Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at AUB inaugurates high-end computing labs

A week earlier, the faculty had also inaugurated a multi-core lab for multiple simulation and computing. Both are located in the Raymond Ghosn Building, in the engineering complex.

FEA Dean Ibrahim Hajj noted that the labs will help AUB provide better teaching and research tools for faculty members thus giving students a better educational experience.

Both labs are a perfect example of the success that can be achieved when the private sector and educational institutions cooperate, added Hajj.

The Information Research Lab is equipped with 22 workstations provided by Fujitsu-Siemens. It is also supported by Oracle, Hyperlink, ESRI Lebanon and Khatib & Alami, and GIS Transport, each of whom will provide software, training, maintenance, or consultancy.

Hajj said:

"This lab will strengthen the education mission of AUB, as problems in all fields are becoming more and more complex prompting the need for high-performance computing to address them."

Stefan Rejasse, the managing director of Fujitsu-Siemens-Middle East, said that his company had recently equipped the prestigious German University of Heidelberg with a similar lab. "We believe that AUB is like the University of Heidelberg—even though the latter is much older and was established in 1383—capable of producing cutting-edge technical research in the region," Rejasse said, adding: "Leabense have always been great travelers and have brought great value to the world. Lebanon does not have oil or great wealth, but it is an example of a society of risk takers who have done a lot with the little they have. That's why we are proud to be associated with you."

Ziad Shaaban, FEA IT Manager and the brain behind the Information Research Lab, said that the idea for the lab came from engineering alumni and faculty who felt they needed to have greater access to more complex software while at AUB, to improve their research output as well as to become more competitive in a more complex job market.

As for the multicore lab, it was Dr. Hazem Hajj from Electrical and Computer Engineering who spotted the need for it. The lab which was equipped by Intel with 15 workstations will help students and faculty perform simulations and could be of use to engineers as well as economists, biologists, and even philosophers as they could tap into the high computing speeds o and network connections of the new computers.

Attending the inauguration of the multicore lab was Intel's General Manager of Emerging Plaform Groups, Ms Lila Ibrahim, who said: "At the end of the day, computers are just a tool, and AUB was chosen to host the Intel technology because it is a top university in the region and a world-renowned institution full of ambitious, creative people."