UTC SimCenter expanding reach across campus, city

Dr. Anthony Skjellum
Dr. Anthony Skjellum

DR. ANTHONY SKJELLUM

* Job: Director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga SimCenter* Raised: San Marino, California* Education: California Institute of Technology for undergraduate degree, master’s and doctorate* Work: Computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; high performance computing at Mississippi State University, University of Alabama at Birmingham; lead cyber scientist at Auburn University Cyber Research Center* Personal: Wife, Jennifer, and two adult children

Dr. Anthony Skjellum says he and the team at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga SimCenter are aiming to take the research computing support facility to a new level.

"It's ready for a little bit of a reboot," said Skjellum, who was named to direct the SimCenter last August.

Skjellum, who came to Chattanooga from Auburn University's Cyber Research Center where he was its lead cyber scientist, says the SimCenter is an accelerator for multi-disciplinary research and it can impact the entire UTC campus.

"UTC is much more active in research," he says. "It's taking the research center to a new level and engaging the entire campus."

Also, plans are to broaden the SimCenter's reach off campus as well such as in Chattanooga's Innovation District, the 140-acre designated area downtown where entrepreneurs, tech-based startups, and business incubators can mesh and create a so-called innovation ecosystem.

For people working on practical and applied research, the SimCenter can collaborate with them, Skjellum says.

"We've very interested in that," he says, adding the personnel at the center already are periodically visiting and talking with interested entrepreneurs.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, looking to jump-start the city's entrepreneurship economy, set up the Innovation District about three years ago. To continue to push ahead the district, Berke says that he wants to see more UTC involvement.

Skjellum says the SimCenter already was involved before he arrived in Chattanooga.

"That was going on in a really good direction," he says. "We're trying to build on that day by day. We hope to partner in the business and commercial side routinely."

Skjellum says he likes working at an urban university such as UTC, and the city's quality of life was a draw to the area for he and his wife, Jennifer, who is overseeing a startup venture.

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