About RMSC

 

Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers, Inc. (RMSC) is on the forefront of High Performance Computing and Supercomputing and is pioneering Montana’s advanced technology frontier. RMSC’s vision is to establish Montana as a recognized leader in the execution of the next-generation business model for supercomputing as a fundamental component of Montana’s economic engine. RMSC’s mission is to enable next-generation discoveries, advancements and solutions for commercial, academic and governmental customers through the use of supercomputing applications via an on-demand services model.

 

RMSC users have access to not only in-state resources but also to IBM Computing on Demand (CoD) computing assets. This provides supercomputing consumers a seamless way to scale and out-perform the competition while transacted on a pay-as-you-use market-based fee model.

 

RMSC itself is not strictly a business incubator. RMSC allows business incubators and technical assistance centers to leverage the state-wide, regional and international capabilities of RMSC, its Centers of Excellences and IBM Computing on Demand (CoD) to drive job growth, competitive advantage and ultimately sustainable economic impact.

RMSC's unique public-private partnership business model directly supports research and development by "flattening" the playing field for entrepreneurs, small-to-medium sized businesses and academia by leveraging supercomputing resources cost effectively.

Board of Directors

Joseph F. Figueira, Ph.D.

Mr. Figueira is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research, Dean of the Graduate School, and Director of International Programs at Montana Tech of The University of Montana. Prior to this position, he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 20 years as a professional staff member, Group Leader, and Program Manager for various laser research and technology programs. He holds degrees in Engineering Physics and Mathematics from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University.

Dick King

Mr. King is the president and CEO of the Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation. MAEDC administers an active economic development program, including a revolving loan fund program with total assets of about $5 million. Previously, he served as the executive director of the Bear Paw Development Corporation in Havre. Mr. King holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Montana. He also served in the U.S. Army and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan.

 

Alex Philp chair

Dr. Philp is president and manager of GCS Research, a geospatial technology firm, and an affiliate research professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Montana. Philip also serves as Director of the Geospatial Research Group, which provides research and program development in support of advanced geospatial technologies. Dr. Philp serves on the Montana Governors’ Land Information Council and develops policy recommendations to the Governor’s office on the effective utilization of GIS technology. He also serves as Governor’s liaison with the Dept. of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory, linking economic development and advanced technologies within a regional context. Dr. Philp also served on the Montana Homeland Security GIS Subcommittee, and the Science and Technology Subcommittee.

Ron Ueland

Mr. Ueland is a 35-year veteran of the North America agricultural production industry. He is president of WestBred, LLC, and former executive vice president of United Agri Products, a division of ConAgra Foods. Ueland has a Business Management degree from Montana State University. He is a partner in a number of businesses, including a diversified ranch in western Montana; ITB, a defense contractor; Ueland Land Development, a real estate development entity; and Northern Seed, a Montana based seed processor. Over his career, Mr. Ueland has been a member of many major national agricultural trade organizations, and served on numerous boards and committees for universities, corporations, and trade organizations.

Anne Marie Quinn

Ms Quinn is founder and CEO of Montana Molecular LLC, in Bozeman., an active member of the Board of the Montana Bioscience Alliance. Previously, she was senior application scientist at Accelrys Incorporated in San Diego, director of the Bioinformatics Core Facility Yale University School of Medicine, and director of Scientific Computing at the Salk Institute in La Jolla.

Paul Tuss

Mr. Tuss is the executive director of Bear Paw Development Corporation in Havre. He previously worked as the executive director of Glacier County’s economic development organization, an area which includes Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Nation. During his career, Tuss has also served as president of the Montana Economic Developers Association and chair of the Montana State Employers Council. He is a member of the Montana Economic Development Advisory Council, Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology, Montana Tourism Advisory Council, and Montana Nonprofit Association. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Montana Cooperative Development Center, President’s Advisory Council for the University of Montana, and previously served as an advisory board member for the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. Tuss also served as aide to the Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives and Assistant Secretary of the Montana Senate. He is a graduate of the University of Montana.

 

Ted White
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Government Advisory Committee

 

Evan Barrett chair

Barrett is chief business development officer in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Prior to joining the Governor’s Office, Barrett spent 18 years as the Executive Director of the Butte Local Development Corporation. Also, his activities as Legislative and Public Policy Chair for the Montana Economic Developers Association put him in the forefront of the development of statewide economic development policy. Previously, Barrett worked for former Governor Forrest Anderson’s Executive Reorganization project and served as executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. Barrett later held senior positions with former Governor Tom Judge, former Congressman Pat Williams, and former U.S. Senator John Melcher. Barrett attended Montana State University, and holds a bachelor’s in Government from St. John’s University. He also attended the University of Montana Graduate School in Political Science.

Dick Clark

Mr. Clark is chief information officer for the state of Montana, responsible for establishing, approving, and enforcing statewide Information Technology architecture, policies, and standards for the executive branch. He works closely with the courts, legislature, and university system to coordinate IT in Montana. He is a member of the Governor’s cabinet and testifies regularly before Legislative committees on information technology. Previously, Clark served with the Montana Department of Transportation for 29 years in the fields of engineering and maintenance, and most recently as the chief information officer. Clark earned a B.A. in History from Northern Montana College and a MBA from the University of Montana.

Vivian Hammill

Ms. Hammill has been chief legal counsel for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry and also served as counsel to Governor Schweitzer. She previously worked as associate legal counsel at the Montana Department of Administration, was a partner in the law offices of Hammill and Wolf, and was a commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board. She has guest lectured in employment law at Stanford University Law School; the University of California law school at the Boalt Hall and Hastings campuses; and Golden Gate University Law School. Hammill graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Economics. She received her J.D. from Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles.

Tony Preite

Mr. Preite previously served as director of the Office of Space Commercialization and Economic Development Outreach at the University of Montana. Preite was executive director of the Havre based multi-county Bear Paw Development Corporation for 20 years. He also served as Montana Director of USDA Rural Development. Preite also was the Denver Regional Office director for the US Economic Development Administration. Preite holds a bachelor's degree from Northern Montana College.

Tyler Trevor

Mr. Trevor is the associate commissioner for planning, technology, and communication for the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education in Helena. Previously, he was associate vice chancellor for academic and student affairs and director of institutional research in the Nevada System of Higher Education. Tyler hold bachelor degrees in Political Science and Sociology from Montana State University, and a master's in Applied Sociology from Humboldt State University in California.

 

Support Team

Jeff Braun

Mr. Braun is a professor of Computer Science at Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte. He teaches courses related to High Performance Computing (HPC), including Data Structures and Algorithms, Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, and Data Visualization. Braun spent his 2008-2009 sabbatical assisting RMSC with the installation and initial operation of the Big Sky supercomputer, including Extreme Cloud Administration Tool (xCAT), Adaptive Computing’s MOAB scheduler, IBM’s Deep Computing Visualization software, and IBM’s General Parallel File System (GPFS). He currently helps acquaint RMSC users with the system, installing their applications, and assisting researchers throughout the Montana University System. Jeff also has degrees in geophysics with petroleum industry experience.

Phil Curtiss

Dr. Curtiss’s computing and networking consultancy firm, InfoMine of the Rockies, Inc. is contracted with RMSC to provide the technical expertise to administer the system components of RMSC’s high-performance computing architectures, as well as provide oversight and management of all high-performance networking related to the HPC Center. He works closely with the management of RMSC, the management of the Data Center, and with the myriad of external vendors to keep the HPC systems running an available to their user communities. Curtiss earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland where he was a research fellow for the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies in the field of applying high-performance computing to research areas in medicine and biology. His own research focused on developing an embedded parallel processing graphics subsystem for the Institute’s parallel processing architectures to provide an extremely fast method for visualizing the geometric conformation of new molecular structures. In addition, he worked with the director of the Institute to help form the Center for High-Performance Computation in Medicine and Biology. Curtiss chaired the International BioSci Newsgroup on Computational Biology, administered through the National Institutes of Health.

Justin Mann

Justin is a Montana native that grew up in the north eastern part of the state. Graduating from high school in 1997, he moved to Bozeman to attend school at Montana State University (MSU) Bozeman. A year and a half into pursuing an Electrical Engineering Degree Justin changed his major to Computer Science after taking his first programming class. He continued to live in Bozeman for about four more years attending classes at MSU and working. Justin moved to Butte to focus on graduating and because of some of the other non-financial benefits of Montana Tech; such as better student to teacher ratios, excellent job placement, and a tradition of excellence in their Engineering Programs that are decades old. Justin graduated from Montana Tech with a Bachelors of Computer Science with an Emphasis on Business and a Math Minor.

 

InfoMine was good enough to give Justin an internship right around the time of his prospective graduation, actually fulfilling one of his last graduation requirements. Justin has been happily working with Phil and Doreena for coming up on two years now and has recently been enjoying the company of InfoMineís newest employee Josh Barth. Montana's state owned supercomputer 'BigSky', an IBM 1350 Cluster, provided Justin with an unbelievable opportunity to work on the only supercomputer for literally miles around. Justin is thriving in his current environment at InfoMine making the most of any learning opportunities that present themselves to strengthen existing and acquire new tools of the trade.

Earl J Dodd

Born in Dillon, Montana on 16 July 1959, Earl lived in and graduated from Twin Bridges High School in 1977. He holds BS and MS degrees in Mining Engineering from Montana College of Mineral Science & Technology ("Montana Tech") and an MBA from Tulane University. Earl has 27 years experience in Supercomputing and High Performance Computing (HPC). Earl is a senior member of IBM's STG Lab Services acting as a "rain maker" to create a new Deep Computing Services offering. Earl's worldwide consultancy focus is around HPC and Product Strategies, with engagements in the Petroleum, Life Sciences, Higher Education, Aerospace/Automotive/MCAD/PLM, Government and Weather/Climate, EDA, Digital Media, and Financial Services industries. His team, along with others, help put IBM in the premier leadership position for High Performance Computing. Areas of technical interest are in strategy formulation for Peta/ExaScale architectures and UltraScale 3D visualization and collaboration to drive the next generation computationally-steered workflows and applications. Earl's current activities allow him to conduct business development around 3D Virtual Environments and visual integration frameworks for business performance transformation and optimization. Earl has lead the creation and implementation of Montana's largest supercomputing environment and the creation of the Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers, Inc. (RMSC) with the first installation in Butte, Montana. Earl currently acts as the senior HPC consultant to RMSC.