News & Events

RENCI at UNC Asheville Hosts Open House on April 20

April 16, 2012

The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) at UNC Asheville invites the public to attend a drop-in open house from 3:30-5:00 p.m. Friday, April 20, 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.

The RENCI at UNC Asheville Engagement Site provides 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 Western North Carolina Vitality Index, a web-based tool covering over 160 metrics for 27 counties in Western North Carolina; GroWNC, a listening and planning process to develop regional and local strategies for economic prosperity, quality growth and sustainable development in a five-county region; Forewarn, a web-based system designed to track unexpected forest change and potential threats; the Urban Growth Model for the Asheville region; the Buncombe County Multi-Hazard Risk Tool; flooding impacts and mitigation; and geospatial climate information viewers.

RENCI at UNC Asheville staff are excited about welcoming the public to the engagement site. "The RENCI at UNC Asheville Engagement Site is a resource for our collaborators, decision makers, and the public," said Nina Hall, RENCI at UNC Asheville's community engagement coordinator. "Coming to our Open House and using our tools and technologies provides a different way to look more deeply at local, regional and even national development and environmental issues."

For further information on the open house, please contact Nina Flagler Hall 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 Avenue in downtown Asheville.