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Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing
The U.S. Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC)
program brings together the nation's top researchers to tackle challenging scientific problems.
The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing
Research in DOE's Office of Science supports multidisciplinary SciDAC projects aimed at
developing future energy sources, studying global climate change, accelerating research in
designing new materials,improving environmental cleanup methods, and understanding physics
from the tiniest particles to massive supernovae explosions.
Extreme Scale Workshops
"Scientific Grand Challenges in National Security: the Role of Computing at the Extreme Scale"
The presentations and white papers from the Biology workshop "Opportunities in Biology at the Extreme Scale of Computing" are now posted, along with presentations and reports from the previous Basic Energy Sciences,
Climate,
High Energy Physics,
Nuclear Physics,
Fusion Energy, and
Nuclear Energy workshops.
Links to other
workshops in the series.
Presentations are posted from SciDAC 2009 held June 14-18, 2009.
news and notes archive
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SciDAC Review Issue 17 (Spring 2010) now available online |
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The Spring Issue (#17) of SciDAC Review includes an interview with Dr. Thom Mason, Laboratory Directory at ORNL since 2007. The chemical model visualization on the front cover relates to the feature article on scalable molecular simulation. Our other features this quarter focus on programming, including stories on the Unified Parallel C language, programming models, and parallel scripting with Swift. The hardware section takes a look at the Magellan project, an exploration into the realm of cloud computing. In the closing editorial Dr. Douglas Kothe discusses his vision of the roles of HPC and ASCR in nuclear energy research moving forward.
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Jaguar leads Top500
The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) flagship Cray XT5 (known as Jaguar), was named the number one
supercomputer on the semi-annual Top500 list. Jaguar posted a 1.75 petaflop/s performance on the Linpack benchmark.
The recent upgrade from quad- to hex-core processors brought the machine's theoretical peak to 2.3 petaflop/s. See the full list at top500.org.
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NEW SciDAC Initiative studies Ice Sheets
ISICLES (Ice Sheet Initiative for CLimate ExtremeS) is an ASCR SciDAC Initiative responding to the national and international need for better inclusion of dynamic ice sheet modeling in Earth System and Climate models. A collective research effort involving six recently funded projects, ISICLES is expected to yield high fidelity, high resolution ice sheet modeling codes. These codes will incorporate uncertainty quantification and will be scalable at extreme scales of computing.
One of the largest uncertainties in current climate and sea level predictions comes from a lack of ice sheet dynamics in the models. The rapid increase in rates of ice melt makes its inclusion imperative. Since ice melt inclusion, prioritized by the Joint ASCAC-BERAC Report in March 2008, is still in the early stages of development, ISICLES has the potential to make a notable difference. The project involves collaboration by six labs and three universities. ISICLES is expected to have a strong impact not only on DOE's Climate models and codes- but extend beyond to other national and international models.
discovery highlights archive
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2010 Rosenblatt Prize Awarded to Computer Scientist and Director of SCI Institute
Christopher R. Johnson, distinguished professor of computer science and director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute at the University of Utah and Co-Director of the SciDAC Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies (VACET), was honored at this year's university commencement ceremonies with the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, the university's most prestigious award. The $40,000 gift is presented annually to a faculty member who displays excellence in teaching, research and administrative efforts. Full story HERE.
Photo Credit: Kent Miles / Courtesy SCI
scientist highlights archive |
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Proposals Invited for ALCF’s Early Science Program
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) is now inviting proposals for time allocations on its next-generation, 10-petaflops IBM Blue Gene system. Allocations through the Early Science Program (ESP) are for preproduction hours (between system installation and full production) beginning in early 2012. More than four billion core hours are available. The early science phase of the project encompasses a period of several months between when the machine is first installed at the ALCF and when the system moves into full production. This period will provide projects with a significant head start for adapting to the new machine and access to substantial computational time. Given that this is a shakedown period, users will need to be ready to diagnose a possibly unstable environment and collaborate with ALCF staff to identify the root causes of problems and help develop better solutions.
Proposals for Argonne’s ESP are due April 29, 2010 and must include a detailed plan for the science to be accomplished and a description of what application development will occur throughout the duration of the award. In addition, each selected project’s home institution must pursue a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) with IBM for access to needed information on the next-generation architecture. For more details or to submit your proposal, visit the ALCF website at the following URL: http://www.alcf.anl.gov/collaborations/early.php
Fan Upgrade Latest Green Effort at OLCF
A recent fan upgrade will save Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s computing complex $150,000 a year in energy costs, helping the center to operate more efficiently and reduce its carbon footprint. The cooling improvement will allow the laboratory’s Computer Science Building’s (CSB’s) twenty 30-ton air conditioning units to operate at peak efficiency and is just the latest in a series of steps by the laboratory to reduce its energy consumption while maintaining two of the world’s fastest computers.
For example, the CSB was among the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified computing facilities in the country and has one of the best power usage effectiveness ratings of any large-scale data center. Furthermore, a new cooling system dubbed ECOphlex, for the Cray supercomputers known as Jaguar and Kraken (the world’s fastest and third-fastest supercomputers respectively), allows the laboratory to reduce the amount of chilled water used to cool the systems. Considering the fact that thousands of gallons of water per minute are necessary to keep Jaguar cool, a reduction in the volume of necessary chilled water means a proportionate reduction in the energy used to cool it.
news and notes archive
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