The Texas Advanced Computing Center hosted a dedication for its newest supercomputer, Stampede, on March 27 at the J.J Pickle Research Campus located at 10100 Burnet Road.

William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin; Dell Inc. President Marius Haas; Diane Bryant, senior vice president of Intel; and Farnam Jahanian, assistant director of the National Science Foundation and others gathered at The Commons Center at the campus to celebrate the system.

"Stampede is a tremendous accomplishment, not only for the innovators here at UT, but for individuals throughout the world," said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-District 21, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Stampede was built by staff at the TACC, Dell and Intel for a total cost of $27.5 million. The National Science Foundation awarded a grant to the TACC for the construction of the supercomputer, which can process 10 quadrillion mathematical equations per second.

Stampede will be used in fields such as biology, astronomy, climate and weather prediction, engineering, education and technology, TACC Director Jay Boisseau said. The Stampede system was publicly launched Jan. 7 at the J.J Pickle Research Campus. Boisseau highlighted many of the early scientific studies for which Stampede has already been used since its public launch, including the improvement of brain tumor imaging and earthquake prediction.

"Discoveries have already been made, but we're clearly not done," Boisseau said.

Powers said that the construction of Stampede is the type of innovation that will change the world.

"This is a proud, proud moment for [UT]. It's a proud moment for the State of Texas, and I think for the scientific community in America, and in the world," Powers said.