Muncc 2

Muncc News

Muncc is back!!

As of the 2007-2008 school year the Muncc project is back up and running, after a few years of no activity after the graduation of it's former system administrator Patrick McDonnell. With Marmion's interduction of Honors Integrated Science Thesis to the senior elective class options two students -David Iozzo and Thomas Hymel- will be helping Dr.Pinks with his research and will be using Muncc for this. David and Thomas are being helped greatly by Scott Rome who worked along side of Patrick when before he graduated. The three students hope that Muncc will stay up and running and will under go further development after they leave. Further information of their work and progress will be posted at a later date.
14 April 2008

BioOrigins Supports Research at Marmion Academy

BioOrigins, a biotech software engineering company based in South Carolina with a local office in Naperville, IL is putting its support behind the Muncc project. Initially, they will be supplying an Apple Macintosh computer running Macintosh OS X to be used for software development. Specifically, Dr. Pinks will be creating a link between Muncc and the laptop that will allow the user to interact with simulations running on Muncc. It will also provide a platform for a molecular visualizer that can draw 3D images of the molecular dynamics simulations. BioOrigins is interested in Dr. Pinks' molecular dynamics research and wishes to support its' development while assisting students with their science education.

Dr. Nicholas Carriero at Yale University offers to "field student questions"

"The Muncc project strikes me as an excellent way to encourage your students to gain hands-on experience with computing in general and parallel and distributed systems in particular. It is apparent that many high school students find computer technology, in the guise of IM or MP3, very engaging. Helping them to understand this technology at a deeper level is a laudable activity. I would be happy to field pedagogical questions that may arise as you work with Linda [the Linda parallel code compiler],..."

Ad majorem Dei gloriam,

-Nick Carriero

Dr. Craig Hunter from NASA-Langley Research Center to assist in GUI and "field student questions"

Dr. Hunter will be assisting us with an AppleScript-based graphic user interface (GUI) that will allow students to control and observe their molecular dynamics simulations using an iMac connected to Muncc. Dr. Hunter's work with this type of interface has been used on high-speed Macintosh Parallel Clusters (feature article). Students will be able to watch their molecules with the VMD viewer and read the "vital signs" of the molecule with a simulated strip-chart that plots data dynamically (using Aquaterm) as the simulations are running.