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NERSC Center News

John Shalf Is Named Chief Technology Officer for NERSC

December 5, 2012

John Shalf has been named the Chief Technology Officer of NERSC Division at Berkeley Lab. Shalf will also continue to serve in his current role as head of the Computer and Data Sciences Department in Berkeley Lab’s Computational Research Division. Read More »

Phase 1 of Edison Arrives at NERSC

November 27, 2012

Phase-1 of NERSC's Edison system, a Cray XC30 (Cascade), arrived on November 27. The system will be available to users in 2013. Read More »

State Department’s TechWomen 2012 Visit NERSC

October 2, 2012

Thirty women from the United States Department of State’s 2012 TechWomen cultural exchange toured the Department of Energy’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center on Thursday, September 27. Read More »

End-to-End Network Tuning Sends Data Screaming from NERSC to NOAA

September 21, 2012

When it comes to moving large datasets between DOE’s NERSC and his home institution in Boulder, Colo., Gary Bates is no slouch. As an associate scientist in the Earth System Research Lab at NOAA, Bates has transferred hundreds of thousands of files to and from NERSC, as part of a “reforecasting” weather forecasting project. Read More »

“Flying Through the Known Universe” Screens at 3D Film Festival in L.A.

September 19, 2012

A 3D movie flight through hundreds of thousands of galaxies at considerably faster than the speed of light has its world-premiere screening at the 3D Film Festival in Los Angeles. Read More »

Now Accepting Applications for Alvarez Fellowship

September 17, 2012

Apply now for the Luis W. Alvarez Postdoctoral Fellowship in Computational Science, sponsored by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Computing Sciences Directorate. Researchers in computer science, applied mathematics or any computational science discipline who have received their Ph.D. within the last three years are encouraged to apply. The successful applicant will receive a competitive salary and excellent benefits. Read More »

First NERSC Director John Killeen Dies at 87

August 24, 2012

John Killeen, the founding director of what is now known as the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), died August 15, 2012 at age 87. Killeen led the Center from 1974 until 1990, when he retired. The Department of Energy conferred its highest honor, the Distinguished Associate Award, on Killeen in 1980 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the magnetic fusion energy program. Initially known as the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Computer Center when… Read More »

What Are the Computational Keys to Future Scientific Discoveries?

August 23, 2012

 A new camera at the hard x-ray tomography beamline of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Advanced Light Source (ALS) allows scientists to study a variety of structures as a function of time—from bones to rocks, plants, and even metallic alloys—in unprecedented detail. According to ALS Scientist Dula Parkinson, the new camera generates data 50 times faster than the one it replaced, and researchers hope that all of this information may someday lead to more… Read More »

Sudip Dosanjh Named New NERSC Director

August 22, 2012

Sudip Dosanjh, a leader in extreme-scale computing at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, has been named director of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Read More »

NERSC Signs Supercomputing Agreement with Cray

June 27, 2012

The Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) announced today that Cray will install its next-generation supercomputer computing system. When completed, the new system will deliver a peak performance of more than two-petaflops per second, equivalent to more than two-quadrillion calculations per second. The full system is expected to go into production in 2013. Read More »

After 5 Years, NERSC’s Franklin Retires

May 4, 2012

This week, the Department of Energy’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) retired one of its most scientifically prolific supercomputers to date—a Cray XT4 named Franklin, in honor of the United States’ pioneering scientist Benjamin Franklin. Read More »

NERSC Releases Mobile Apps to Users

April 23, 2012

In an effort to make NERSC resources more assessable to its users, the facility is rolling out a number of applications that allow researchers to access scientific data on their web browsers, tablets and smart-phone. This month, the facility announced two new applications now available to its users Read More »

NERSC Launches Data-intensive Science Pilot Program

April 12, 2012

Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) is launching a new initiative to support DOE-relevant, data-intensive science pilot projects for up to 18 months. “NERSC has long understood the importance of data intensive science and has supported the analysis of data streams from telescopes, detectors, and sequencers in addition to data coming from simulations run at NERSC," said Kathy Yelick, associate laboratory director for Computing Sciences at… Read More »

SciDAC Outreach Center Participates in “Materials for Energy Applications” Workshop

February 1, 2012

David Skinner of NERSC, who also heads the SciDAC Outreach Center, presented a poster on “Software Opportunities: Industry, ISVs [independent software vendors] and SciDAC" at a Berkeley Lab invitation-only workshop on Materials for Energy Applications. Read More »

Breaking Ground on Computational Research and Theory Facility

February 1, 2012

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, along with Berkeley Lab and UC leaders, broke ground on the Lab’s Computational Research and Theory (CRT) facility, Wednesday, Feb. 1. The CRT will be at the forefront of high-performance supercomputing research and be DOE’s most efficient facility of its kind. Read More »

Can Cloud Computing Address the Scientific Computing Requirements for DOE Researchers? Well, Yes, No and Maybe

January 30, 2012

After a two-year study of the feasibility of cloud computing systems for meeting the ever-increasing computational needs of scientists, Department of Energy researchers have issued a report stating that the cloud computing model is useful, but should not replace the centralized supercomputing centers operated by DOE national laboratories. Read More »

Powered by NERSC, a Database of Billions of Genes and Counting!

January 26, 2012

With computing and storage support from NERSC, the IMG/M data management system, which supports the analysis of microbial communities sequenced by the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute, crossed the boundry of 1 billion genes recorded in the system—more than any other similar system in the world. Read More »

Inspiring Careers in Science Research

January 21, 2012

In an effort to expose high school students to careers in science research, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab) Computing Sciences Diversity Outreach Program partnered with San Francisco’s Lowell High School research program. Read More »