Queen\u2019s has recruited Ian Karlin as assistant professor to co-lead its supercomputing research efforts alongside associate professor and existing technical leader Ryan Grant. Together, the pair hope to help Canada catch up in the global compute race.<\/p>\n
Canada lags behind the US but many other nations in its compute capacity. The country\u2019s most powerful supercomputer is Telus\u2019 Sovereign AI Factory<\/a>, which was established earlier this year and placed 78th globally in Top500.org\u2019s latest rankings<\/a> of the most powerful non-distributed computer systems in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes sense to work with the folks that have already done that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryan Grant, But the Government of Canada has made big commitments to change that. The feds have allocated up to $705 million<\/a> out of the $2-billion compute spending package<\/a> announced last year to build a large national AI supercomputing facility to support researchers and companies.<\/p>\n Karlin joins a growing list of talented US researchers who have moved to Canada amid US government research funding cuts<\/a> and attacks on post-secondary institutions<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He most recently served as a principal engineer at chip giant Nvidia, and has worked on El Capitan, the world\u2019s most powerful supercomputer<\/a>. He has also served as technical lead on two other upcoming US supercomputers, Doudna and Mission, and collaborated with research labs across Europe and Japan.<\/p>\n In an interview with BetaKit, Grant and Karlin explained their decision to join forces, how shifting US attitudes towards academia could lead to a Canadian \u201cbrain gain,\u201d and pitched why Queen\u2019s should be tasked with building a top 10 Canadian supercomputer.<\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking about moving back into research,\u201d Karlin said. Between this role, which Karlin described as \u201calmost written for what I do,\u201d and the situation in the US research community, \u201cit seemed like the right time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n RELATED: Federal government outlines $2 billion in AI compute spending commitment<\/a><\/p>\n Grant said that a Canadian supercomputer would give the country the in-house horsepower it needs to conduct massive simulations, train large AI models, and fuel \u201crevolutionary\u201d new research. He said a supercomputer could help answer big questions from academia and industry about a wide variety of topics, from jet engines to forest fires and pandemics.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re toolmakers and tool improvers, and so we very much see our role as service to others, where we build the big tool that others use to make those big Nobel Prize discoveries,\u201d Grant said. \u201cWe just make it possible for them to get there faster.\u201d<\/p>\n A local supercomputer would also keep this system and the data that is fed into it in Canadian hands and free from the coercion of foreign governments\u2014an increasing concern<\/a> given the ongoing US trade war<\/a>.<\/p>\n Queen\u2019s wants to build and house that facility, and is in the process of preparing a bid for when the Government of Canada begins seeking proposals. Grant is hopeful that this will happen in 2026, but said no official timeline has been released yet. Queen\u2019s intends to collaborate<\/a> with Bell Canada on its proposal.<\/p>\n Grant argued that the university\u2019s geographic proximity to Ottawa, Toronto, Vector, and Mila put it in the right location, and thinks that its existing supercomputing expertise, coupled with his and Karlin\u2019s experience\u2014he claims they are the only two people in Canada who have helped design and procure next-generation supercomputers\u2014make it the right fit for the job.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes sense to work with the folks that have already done that,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n Efforts to slash funding for research and put pressure on US universities under President Donald Trump have led postsecondary institutions in other countries to try luring talented US scientists away. The University of Toronto has been campaigning<\/a> to attract some of them to Canada, most recently hiring three top US scholars<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s University<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Queens-1024x683.jpeg\" "\\"Queens")
<\/a>Queen\u2019s University supercomputing experts Ryan Grant and Ian Karlin. Image courtesy Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n