RPI Offers Artificial Intelligence Resource to Aid COVID-19 Research

March 23, 2020 - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is offering government entities, research institutions, and industry access to an artificial intelligence-powered supercomputer in support of COVID-19 research.

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The supercomputer, known as the Artificial Intelligence Multiprocessing Optimized System (AiMOS), is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. The system is able to complete up to eight quadrillion calculations per second, and is uniquely designed to help users explore new applications in AI.

In addition to the AiMOS platform, RPI is offering researchers access to world-class expertise in data, networking, therapeutic interventions, materials, public health, and other areas necessary to combat COVID-19.

“In order to combat the devastating effects of this pandemic, we must be able to fully grasp the complexities and interconnectedness of biological systems and epidemiological data, as researchers work to develop therapeutic interventions and address gaps in our knowledge,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson.

“This effort requires expertise, collaboration, and the ability to process incredible amounts of data, and Rensselaer is offering all three at this critical time. In particular, the ability to model at very large scales requires the unique capabilities of AiMOS.”

AiMOS debuted in the November 2019 Top 500 ranking of supercomputers as the 24th most powerful supercomputer in the world and the third-most energy efficient. AiMOS also ranked as the most powerful supercomputer housed at a private university. In December 2019, RPI launched AiMOS for use by public and private industry partners across New York State.

“The established expertise in computation and data analytics at Rensselaer, when combined with AiMOS, will enable many of our research projects to make significant strides that simply were not possible on our previous platform,” Christopher Carothers, director of the CCI and professor of computer science at Rensselaer, said at the time.

“Our message to the campus and beyond is that, if you are doing work on large-scale data analytics, machine learning, AI, and scientific computing, then it should be running at the CCI.”

Located at the Rensselaer Center for Computational Innovations (CCI), AiMOS serves as the test bed for the New York State-IBM Research AI Hardware Center. RPI is making AiMOS more widely available as part of a larger partnership with IBM, academic institutions, and national labs.

“Computer artificial intelligence, or more appropriately, human augmented intelligence (AI), will help solve pressing problems, from healthcare to security to climate change. In order to realize AI's full potential, special purpose computing hardware is emerging as the next big opportunity,” Dr. John E. Kelly III, IBM Executive Vice President, said when RPI unveiled AiMOS.

“IBM is proud to have built the most powerful and smartest computers in the world today, and to be collaborating with New York State, SUNY, and RPI on the new AiMOS system. Our collective goal is to make AI systems 1,000 times more efficient within the next decade.”

Organizations across the healthcare industry are leveraging AI and data analytics to track and control the impact of COVID-19.

Definitive Healthcare recently partnered with Esri to launch an interactive data platform that enables people to monitor US hospital bed capacity, as well as potential geographic areas of risk, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Medical Home Network (MHN), a Chicago-based nonprofit, is also utilizing advanced tools to get ahead of COVID-19. Providers are using an artificial intelligence solution to identify individuals who have a heightened vulnerability to severe complications from coronavirus, including people who face challenges like homelessness or lack of transportation access.

“We want to identify what we refer to as the 'socially isolated' or people without nearby friends or family so our care teams can proactively educate and offer assistance to people in regards to COVID-19,” said Dr. Art Jones, Chief Medical Officer at Medical Home Network. 

With all sectors of the healthcare industry ramping up their efforts to understand and combat this new public health threat, organizations will continue to support research and solutions using advanced technologies.