, summer school dean and rector at Fisher Hall, whose hobby was visiting Arizona to obtain many different types of cacti.

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