Suresh Muknahallipatna Named UW Faculty Director for Computing Resources

Suresh Muknahallipatna, a professor in the University of Wyoming’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been appointed the faculty director for computing resources at UW. He will oversee UW’s computing infrastructure, including high-performance computing resources.

Among his responsibilities are serving as the liaison for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)-Wyoming Supercomputing Center; faculty director for UW’s Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC); and systems administrator for the Quantum Collaborative Academic Partnership. The three computing infrastructures provide UW faculty and students with a state-of-the-art computing environment for high-performance computing and increase UW’s competitiveness in corporate partnerships in this area.

“This role is a significant opportunity to advance our computational capabilities,” Muknahallipatna says. “We will prioritize workshops in the spring with ARCC to introduce faculty to the center’s tools and capabilities.”

Muknahallipatna also will serve as the primary contact between UW and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and NCAR, facilitating collaborative research and access to NCAR’s supercomputing facilities.

In his ARCC role, he will enhance UW’s advanced research computing capabilities, supporting computationally intensive research across various disciplines. As systems administrator for the Quantum Collaborative Academic Partnership, Muknahallipatna will manage and optimize quantum computing resources for faculty and students.

“Centralizing all computing resources under a single director enables UW to leverage its world-class research computing infrastructure access holistically, maximizing benefits for faculty excellence and enhancing student experiences in computing and AI (artificial intelligence),” says Parag Chitnis, vice president for research and economic development.

Muknahallipatna, who has been with UW since 1995, has received recognition for his contributions to research, teaching and service, highlighted by the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UW and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees, both from the University of Bangalore in India.

He also is recognized for his dedication to mentoring and teaching, creating courses that offer hands-on design and implementation experiences for students. His research includes high-performance computing applications in climate research; deep learning networks for medical imaging; and augmented reality for medical applications. Muknahallipatna led the development of IBM GRAF (Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System), significantly improving weather forecasting accuracy and speed.