ORCD Newsletter: March 2025

Above the Fold: ORCD Seed Fund Update

We received 41 applications before the February 28 deadline for our inaugural round of seed funding. Thanks to everyone who sent an application.

We will be selecting 12 semi-finalist projects in early April for Zoom interviews and will notify seed funding recipients of their awards by April 24. If you missed this round, we will have another in the fall.

Commonwealth AI Hub RFP Released

MIT is a partner in the $100+M Commonwealth of Massachusetts AI Hub. The activity released their first RFP for hardware infrastructure. You can read more about this here.

As part of this step we have put together a short (only 4 questions) Google form quiz to get feedback on upcoming choices the team will have to make. If you have time we would love to get your thoughts through the form, which is linked here.

Respondents will also get a chance to win their choice of a living Orchid plant, an Orchid Lego kit or a 48-hour dedicated reservation of a 4-way H100 node.

What We’re Reading

  • Quantum Unix - an operating system for quantum computers
  • Quantum computer comes to MGHPCC in Holyoke
  • String theorist Wati Taylor on CO2 removal from the atmosphere
  • Good Quanta article on the limitations of chatbots (...thank god)
  • Consequential hearings and testimonies (1)? 
  • Supercomputers defined by PFlop(s^-1)(ft^-3).

Events Around Campus