Information Technology
Find the latest news headlines and press releases featuring UF Information Technology: our higher-education technology expertise, high-performance computing and storage, innovative research, and commitment to fulfilling the technical needs of UF's students, faculty, and staff.
Michael Paluska for ABC Action News WFTS-TV
Feb. 14, 2023
"Computers are not smarter. We're actually using the wrong words, because computers are just good at doing the manual or the sort of repetitive tasks that humans take a lot of time to do," Dr. Erik Deumens said.
Karen Dooley for UF News
Feb. 14, 2023
“Rather than providing you with just a list of hyperlinks like you would get from Google or other search engines, ChatGPT pulls from this massive volume of words written on the topic and throws them together in good English,” Mark McCallister, director of UF Academic Technology, said.
Dr. Erik Deumens for HPCwire
May 16, 2022
“HiPerGator 3.0 is enabling AI workloads, empowering researchers, and aiding Floridians with its vast computational abilities.”
Read more about how HiPerGator 3.0 is impacting researchers and AI computing.
Ashley Hearn for WUFT News
March 22, 2022
“A cybercriminal only has to be right once,” Eldayrie said. “We have to be right every time.”
Read more about how important online security is for the UF community and beyond.
Wylie Wong for EdTech Magazine
Feb 16, 2022
"The faster network connectivity will enable researchers to take full advantage of the new $70 million HiPerGator AI supercomputer. We want to drive innovation with cutting-edge AI research and prepare the next-generation workforce with necessary AI skills," Eldayrie says.
Chris Hayhurst for EdTech Magazine
Aug. 5, 2021
“For us,” says Elias Eldayrie, UF’s vice president and CIO, “it does not matter where your data is when it comes to protecting it.”
Read more about UF's approach to data security with cloud-based services.
for the Independent Florida Alligator
July 12, 2021
“The AI initiative and HiPerGator AI will dramatically enhance the reputation of UF by allowing its students and faculty to become experts in AI,” Erik Deumens, director of UFIT Research Computing
Read more about how HiPerGator expands possibilities for the UF community and beyond.
for UF News
April 1, 2021
"Sharing ideas with the panelists and hearing how the catalyst awardees are using machine learning will spur even more ideas for using HiPerGator AI. Plus, the attendance by faculty representing 25 universities across the U.S., shows the interest of the University of Florida's AI initiative,” Erik Deumens, director of UFIT Research Computing
Read more about the AI research showcased at the Spring 2021 HiPerGator Symposium.
Lenovo Data Center Group for Xperience
March 16, 2021
“Lenovo’s AMD based ThinkSystem servers have more RAM per core, which is critical to our researchers’ data intensive applications that require more memory,” Erik Deumens, director of UFIT Research Computing
Read more about how UFIT provides researchers with the latest innovative IT architectures.
Dell Technologies for HPCwire
Oct. 26, 2020
“Deumens noted that as long the companies are in a fledgling status, they can get support from the University of Florida and they can make use of HiPerGator resources at a very cost-effective rate.”
Read more about how UFIT supports startup companies with supercomputing resources.
Tracy Gale for UF Explore
Oct. 21, 2020
“We have the technical resources to make our researchers’ lines of inquiry a reality. Recent storage upgrades and the addition of NVIDIA’s DGX™ A100 system gives UF research the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.” Erik Deumens, director of UFIT Research Computing
Ariana Aspuru for the Independent Florida Alligator
July 21, 2020
“It is not clear what AI will bring in the future, but it will be effective. That is why everyone needs to take an interest in this, not just leave it to a few techies.” Erik Deumens, director of UFIT Research Computing
Sarah Nelson for the Gainesville Sun
April 11, 2020
"The transition, Eldayrie said, has been fairly smooth, something he credits to faculty. Academia may have the reputation to be slow to change, but Eldayrie said the faculty’s quick response busts that myth. 'They rolled up their sleeves and made it seamless for our students,' he said."
Read more about UF's transition to virtual classes and meetings
Elias Eldayrie and Erik Deumens for EnterpriseAI
Feb. 10, 2020
“Our investment in Qumulo is an investment in our faculty,” said Elias G. Eldayrie, vice president and CIO. “We want to enable their research with the best supercomputing environment possible…”
Read more about the University of Florida's decision to invest in Qumulo for research computing
Elias Eldayrie and Anne L. Allen for Education Technology Insights
July 25, 2019
“Increasing diversity on campus and protecting civil rights by working towards electronic information technology accessibility requires significant investment, but results in huge dividends for the entire university community.”
“Phasing out the UF Network option improves the experience for our students, faculty and staff who travel,” said Saira Hasnain, the associate CIO and senior director of UFIT.
McKenna Beery for the Independent Florida Alligator
November 5, 2018
“Representing the University of Florida in service of higher education nationally and globally is one of the highlights of my 30 years’ career.”
Read more about Elias Eldayrie joining the board of directors of EDUCAUSE
Dave Gruber for IBM Case Study
August 13, 2018
“Our goal at the University of Florida is to ensure that students reach their full potential so they can build a bright future for themselves and their families,” explained Dave Gruber, UF’s associate chief information officer. “To do this, we not only focus on keeping students enrolled in their courses, but on helping them succeed throughout their time at the University of Florida.”
Sheard Goodwin for ICT Today
July/August 2018
“Studying out on the plaza, watching classes in hammocks and signing up for student events is not possible without Wi-Fi.”
Erik Deumens for Ed Tech Magazine
April 26, 2017
“Faculty researchers need state-of-the-art systems,” he says. “They come up with these weird ideas — we want that, because our faculty is hired to try and do things that nobody has ever done before — and we need to support them."
Read more about campus research using high-performance computing
Fedro Zazueta for Resource Magazine
March 2017
“In keeping with its mission of improving the quality of life and global development, the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR) has established the International Academy of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering (iAABE).”
Elias Eldayrie for CIO Review
March 7, 2017
“Knowing the educational technology issues your institute needs to address is essential, but even more attention must be paid to implementation and adoption.”
Paige Fry for the Independent Florida Alligator
March 1, 2017
Two and a half hours before Michael Huang’s online calculus 3 exam, the website on which he would take it crashed.
Canvas, a learning management system students across the U.S. used to access course materials and take online exams, went dark on Tuesday, prompting confusion — and constant refreshing — from students who needed to study for or take exams.
Elias Eldayrie for CIO Review
January 2017
“Knowing the educational technology issues your institute needs to address is essential, but even more attention must be paid to implementation and adoption.”
Paige Fry for the Independent Florida Alligator
November 3, 2016
Brandon Vega, UFIT’s associate director, wrote in an email that there was concern about students and faculty members getting confused by a sudden change, so the demo offers a glimpse of the update.
“With so much attention on website spoofing and attempted malware attacks at UF, there is concern that students and faculty unaware of the change to login.ufl.edu will think the
new page is fraudulent,” he said.
Katelyn Newberg for the Independent Florida Alligator
February 11, 2016
Student services, such as transcripts and degree audits, will move from ISIS to One.UF, UF’s new online class registration system, on Feb. 19, Tracy Gale, UF’s Information Technology communications manager, wrote in an email. Currently, students can access a version of the site to search for classes. The changes are part of a campus-wide, multi-year program to modernize student services and make them easier to use, she said.
“ONE.UF is a portal, and the plans are to move more student services (or “apps”) to the one.ufl.edu platform,” she said.
Emily Eisbruch for Internet2 Blogs
January 19, 2016
“I see Grouper as a giant box of Legos in eight or sixteen colors, but they’re all one-space Lego pieces. You can build anything, but there are lots of ways to do it. I would like to see TIER devote resources to developing templates for common service scenarios,’ [said Warren Curry, identity and access management guru at the University of Florida]”
Monica Andrade for the Independent Florida Alligator
December 2, 2015
Elias Eldayrie, UF Information Technology vice president and chief information officer:
“The computer allows the 1,500 researchers who use it to extract interesting information from big data sets…This can help them create simulations and patterns…
It’s a wonderful time in the university with the new president and the resources to advance research and become the preeminent institution that we can be.”
Anthony Clark for the Gainesville Sun
November 28, 2015
“[Dave] Pokorney[, chief technical officer for LambdaRail and former director of technical services at UF,] served on a city-county cable advisory committee in the late 1980s and early 1990s that did a pilot project using UF modems and the Cox coaxial cable system to make university books available through the network to the home.
‘So UF helped launch Cox into the home cable modem business,’ he said.”
Oscar Bergeron-Oakes for WUFT News
November 24, 2015
“Projects ranging from the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle to how the English language is evolving on social media are all using HiPerGator’s processors, [Director of Research Computing Erik] Deumens said.
‘The fact that we have that diversity is probably the thing that excites me the most,’ Deumens said. ‘All of these are so innovative and they all have the potential to impact society and the world.’”
Associated Press for the Washington Times
November 22, 2015
“UF’s vice president for research David Norton says HiPerGator will be used to help scientists tackle complex problems like climate change, poverty and disease.”
David Williams for FOX 13 – Gainesville
November 18, 2015
“HiperGator is so fast, it can process every single U.S. federal income tax return in a fraction of a second.
So, why have a supercomputer? [Stephen] Orlando [a University of Florida spokesman] explained, ‘The answer is so researchers can do the important research that needs to be done, and to tackle those really perplexing questions and puzzles that we face in the world today.’”
Florida Trend
November 17, 2015
“’This is a ranking and an accomplishment that every Gator can take a lot of pride in,’ said Elias Eldayrie, UF’s vice president and CIO. ‘Our world-class faculty have access to world-class computing, and they’re using it to crack the world’s toughest and thorniest issues.’”
Elias Eldayrie for Education Technology Insights
July 1, 2015
“Big data resources at the university are also important for recruiting and training top faculty.”
Chris Kennedy for the Independent Florida Alligator
April 3, 2015
“Chris Easley, UFIT interim director of enterprise infrastructure and operations, wrote in an email the ban was lifted after discussions with UFIT, UF general counsel and the UF privacy office.
Students are expected to follow the rules and not share health information through this channel, he said.
“’UF has an Acceptable Usage policy that must be adhered to and followed,’ Easley said.”
Natalia Arteaga for the Independent Florida Alligator
March 20, 2015
“MassMine has been working alongside the HiPerGator — Florida’s most powerful computer — which allows it to run more efficiently and securely store data from social media, said Erik Deumens, director of UF Research Computing.
“’If you have a large amount of data, you also need a large amount of computing power to deal with the data,’ Deumens said.”
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
February 26, 2015
Jameson Johnston, the UF Information Technology manager, said there was great feedback.
‘It gave us the information needed to make the program successful,’ he said.”
Tracy Gale for EDUCAUSE Review
January 26, 2015
“In 2012, the University of Florida Information Technology (UFIT) division had a clear mandate: to create awareness of the IT services and value we provide across the university. At that time, UF had 50,000 students, 3,100 faculty, and 10,000 staff on multiple campuses in more than 900 buildings. And, as the state’s flagship land-grant university, UF has long had a physical presence in all of Florida’s 67 counties. Create awareness? Easy peasy!”
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
January 16, 2015
Todd Williams, UF Information Technology project manager for the Student Webmail Deprecation Project, wrote in an email the voluntary period was created for an orderly transition.
“Students can sign up for the voluntary migration through a fairly simple process, and I would encourage any students who haven’t already to do so sooner rather than later as the voluntary migration slots are limited,” Williams said.
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
January 8, 2015
“Removing the appointment step will improve the turnaround time, said Kiem Tran, assistant manager of the desk.
“’The appointment system could get confusing and lengthy,’ she said. ‘We also want to help walk-ins in line for Wi-Fi and email.’”
Alexia Fernandez for the Independent Florida Alligator
November 17, 2014
“Negotiations and planning have begun to create a second HiPerGator, one that is bigger and faster than its predecessor. Erik Deumens, director of research computing at UF, said the HiPerGator’s system is expected to be 70 percent full by February.
“’The acceptance of HiPerGator has been so fast, faster than we projected,’ Deumens said. ‘We plan for HiPerGator 2 to be online in June 2015. That’s when the first one will run out of capacity.’”
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
November 10, 2014
“Students can stop by the Hub to create their UFApps Adobe pilot account to access the Adobe Creative Cloud, said Tracy Gale, communications manager for UFIT.
“’We are doing this pilot — right now it’s free, so we can gauge the interest of our students,’ Gale said.”
Christina Hunt for the Independent Florida Alligator
October 28, 2014
“MADE@UF is a collaboration between the George A. Smathers Libraries and UFIT to provide resources to students to facilitate mobile app development and to create a community environment for peers, entrepreneurs and innovators, said Anne Allen, UFIT assistant director of academic technology.
“This ‘mobile sandbox for UF students’ has been three years in the making, said Allen, and is a space with software, hardware and necessary resources for students to learn and start developing apps.”
Alexia Fernandez for the Independent Florida Alligator
October 8, 2014
“Jameson Johnston, IT manager for UFIT, said about 20 on-campus organizations will participate in the event to showcase the services available to students.
“’Students aren’t aware of all the different types of services available to them, whether it’s the UF Help Desk or the computer labs across campus,’ he said. ‘We want to make sure that students are aware of the technology offered.’”
Damaris Lopez for the Independent Florida Alligator
September 24, 2014
“Unlike live classes, the flipped model requires instructors to prerecord lectures and post them online, allowing students to get the material ahead of time, prepare and be able to focus on participating during class meetings.
“’Imagine being able to do all of your group work in class as opposed to having to schedule it outside of class,’ Stephanie McClelland, CITT’s manager of instructional design services, wrote in an email.”
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
September 24, 2014
“With PureData Analytics, researchers can do queries of 10 to 100 million records in three seconds, versus the 27 hours it would have normally taken, said Elias Eldayrie, vice president and chief information officer of UF Information Technology.
“’IBM recognized our drive for preeminence,’ Eldayrie said. ‘And this latest donation by IBM will be one more tool added to the toolkit that we make available to our staff.’”
Jeff Schweers for the Gainesville Sun
September 23, 2014
“IBM donated a PureData for Analytics system to help speed up processing capabilities. The system — valued at $500,000 — was installed in the East Campus Data Center on Waldo Road over the summer and is currently ready for use by the UF community.
“’This is a great day for the University of Florida,’ Elias Eldayrie, vice president and chief information officer for UF, told a group gathered for the annual Research Computing Day at the George Smathers Library.”
Damaris Lopez for the Independent Florida Alligator
September 12, 2014
“Douglas Johnson, the associate director for learning services at UF Information Technology, said the change to Canvas first started in Spring 2014.
“’Canvas has a more intuitive interface,’ he said. ‘It’s got some very well-done ease-of-use improvements over what we used to have in Sakai.’”
Lesley Wright for the Independent Florida Alligator
September 11, 2014
‘With OneDrive, saved documents and files are not limited to the UF community, [UF Information Technology communications manager Tracy] Gale said. Students can share photos and videos with friends and family anywhere.
“’It frees up a lot of space for you and gives you a lot of storage capacity,’ Gale said, ‘but it also gives you the opportunity for all these other collaboration tools.’”
Alyssa Fisher for the Independent Florida Alligator
August 27, 2014
‘“This is a great resource when you are working late and finishing assignments,’ [UF Information Technology communications manager Tracy] Gale wrote in an email. ‘We hope these extra service hours will be helpful for our students, knowing that if an IT issue happens at night you have someplace to call or email for assistance.’”
Lindsey Cook-Saucier for the Independent Florida Alligator
July 1, 2014
“By the fourth day of release, it had been downloaded 354 times, Allison Mondell, public relations coordinator for UF Information Technology, wrote in an email.”
Brocade
June 25, 2014
“To be competitive as a university, you have to give your faculty the ability to collaborate on projects involving big data,” [says Dr. Erik Deumens, director of research computing at UF.]
Natalia Tamayo for the Independent Florida Alligator
June 19, 2014
“‘As with all technology, advances in programming and capabilities require service upgrades,’ [UF’s Information Technology communications manager Tracy] Gale said.”
Jeff Schweers for The Gainesville Sun
June 14, 2014
“‘To be top 10, you have got to be global,’ Elias Eldayrie, UF’s vice president and CIO for Information Technologies, recently told the board of trustees. ‘You need to connect.'”
Jeff Schweers for The Gainesville Sun
June 11, 2014
“We really hope to influence and control the ecosystem of digital learning and higher education,” [Chief information officer Elias] Eldayrie said. “If we put our efforts together as universities, we are going to be better off, in a much better position in how learning impacts students and aids faculty in doing day-to-day teaching.”
TERMINALFOUR
June 3, 2014
“‘The University of Florida, with its global online presence, requires a content management tool the caliber of TERMINALFOUR,’ says Vice President and Chief Information Officer Elias Eldayrie. ‘Academic and administrative staff tested several solutions and commented on TERMINALFOUR’s presence in–and commitment to–the higher education customer. Faculty and staff recommendations, coupled with the opportunity to leverage significant savings across the university, made TERMINALFOUR the right WCM choice for UF.'”
Hannah Fell for The Independent Florida Alligator
June 3, 2014
“‘This is a huge experiment to see what Canvas brings out,’ [Doug] Johnson said, ‘but many people are convinced the benefits of Canvas will outweigh the benefits of Sakai.'”
Josh Ferrari for The Independent Florida Alligator
June 3, 2014
“‘Pilot program usage numbers were impressive, and with more students being part of UF Online and distance learning classes, making these software programs available through UFApps means we are helping the students who are not necessarily in Gainesville,’ wrote Tracy Gale, UFIT communications manager, in an email interview.
Nicole Hemsoth for HPC Wire
May 15, 2014
“If the users are asking for the latest novel technology but it’s not the most efficient, we aren’t going to deny them what they need for their research,” says [UF Director of Research Computing Erik] Deumens
Energy Science Network
April 3, 2014
“As early adopters of ESnet’s Science DMZ in 2004, originally called a Campus Research Network, UF offers a unique study of the Science DMZ as they have gone through a second upgrade to their infrastructure. This was to accommodate an increase in data-intensive research, as well as computer science and network research.”
Sean Stewart-Muniz for the Independent Florida Alligator
March 26, 2014
“UFIT communications manager Tracy Gale said the university’s campus is large and complex, and UFIT leadership is constantly looking at solutions for IT issues like system enhancements and product upgrades.
‘UFIT does everything possible, resource-wise, to proactively maintain and prevent system outages,’ she said.”
Staff report for the Independent Florida Alligator
March 12, 2014
“The University of Florida’s web presence is truly our ‘front door’, welcoming people visiting from around the globe,” [Fedro Zazueta, associate CIO and director of academic technology] said. “In the last completed academic year, www.ufl.edu recorded 18,453,622 unique visitors from more than 220 countries.”
InsideUF
February 20, 2014
“The My Florida Energy Projects website not only provides the public with valuable project data — it also provides the online evaluation tools necessary to examine and analyze the information,” [Senior Director of ES Dave] Gruber said. “The coding work was as important to the project as the website development, because the tools help the public determine which energy methods are the most cost-effective and efficient. Our staff was extremely pleased to work on a project with statewide reach.”
Jana Berkowitz for The Independent Florida Alligator
February 7, 2014
“Derrius Marlin, a UF data security specialist, described phishing as a social engineering attack.
‘Besides implementing technology to monitor for and quarantine phishing messages as they come into our email servers, we also work hard to raise awareness of the threats so that users can recognize phishing attacks for themselves,’ Marlin wrote in an email interview.”
Beatrice Dupuy for The Independent Florida Alligator
January 16, 2014
“’If you are trying to register for a class, and the class is closed, the new system allows you to go on a waiting list,’ [Eldayrie] said. ‘It’s first come, first serve, so when a seat opens up, then boom — you’re in.’”
Beatrice Dupuy for The Independent Florida Alligator
January 9, 2014
“UFIT communications manager Tracy Gale said no one from the UF Help Desk can send mass emails to students.
‘Nobody at UF will ask for your GatorLink password,’ she said.”
Jeff Schweers for the Gainesville Sun
January 7, 2014
“We have really outgrown the needs of what the system could provide for the university. It’s aging technology that needs replacement,” [CIO Elias] Eldayrie said. “It is not going to break tomorrow, but we don’t want to wait. We think we have three to five years and want to start the work as soon as possible.”
John Dix for Brocade
December 18, 2013
Dr. Erik Deumens: “…Instead of the university bringing a big pipe to your desk, which is not scalable and we don’t have the money for, I will provide an infrastructure where you can load your data in the central repository and give you the compute resources and infrastructure where you can quickly and easily do all the modern research you want. So that’s where the campus research network becomes more important. So that’s the vision.”
Read more about UF upgrading campus research net to 200 Gbps
Matt Wolpin for Brocade
December 2, 2013
“We wanted to keep the network cutting-edge from a usage perspective,” said [Dr. Erik] Deumens. “We were looking for a strong and robust roadmap for SDN support, and Brocade fit that need. And to top things off, this was the most cost-effective solution for our design.”
Sunshine State Education & Research Computing Alliance
November 28, 2013
“Dr. Erik Deumens, director of research computing, University of Florida, said: ‘To support our goal of building a statewide research community, we’re creating an extensible storage environment to increase collaboration and data sharing. DDN’s WOS technology will provide the vital storage framework while leveraging the essence and simplicity of cloud infrastructure to help SSERCA broaden its data-centric research capabilities.’”
Sarah Wilson for Search Storage at TechTarget
October 30, 2013
“’Everybody is collecting data and [working on] complicated problems that single investigators cannot solve, so you have collaborations that are going to be across the world and nation,’ said Erik Deumens, UF’s director of research computing. ‘So, all of a sudden, there’s a much bigger need to store data.’”
Leila Meyer for Campus Technology
October 23, 2013
“According to Brian Smith, IT specialist at UF, the Web-based My Mediasite app is easy to use, even for the university’s “most tech-challenged staff.
‘”“Before Mediasite, our students watched lectures. Now, they experience lectures,’ said Smith in a prepared statement. ‘Mediasite’s ability to clearly display content by separating it from video in a rich media format is one of the innovative features that have helped to improve academic video on our campus.’”
John K. Waters for Campus Technology
October 2013
“Online education is gaining traction — and credibility — at incredible speed. Nowhere is this more evident than in Florida. ‘This change is happening. We could have sat on the sidelines and let others figure it all out, but we decided instead to get ahead of the curve.’”
Mark Hagland for Healthcare Informatics
August 22, 2013
“You’ve got to be intentional about the way you architect your security regime, to make sure that you look at your campus’s data flows and security protocols”
Christine Newman for Business Wire
July 23, 2013
“’In the coming months, some 500 researchers and 160 teams with more than $175 million in research funding will be using HiPerGator to run their experiments,’ said Dr. David Norton, Vice President for Research at the University of Florida.
“UF recently received an $8 million federal award from the National Nuclear Security Administration, along with the designation as a center of excellence, as a result of its high-performance computing capabilities.”
Read more about Terascala high-performance computing solutions
Mark Hagland for Healthcare Informatics
July 5, 2013
“Erik Deumens, Ph.D.: When the Internet was invented decades ago, it grew out of an academic and military background. But in the beginning of the 2000s decade, universities got together and said, we’ve got this Internet, but we can no longer do research on it anymore. So they created a new consortium with 200 members, and called it Internet2, for second-generation Internet. And the first focus of activity was to try to get faster speed.”
University of Florida News
June 28, 2013
“The award from the National Nuclear Security Administration and accompanying designation as a center of excellence is a direct result of UF’s drive to boost its high-performance computing abilities, said David Norton, UF vice president for research.
“’It really leverages the investment the university made in high-performance computing and HiPerGator,’ Norton said. ‘All of that was key in getting this award. This is exactly what we need in moving toward top-10 status.’”
Read more about UF's federal award for supercomputing research
Zach Peterson for The Gainesville Sun
February 8, 2013
“Connecting a half-inch fiber-optic cable to a high-powered network has expanded computing power 10-fold at the University of Florida,” said Erik Deumens, UF’s director of Research Computing.