The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Hawaii $1 million to support computational and data-intensive research in the university system.

The money from NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program will help UH’s Hawai‘i Data Science Institute install a new “community computer cluster” — by adding graphics processing unit nodes and upgrading UH’s high-performance computing cluster — to support the research.

The new cluster, named Mana, will support 15 pre-tenure faculty members with research programs in data science.

“The High-Performance Computing cluster will support and elevate the leading-edge work of our faculty and students across campus,” said Michael Bruno, UH-Manoa’s provost, in a statement last week. “The fact that both faculty and students will have access to this free, shared resource is truly exciting and transformational.”

Jason Leigh, Mana’s principal investigator, said the cluster will help with advancements in artificial intelligence.

“Mana will provide us with much-needed computing power to realize the next-generation of artificial intelligence-enhanced data visualization, analysis and collaboration tools for accelerating research, development and workforce training, even in fields as diverse as cyber-security and creative media.”