LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - U-K officials say a new world-class supercomputer has bolstered the school's endeavor to become one of the nation's Top 20 public research universities.

U-K and I-B-M officials announced the signing yesterday of a two-year, two-point-six (m) million dollar annual lease for an I-B-M System Cluster 13-50 Supercomputer.

The computer is described as crucial to advanced research in biochemistry, pharmacy, medicine, mechanical engineering, physics and astronomy.

Since 2002, U-K has leased a Hewlett-Packard supercomputer that can perform one-point-seven (t) trillion calculations per second. The new I-B-M can do up to 16-point-three (t) trillion calculations per second.

I-B-M spokeswoman Connie Shoemake says that on the current list of the world's top 500 supercomputer sites, U-K's would rank 54th. It would be sixth among supercomputers at public academic institutions in the United States.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)