Chief scientist Greg Newby will be retained and will head a reconfigured facility with at least 10 employees, starting in June. The supercomputing center employs 45 regular staffers and 15 student workers, who were told about the layoffs Tuesday.
The layoffs were expected after the U.S. Department of Defense announced it was unlikely to renew its contract with the center. The contract expires May 31. The Defense Department provided about 95 percent of the center's $12 million budget last year.
There are six high-performance computing centers in the country, and Defense officials have indicated they want to consolidate their operations.
UAF executive officer Bob Shefchik said the university has not been formally told that the defense contract will disappear but administrators decided they needed to give layoff notices. Most staff members will be given six months' notice with pay and benefits through June 17.
UAF is encouraging employees to reapply for positions that will remain, and plan to announce hiring decisions by Jan. 15.
An undetermined number of employees whose positions are funded largely by ongoing grants will also remain at ARSC. Plans for the retooled facility were made by looking at research projects and the amount of available money to carry them out.
"This was the management of ARSC looking at the remaining work they have and the equipment they have to do it, and what funding they have available," Shefchik said.
The center opened in 1993. It will continue to assist researchers on campus, modeling climate change, Arctic sea ice and seismology.
An estimated $2 million worth of computer hardware will remain in Fairbanks, with other equipment likely moving to another facility with a defense contract.
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