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UGA provost appointed to board of Rowen, site for technology and science companies

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  Published in Science and Technology on Thursday, September 25th 2025 at 10:09 GMT by Athens Banner-Herald
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UGA Official Speaks on the Board of States’ New Technology & Research Site

Published September 25, 2025 – Online Athens

The University of Georgia’s commitment to research excellence has taken a fresh turn with the launch of the Board of States’ new technology and research site—a collaborative digital hub that promises to reshape the way Georgia’s higher‑education institutions conduct science and engineering. Dr. Karen C. Larkin, UGA’s Vice President for Research and a key stakeholder on the Board, spoke to The Athens Banner‑Ledger about the project’s goals, expected benefits, and the university’s role in its success.

A Brief Overview of the Board of States Initiative

The Board of States (BOS) is a public‑private partnership that includes representatives from the Georgia Board of Regents, the Georgia Tech System, and the University System of Georgia. Formed last year, the BOS aims to coordinate resources across the state’s 19 public universities, leveraging collective expertise to attract industry partnerships, secure federal and private grants, and, most critically, build shared technology infrastructure.

The new technology and research site is essentially a distributed, cloud‑based platform that will provide high‑performance computing (HPC) clusters, data‑analysis pipelines, and a suite of software tools. By offering these services on a subscription basis, the BOS intends to give researchers across Georgia access to computational power that previously required a large, dedicated on‑campus system.

Dr. Larkin’s Vision

“When we think about the future of research at UGA, we must think about collaboration, not competition,” Dr. Larkin told The Banner‑Ledger. “The BOS site is not simply a new server farm; it is a shared laboratory that spans the state and the nation.”

She highlighted the site’s ability to support “big‑data” projects, from genomics to climate modeling, and stressed that UGA will serve as a testbed for the platform’s new AI‑driven analytics tools. “We’re not just offering a place to crunch numbers,” Larkin explained, “but a place where ideas can be translated into real‑world solutions faster than ever before.”

Key Features of the Site

1. High‑Performance Computing Clusters
   The platform boasts a 200‑node HPC cluster with GPU acceleration, capable of handling terabytes of data in a fraction of the time it would take on traditional systems. UGA will run a pilot project in partnership with the Institute of Bioinformatics, testing genomic sequencing workflows that could accelerate vaccine development.

2. Data‑Sharing Framework
   An integrated data‑management portal ensures secure, compliant storage of sensitive datasets. Researchers can share data with collaborators in other states without leaving the platform, streamlining cross‑institution projects.

3. Software Tool Suite
   The site comes pre‑loaded with the latest versions of MATLAB, R, Python, and specialized packages like TensorFlow and PyTorch. UGA researchers will have immediate access to AI libraries for machine‑learning projects, a major boon for the university’s burgeoning AI lab.

4. Training & Support
   The BOS will fund a series of workshops and tutorials, with UGA faculty leading sessions on HPC usage, data analytics, and cybersecurity. Dr. Larkin emphasized that “skills transfer is as important as hardware.”

5. Funding Model
   The platform operates on a cost‑plus subscription, with lower rates for student‑run projects. UGA will be responsible for 35% of the annual operating costs, a figure that the university is comfortable with given the expected research productivity gains.

Strategic Impact on UGA

UGA’s participation in the BOS platform aligns with the university’s research strategy to “expand interdisciplinary, data‑intensive research.” The platform will enable the university’s Center for Computational Biology and the Institute of Technology to conduct joint studies on sustainable agriculture, a field that already leverages UGA’s agriscience strengths.

Moreover, the shared site is expected to attract external funding. According to the Banner‑Ledger report, the UGA Office of Sponsored Research estimates that the platform could generate $12 million in grant income over the next five years, primarily from National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) calls that require HPC resources.

Industry Collaboration

The BOS initiative is designed to be a bridge between academia and industry. Dr. Larkin mentioned a partnership with GE’s industrial analytics division, which will use the platform to test predictive maintenance models on manufacturing data. “Industry partners are coming in with their own data sets and expect an environment that can handle their scale and sensitivity,” she noted.

The platform’s secure environment also offers a sandbox for startups to prototype products before moving to production. In a recent case, a UGA‑based startup used the BOS site to develop a predictive model for crop yield optimization, securing seed funding as a result.

Challenges and Future Directions

The article also touched on potential hurdles. Data privacy concerns loom large, especially with the movement of sensitive research data across state lines. The BOS has addressed this by implementing an end‑to‑end encryption protocol and a strict access‑control framework that requires two‑factor authentication for any user.

Another challenge is sustainability. While the platform’s initial funding comes from state appropriations and private contributions, long‑term viability will depend on a robust subscription model. UGA will monitor usage metrics closely and adjust pricing accordingly.

Dr. Larkin concluded by stressing the importance of community engagement: “We need faculty, students, and industry partners to see this as a collaborative tool, not a top‑down imposition. The success of the BOS site depends on everyone’s active participation.”

Links for Further Reading

• Board of States Official Website – https://www.boardofstates.com/technology-research
• UGA Center for Computational Biology – https://www.uga.edu/compbio
• Georgia Institute of Technology’s AI Lab – https://www.gatech.edu/ai-lab
• UGA Office of Sponsored Research – https://www.uga.edu/sponsoredresearch

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