Podcast #154: Oregon State's Chris Sullivan on 122TB SSDs at Sea, Spotted Owls, and AI as a Data Problem
StorageReview, Monday, October 12th, 2026
Oregon State's research computing director explains edge data collection at sea and in forests, and why AI is a data problem.
In this 22-minute episode recorded at Yotta 2026, Chris Sullivan, who runs research and academic computing for Oregon State's earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences college, discusses the infrastructure behind field science.
His examples include 4,000 acoustic recorders monitoring spotted owls, 100TB of plankton imagery per five-day cruise, a $150 million research ship costing $1 million per ten-day cruise, and 250TB arriving from a ranger station every six to eight weeks.
He keeps data forever because future models may make it valuable.
He also notes that grant cycles assume 18-month hardware refreshes while the industry moves in three to six months.