The Harlan County and Harlan Independent school districts will receive as many as 100 state-of-the-art Apple computers each over the next year through the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative.

"The computers will be used for more advanced computer design and math and science applications, and will be fueled by new software and high-speed Internet connections," said Rep. Rick Nelson. "When the students aren't using the computers, they won't actually be idle. Their processing power will be harnessed through a network linking more than 4,000 computers to the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, where the excess capacity will be used to run new cancer drug experiments."

Researchers in the James Graham Brown Cancer Center will remotely link into the computers after school hours in the districts to help them analyze hundreds of thousands of molecule combinations for possible use as new drugs.

"The computers help researchers do twice the work in the same amount of time," explained Nelson. "In return, these same researchers will visit area schools to talk with our students about their work and about opportunities in science and math. What an incredible return on our coal severance dollars."

In addition, teachers at each of the districts will receive extra training to help them make computers a more integrated part of the classroom. U of L also will offer scholarships to eligible students from the participating schools who attend U of L.

"The extra capacity provided by the initiative will make a big difference to cancer researchers," said Nelson. "Because of our partnership with Dataseam, the James Brown Cancer Center is able to work on drugs to combat 18 cancer targets. Without it, they'd only be able to work on four."

The idea of networking computers to create one, massive computing effort is known as "grid computing." Kentucky Dataseam Initiative, a Kentucky-based company that currently operates one of the largest research grids in the country hopes to have 50 school systems participating statewide, according to Brian Gupton, Executive Director of the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative.

"Initiatives such as these represent Kentucky's future," said Rep. Nelson. "We need to develop this capability quickly or other states will pass us by in jobs and economic growth. Not only are we providing exciting, new educational opportunities for our kids, but we are also offering a critical resource to grow, research-oriented companies. We have the supercomputing power they need, plus the workforce and low-cost of living that can give those companies competitive advantages."

"We are very pleased to be a part of this program," said Harlan Independent Schools Superintendent David Johnson. "Our students and teachers receive new computers that will also help researchers find new treatments for cancer. This is a good example of maximizing resources to benefit multiple groups."

"We are pleased to participate in this partnership," said Harlan County Schools Superintendent Timothy W. Saylor. "The opportunity afforded to us by this project will allow us to expose our students to multiple operating systems while broadening their prospects for the future."

Under the new state budget, $50 million has been added to upgrade Kentucky schools' technology capacity. Both of these school districts could receive up to 200 additional computers over the next two years under this program.