Renaissance Computing Institute

About RENCI Main

Leadership

Locations

RENCI at Europa Center

RENCI at Duke University

RENCI at NC State University

RENCI at UNC Chapel Hill

RENCI at ECU

RENCI at UNC Asheville

RENCI at UNC Charlotte

RENCI at UNC Asheville

Location
Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College
1459 Sand Hill Rd.
Candler, NC 28715

Contact
Jim Fox, Director
828-301-2075

Overview
RENCI at UNC Asheville opened in 2007, expanding RENCI’s virtual organization into the western reaches of North Carolina. RENCI at UNC Asheville works closely with teams at the anchor site in Chapel Hill and with groups in western North Carolina, including the HUB project, a community collaboration formed to leverage education and technological assets to promote economic development in Asheville and Buncombe County. The center focuses on disaster research, mitigation and preparedness, taking advantage of western North Carolina’s expertise in weather and climate modeling, visualization and public outreach.

Although Asheville is hundreds of miles from the coast, hurricanes that move into the area from the Gulf coast as well as other severe storms often bring torrential rains. During the 2004 hurricane season, heavy rains caused severe flooding, which overwhelmed local watersheds and infrastructure and resulted in seven deaths. Since then, community groups, UNC-Asheville, NOAA’s National Climate Data Center in Asheville, and local businesses have organized to develop high-resolution, near real-time weather models that can be used to plan for, and respond to, natural disasters.

RENCI at UNC Asheville will leverage and accelerate these ongoing efforts and help to foster economic development, especially in the environmental technology sector.

Partners
University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA)
Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College (AB Tech)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climate Data Center (NOAA NCDC)
National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) at UNCA.
The HUB Project
City of Asheville
Buncombe County
Media Arts Project
North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCCGIA)
Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas (ERC)
Barons Advanced Meteorological Systems (BAMS)
Education and Research Services (ERS)

Links
RENCI at University of North Carolina Asheville
University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA)
NOAA NCDC
NEMAC
AB Tech