FAIRBORN — George Huang, chair of Wright State University's Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, considers it the start of a beautiful — and perhaps profitable — relationship.

Wright State is readying to celebrate the opening of a Center for High Performance Computing on campus this week. The center will be a collaboration between the university and Software Cradle Co., a Japanese firm based in Osaka.

The center's computers will be able to handle "very intensive computations" related to turbulence and air flow over vehicles and airplanes, Huang said. Engineers will be able to begin wind tunnel experiments armed with more and better information, he believes.

Staffed initially with a manager, two graduate students and a secretary, Huang said there's plenty of potential for student co-op opportunities and growth. And he expects to draw keen interest from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, as well.

"I think we're going to be leveraging this stuff with Wright-Patt quite significantly," said Mitch Wolff, a Wright State mechanical engineering professor.

An invitation-only signing ceremony is set for 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 11, at Wright State's Joshi Research Center.

The Joshi center is already home to daytaOhio — also known as the Ohio Wright Center for Data — and Huang noted that business incubation is one of the reasons the center was built.

"This is exactly the kind of opportunity we want to bring to this region," said Terry Rapoch, daytaOhio president.

In fact, when Cradle representatives toured the campus and visited daytaOhio's 3-D simulation room — where visitors can walk into and around computer designs — they were duly impressed, Huang said.

"They said, 'Wow, we better move over here,'" Huang recalled.