Acadia ALERT - Campus Closed (Weather)

Today, Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Acadia University will remain closed, with the exception of residences and Wheelock Dining Hall, due to the current campus and travel conditions. Wheelock Dining Hall may adjust their hours and any change in hours will be communicated through Residence Life.

Employees and students are not expected to come to campus and only employees deemed essential are required to report to work. Non-essential employees are not expected to work during the closure. Any events scheduled for today will be postponed or cancelled.

Updates will be posted on www.acadiau.ca and pre-recorded on Acadia’s Information Line: 902-585-4636 (585-INFO) and on 585 phone system voicemail. If you need emergency-related information, please contact the Department of Safety and Security by dialing 88 on all 585-phone systems, or by calling 902-585-1103.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Acadia University

Department of Safety & Security

902-585-1103

security@acadiau.ca

(Tuesday January 27, 2026 @ 9:42 am)

New Computing Cluster to Model Tidal Energy Turbines

The $2.6M NRCan-funded project on tidal energy project led by Dr. Anna Redden (Biology) got a computing boost last week. 

A team of experts from various departments at Acadia and abroad completed installation work on the marine renewable energy computing cluster at Acadia University . A computing cluster is a group of computers that work as a single high-performance system to tackle complex problems. This particular cluster, named Kelvin after one of the pioneers of modern physics, will allow researchers to model the strong currents in the Bay of Fundy and tidal turbines placed within it.  

Dr. Angus Creech (Math and Statistics), a senior research scientist at Acadia and co-lead on the tidal energy project, identified the need for the cluster early on in the process. He worked closely with Acadia Information Technology and equipment supplier IMP Solutions to design, procure and build a cluster that was both powerful and secure. “The support provided by Gary Meister, Jacques Gouws, Donald Teed and Daniel Oikle in IT was absolutely vital in getting the cluster up and running. It couldn’t have happened without them,” says Dr. Creech. 

The cluster will be able to run detailed computer simulations of the FORCE tidal energy test site and tidal turbines such as Orbital Marine’s O2-X device. This, together with related modelling by fellow project co-lead Dr. Richard Karsten (Math and Statistics), will further the team’s understanding of how marine wildlife interacts with tidal energy devices and address the engineering concerns of tidal energy developers wishing to deploy turbines in the Bay of Fundy. 

Adrian Jackson, a long-term collaborator of Dr. Creech and Professor of High Performance Computing Technologies at EPCC, University of Edinburgh provided additional assistance.