News & Events

RENCI at UNC Asheville Hosts Public Open House on October 15

October 5, 2010

The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) at UNC Asheville will hold a drop-in open house from 3:30-5 p.m. Friday, October 15, at the RENCI at UNC Asheville Engagement Site, located in the Grove Arcade in downtown Asheville. The event is free and open to the public.

Operating from its new location in the Grove Arcade since Oct. 1, 2009, the RENCI at UNC Asheville Engagement Site continues to provide leading-edge technology for area decision makers and other collaborators in the areas of disaster research, mitigation, and preparedness, taking advantage of Western North Carolina’s expertise in weather and climate modeling, visualization, and public outreach.

Visitors will see a 16-foot visualization wall, an immersive GeoDome, and 3-D visualizations in action as they learn about projects such as the newly released Urban Growth Model for the Asheville region, the Buncombe County Multi-hazard Risk Analysis Tool, geographic information systems (GIS)-based analysis of threats to eastern forests, flooding impacts and mitigation, and geospatial climate information viewers.

RENCI at UNC Asheville staff are excited about welcoming the public to the engagement site. “Many collaborators are now utilizing our facilities, our technologies, and our expertise,” said Susan Weatherford, RENCI at UNC Asheville project manager. “Providing our decision support tools to strengthen community engagement and supporting local economic development are the biggest reasons we are here. We look forward to sharing these resources with the public at these open house events.”

For more information about the open house, contact Nina Flagler Hall, community engagement coordinator for the RENCI at UNC Asheville Engagement Site, at 828.225.6575 or nhall@unca.edu.

The UNC Asheville Community Engagement Site is located in Suite 116 of the Grove Arcade, on the O’Henry Avenue side of the building, at One Page Ave., in downtown Asheville.