Got Spare Computer Cycles? Give to the World Community Grid

Most of our computers sit in idle during the day. Whether it's in a laboratory or our desktops, the computer stays on but unused. What if there were a way to harness the spare cycles for projects that benefit humanity? The World Community Grid does just that. Some of the supported projects include examining tissue microarrays for cancer research, identifying candidate drugs to block HIV protease as part of AIDS research, and obtaining higher resolution structures of human proteins and pathogens.

During my campus visit to Rochester Community and Technical College CIO Tim Gilsrud educated me about the project and RCTC's participation in it. Hundreds of computers on the RCTC network give their spare cycles to the grid. RCTC is not only a participant but number #2 in the world by having contributed over 334 years of run-time cycles. The global statistics page is fascinating: 229,232 members, 433,467 devices on the grid, europe has the most members, etc.

Tim has set a good example for other CIOs in the Minnesota State College and University System. Others will surely follow.