Frank Williams

Director, Arctic Region Supercomputing Center

Dr. Frank L. Williams has been the director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) since November 1995. Concurrently, he served the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) as vice chancellor for administrative services from June 1998 to March 2002 and as director of the Institute of Northern Engineering before his vice chancellor appointment.

Williams came to UAF in 1992 as dean of engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he was chair of the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering. He joined the faculty at UNM in 1977 after working in the General Motors Research Laboratories at Warren, Michigan, for nearly five years.

• implemented continuing upgrades in computational resources at ARSC so that now over 6 TF of state-of-the-technology Cray and IBM supercomputer resources are available through the center to computational scientists
• brought OC 12 connectivity for access to ARSC resources
• facilitated the start of open research system status to advantage users; built infrastructure for advanced visualization (CAVE) and collaboration (Access Grid)
• grown exceptional staff in systems and user support
• supported investment in students and computational scientists in a number of areas of emphasis impacting Alaska and DoD.

Williams earned his Bachelor of Science degree (with highest distinction) in chemical engineering from Northwestern University in 1968 and his master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford University in 1970 and 1973, respectively

Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
PO Box 756020, Fairbanks, AK 99775 | voice: 907-450-8600 | email:

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