Dr. Hongkai Yu, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (ECE) will lead a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant that will support the acquisition and implementation of new computing equipment for a wide range of Smart City research. The $434,431 grant is titled, "Acquisition of a GPU-based High Performance Computing Instrumentation for Smart City Research at Cleveland State University." Co-PIs on the award include ECE faculty: Dr. Sathish Kumar, Dr. Wenbing Zhao, Dr. Zicheng Chi, and Dr. Mehdi Rahmati, and Civil & Environmental Engineeirng faculty, Dr. Jacqueline Jenkins, who is the senior personnel on the grant.

NSF's MRI program catalyzes new knowledge and discoveries by empowering scientists and engineers with state-of-the-art research instrumentation, in turn promoting the development of a diverse workforce and facilitating academic/private sector partnerships.

Dr. Yu's project will establish a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-based high performance computer cluster to facilitate and promote Smart City research. While there are a wide range of uses for this new computing resource, the researchers plan to pursue specific projects that will help transform Cleveland to a modern smart city with shorter commute times, reduced crime rates, and a highly robust and secure electric power grid. The researchers also intend to develop new computer vision methods to recognize and evaluate fine-grained activities of athletes to improve training and evaluation of players, leading to Cleveland's professional sports teams contending for more championships.

About CSU and the Washkewicz College of Engineering

​​​​​​Cleveland State University is a public institution located in Cleveland, Ohio. The university has an enrollment of more than 16,000 students in programs at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is currently awaiting reaffirmation of accreditation. Washkewicz College of Engineering offers graduate and undergraduate program. The undergraduate programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) (http://www.abet.org). To learn more about the College, please visit: engineering.csuohio.edu.

Article orginally posted in the CSU Research Newsletter.