KyRIC – Kentucky Research Informatics Cloud is an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded system that uses a hybrid architecture to support massively parallel applications as well as exciting and challenging new data and memory intensive research in big data science. The KyRIC hybrid system consists of two subsystems: a 50 nodes cluster, each with 4 10-core processors, 3TB RAM, and an 8TB SSD array; and a Peta-scale storage system providing 2 PB of object-based storage. KyRIC runs OpenStack, a leading edge cloud management software, that allows nodes to be reconfigured, scheduled, and loaded with problem-specific applications software based on the current mix of big data jobs being executed by users. As a result, the project enables and supports a wide range of new research activities, each with its own unique characteristics that are beyond the capacity of our existing other computing infrastructure. KyRIC can be readily accessed by researchers across the state utilizing our latest high-performance network, with multiple 100GB/s links from Lexington to Louisville and Cincinnati. KyRIC will also join XSEDE to better integrate UK with national multi-petascale capabilities.