When COVID-19 forced students home, the university’s once-bustling computer labs fell silent, and more than 1,250 computers sat unused.
Now the computers are at work once again, helping researchers around the globe fight the very disease that displaced students across Rutgers locations.
Information technology professionals have connected the devices – and other machines from around the university – to a research consortium called Folding@Home, which will use them to predict the efficacy of potential COVID-19 treatments. Folding@Home pairs research labs that need extra computing power with people who want to put their machines to good use. Volunteers download an app that works in the background, automatically tapping unused resources for research. To read the full article.