Listen to this article

Rowan University is expanding its long-running partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and SHI International Corp. The collaboration aims to build a more powerful high-performance computing and AI-enabled research environment designed to accelerate discovery and strengthen student workforce readiness.

The initiative includes expanded technical and deployment support from Somerset-based SHI to help modernize Rowan’s data center environment. It features a new colocation facility, upgraded storage and compute systems, and enhanced campus networking.

The facets are designed to improve resilience, scalability, and access to AI-driven research tools across the university.

“Rowan University is deeply grateful to HPE and SHI for this extraordinary partnership. This initiative will accelerate innovation across disciplines and expand hands-on learning opportunities that help prepare our students to lead in an AI-driven world,” said Rowan University President Ali Houshmand.

The initiative upgrades research and teaching infrastructure with expanded supercomputing capacity, AI tools and improved campus networking. It is designed to help faculty process large datasets, run advanced simulations, and accelerate modeling and analytics work across engineering, biomedical sciences, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Accelerating the move from ideas to results

Students will also gain hands-on experience. Learning will use enterprise-grade computing systems and AI platforms that mirror real-world industry environments. The interaction seeks to strengthen workforce readiness and applied research skills.

“This deployment helps Rowan move faster from ideas to results, giving researchers and students the dependable performance they need for data-intensive work. By bringing together the right mix of infrastructure capabilities, Rowan can support more teams, more projects, and more experiential learning at scale,” said Patrick Osborne, senior vice president of technology acceleration for hybrid cloud at HPE.

Denise Collison is senior vice president of public sector at SHI. She said, “We have built an environment that works as one system, not a collection of separate upgrades. Rowan’s researchers and students now have a technology foundation that supports current and future needs.”

The partnership underscores a broader push to embed AI-ready infrastructure into higher education. It positions Rowan to scale research capacity while also giving students direct exposure to the tools shaping modern industry.