UC San Diego students who need GPUs to train AI models for coursework will get nearly three times the computing power starting winter quarter 2027.
The university's Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing is adding four high-performance servers equipped with 32 NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPUs, according to UC San Diego. The hardware will run on a new platform called PARASOL, short for Platform for Applied Research, Analytics, Science and Open Learning.
The expansion is a direct response to a growing gap between student demand and available resources. Some UC San Diego students have already turned to commercial cloud-based GPU services to get the computing power they need for coursework and independent projects, the university said.
PARASOL absorbs the campus's existing Data Science & Machine Learning Platform (DSMLP). Halıcıoğlu School students and faculty get first priority under a new reservation system, but the platform continues to serve coursework and student research campuswide.
Demand expected to more than triple
Campus IT Services leaders project demand for AI and machine learning computing will grow sharply as enrollment expands. Demand from Halıcıoğlu School programs alone is projected to rise from about 43,000 GPU-hours per year in 2026 to more than 140,000 by 2030.
The new servers will provide roughly 66,800 GPU-hours during peak instructional periods each year. Off-peak, they will deliver more than 213,000 GPU-hours for research, capstone projects, graduate work and additional coursework.
Adam Tilghman, lead architect of PARASOL at UC San Diego IT Services, said the school's investment and the platform changes warranted a new name. He called the result "a stronger resource for students and researchers in the School and across campus."
Founding gift enables expansion
The hardware purchase was enabled by the founding gift from Taner Halıcıoğlu, a 1996 UC San Diego computer science graduate who was Facebook's first full-time hire. Halıcıoğlu has given a combined $125 million to data science at the university, according to a UC San Diego announcement in April. That funding established the Halıcıoğlu School, which unites the former Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
Halıcıoğlu School Dean Rajesh Gupta said the platform bridges coursework and research, calling it "an integrated learning environment for our students" that "helps remove barriers and expand opportunities for the next generation of AI leaders."
Beyond scheduled classes, Halıcıoğlu School students will be the first to receive automatic access to Open Learning workspaces. Those spaces let students explore large language models and other AI tools for personal projects, early-stage research or entrepreneurial ideas.
Existing DSMLP, Datahub and Research Cluster users keep their current accounts, files and login commands under the new platform, according to the PARASOL website. Instructors can request PARASOL access for their courses through the UC San Diego ITS Services & Support Portal.
