What is MilkyWay@home?
Milkyway@Home uses the BOINC platform to harness volunteered computing resources, creating a highly accurate three dimensional model of the Milky Way galaxy using data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This project enables research in both astroinformatics and computer science.
In computer science, the project is investigating different optimization methods which are resilient to the fault-prone, heterogeneous and asynchronous nature of Internet computing; such as evolutionary and genetic algorithms, as well as asynchronous newton methods. While in astroinformatics, Milkyway@Home is generating highly accurate three dimensional models of the Sagittarius stream, which provides knowledge about how the Milky Way galaxy was formed and how tidal tails are created when galaxies merge.
Milkyway@Home is a joint effort between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's departments of Computer Science and Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy. Feel free to contact us via our forums, or email astro[at]cs.lists.rpi[dot]edu.
Read more on our Science Page, or check out our YouTube Channel!
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Social Media
People
Milkyway@Home is currently run by:- Travis Desell, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of North Dakota
- Heidi Newberg, Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Malik Magdon-Ismail, Professor of Computer Science
- Carlos Varela, Associate Professor of Computer Science
- Boleslaw Szymanski, Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
- Jake Weiss, Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Eric Mendelsohn, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Blurf, Volunteer Forum Moderator
- Siddhartha Shelton, PhD Physics
- Matthew Newby, Adjunct Faculty in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Jeffery Thompson, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Apllied Physics, and Astronomy
- Matt Arsenault, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics
- Benjamin Willet, Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
- Nathan Cole, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
- Maia Marchetti, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Adam Susser, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Jake Bauer, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
- Steve Ulins, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics
- Colin Rice, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics
- Shane Reilly, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
- Joe Doran, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
- Brian Chitester, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
- Dave Przybylo, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
- John Vickers, Undergraduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy
- Anthony Waters, Graduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
- Clayton Rayment, Graduate Research Assistant in Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Funding
Milkway@home is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendtions expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
Individual grants are listed on the information page.
User of the Day
slander
I live in Thornleigh in Australia, with my wife, three part-time children and a small, smelly and thoroughly deaf dog. I am not a mathematician, and I...
News
NewER runs for Milkyway_nbody
Hey all,
Sorry, there was a problem with the newest runs for nbody. I've taken them down and replaced them with these runs:
-de_nbody_06_06_2019_v176_40k__sim__1
-de_nbody_06_06_2019_v176_40k__sim__2
-de_nbody_06_06_2019_v176_40k__sim__3
I apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you once again for your support.
-Eric
6 Jun 2019, 16:30:15 UTC
· Discuss
New runs for Milkyway_nbody
Hello all,
Just wanted to let you know that a new batch of runs for milkyway_nbody were just put on the server. The names of the runs are as follows:
-de_nbody_06_05_2019_v176_40k__sim__1
-de_nbody_06_05_2019_v176_40k__sim__2
-de_nbody_06_05_2019_v176_40k__sim__3
If you have any issues or questions about these runs, please let me know. Thank you all for your support.
-Eric
5 Jun 2019, 16:40:05 UTC
· Discuss
New Separation Runs
Hi everyone,
I put up some new separation runs so that we wouldn't be wasting GPU cycles while I am analysing the results from the last runs. The names of these runs are:
de_modfit_80_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_81_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_82_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_83_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_84_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_85_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
de_modfit_86_bundle4_4s_south4s_1
NOTE that these are very similar to the names of the previous runs, demarcated by only a "1" at the end instead of a "0". These runs have slightly different parameters, so it will be interesting to see whether or not they result in the same problems we were having at the end of the last runs.
If you have any issues with these runs please don't hesitate to post about it here. There are lots of great people on these forums who try their hardest to help solve these problems.
Thank you all for your continued support!
- Tom
31 May 2019, 17:08:29 UTC
· Discuss
[RESOLVED] Problems with Receiving Email for Resetting Passwords
Hello all,
It has come to my attention that there are some people who are having trouble resetting their passwords. More specifically when requesting a link to reset their password, the email with the link to change their password never arrives in their inbox or spam. At the moment, I have been able to reproduce this problem with gmail accounts and some temporary email accounts. So far, I've only been able to get my university email account to receive a password reset link. While I will continue to troubleshoot this issue, I humbly request help in this matter. If you could request a password change and tell me whether or not you receive an email with the password reset link, as well as what email type you are using (gmail, hotmail, yahoo, edu, etc.), it will help me immensely with identifying the root of this problem. I am not asking for you to change your password; I only need to know if the email arrives.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
-Eric Mendelsohn
22 May 2019, 16:49:33 UTC
· Discuss
Leaving MilkyWay@home
Hey Everyone,
I want to thank you all for your support and encouragement over the last 7 or so years that I have been a developer and scientist on this project. Unfortunately, it has come time for me to move on to the next phase in my life and career. Tuesday, April 30th will be my last day working in an official capacity on the MilkyWay@home project and for RPI.
Over the last several months, I have been doing my best to document and pass my knowledge down to the current MilkyWay@home scientists and developers, so I am confident you all will be in good hands.
I wish you all the best, and thank you all again.
Best,
Jake
25 Apr 2019, 18:42:51 UTC
· Discuss
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