General Information

The DOE Office of Science SciDAC Program will be hosting the 2003 SciDAC PI Meeting at the Embassy Suites Napa Valley in Napa, California, on March 10-11, 2003. Local arrangements will be made by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

This web site will contain information on
• Meeting Theme
• Meeting Agenda
• Meeting Registration
• Hotel Information, Directions to Hotel, and Airport Transportation
• List of registered participants
 

Detailed information on the SciDAC Program can be obtained from http://www.osti.gov/scidac.

March 2003 Updates on SciDAC Projects Are Now Available!!!

Meeting Theme: Assessing SciDAC Progress

One of the SciDAC program’s principal goals is to assemble interdisciplinary teams and collaboratories to develop the necessary state-of-the-art mathematical algorithms and software, supported by appropriate hardware and middleware infrastructure, to use terascale computers effectively to advance fundamental research in science central to the DOE science mission.  The overarching goal of the first PI meeting, in January 2002, was to familiarize all participants with the overall integrated SciDAC program and to initiate team building, both across DOE laboratories and with academia to support that integration across projects.

In March 2003, the SciDAC program will have been under way for about a year and a half, so it is appropriate at this time to begin to assess our progress.  Each SciDAC project, whether presenting at a plenary session or poster session, is thus requested to provide by January 31, 2003 a two-page written document (template available as a Microsoft Word document) that addresses the following questions as appropriate:

1. How is the SciDAC team approach to science changing the way you conduct your research?

2. What has your SciDAC project accomplished that has enabled scientists to better realize the potential of terascale computing?  What science can be done now that was not previously possible?  Please be specific about which application area(s) you have worked in and with whom.
3. What specific algorithmic or software tools or technology are you now able to provide to scientists to enable them to advance their research through the use of terascale computing?
4. What are your plans for the next year or two in accomplishing SciDAC goals?  Be as specific as possible about your interactions with other SciDAC teams.
5. What computational resource needs do you anticipate, both high-end computing platforms and associated infrastructure (including networking), to accomplish your goals?

The two-page document should be forwarded to your DOE Program Manager.

Please keep in mind the general guidance that was given for last year’s PI meeting and which is still pertinent.  The overall goal of the SciDAC program is to develop and deploy large-scale scientific simulation as an integrated and intrinsic research tool to address DOE-mission-related science problems.  Many such problems are too complex to solve except through simulations that can take full advantage of the power of next-generation supercomputers.  Examples of these problems include understanding the impact of different variables on global climate and interaction between climate and the carbon cycle, understanding how to minimize production of pollutants in internal combustion engines, understanding supernovae phenomena thereby enhancing understanding of fundamental physics questions here on earth, and prediction of the behavior of reactor-relevant plasmas in new experimental devices.  Solving such complex problems will require development of community-built simulation models through collaborations among discipline scientists, applied mathematicians, computer scientists, and computational scientists and engineers.  These models will be state of the art in both their underlying scientific underpinnings and in their implementation of computer and information technology.

Program success will require advances in algorithms and software for computation and simulation, as well as supporting hardware and middleware.  Appropriate performance metrics and benchmarking capabilities to measure hardware and software efficiencies will be critical in enabling us to make effective use of our resources.  Key to success will be the ability of interdisciplinary teams to overcome disciplinary language and culture barriers to achieve results that could not even be imagined by individual effort.  The final measure of success in meeting the overall program objective is the development of state-of-the-art community-crafted simulation models that yield publishable scientific results, along with the associated computing, network, and collaboratory infrastructure to support their use, and the establishment of commonly accepted processes, if not standards, for development of future models.

Meeting Agenda

Last Updated:  March 6, 2003
Monday, March 10, 2003 (Chardonnay Ballroom)
8:00	-	8:10		Welcome/Opening Remarks		Alan Laub, SciDAC Director
8:10	-	8:55		SciDAC's Role in the DOE Office of Science		Ray Orbach, Director of the Office of Science
8:55	-	9:25		Getting the Performance into HPC		Jack Dongarra (UTK/ORNL)
9:25	-	10:05		BER Applications
				Introduction		Dave Bader (PNNL)
				The Community Climate System Model Software Engineering Consortium		John Drake (ORNL)
				The Geodesic Climate Model of the Future		Dave Randall (CSU)
10:05	-	10:30		Break
10:30	-	11:10		BES Applications
				Introduction		Bill Kirchhoff (DOE)
				Terascale Science of Chemistry-Turbulence Interactions		Larry Rahn (SNL)
				Quantum Chemistry and Reaction Dynamics		Jeff Nichols (ORNL)
11:10	-	11:50		FES Applications
				Introduction		Steve Eckstrand (DOE)
				CEMM: Progress, Plans, and Opportunities for Collaboration		Steve Jardin (PPPL)
				Microturbulence in Fusion Plasmas		Bill Nevins (LLNL)
11:50	-	12:30		HENP Applications
				Introduction		Irwin Gaines (DOE)
				Center for Supernova Research		Stan Woosley (UCSC)
				National Computational Infrastructure for Lattice Gauge Physics		Bob Sugar (UCSB)
12:30	-	1:30		Lunch
1:30	-	3:00		CS ISICs
				Introduction		Fred Johnson (DOE)
				Common Component Architectures		Rob Armstrong (SNL)
				Scalable Systems Software		Al Geist (ORNL)
				Scientific Data Management		Arie Shoshani (LBNL)
				Performance Engineering		David Bailey (LBNL)
3:00	-	3:30		Break
3:30	-	5:00		Math ISICs
				Introduction		John van Rosendale (DOE)
				Terascale Optimal PDE Simulations		David Keyes (ODU)
				Terascale Simulation Tools and Technologies		James Glimm (SUNY SB)
				Algorithmic and Software Framework for Applied PDEs		Phil Colella (LBNL)
5:00	-	6:15		Poster Session on ISICs and Collaboratories (Cabernet and Sauvignon Rooms)
6.15	-			Dinner on your own in the Napa Valley
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 (Chardonnay Ballroom)
8:30	-	9:50		Collaboratories, Networking/Middleware
				Introduction and Overview on National Collaboratory Pilot Projects		Mary Anne Scott (DOE)
				Progress on Earth Systems Grid Project		Don Middleton (NCAR) / Dean Williams (LLNL)
				Overview of Middleware and Network Research Projects		Ray Bair (PNNL)
9:50	-	9:10		Break
10:10	-	12:00		Poster Session on Applications (Sauvignon Room)
12:00	-	1:00		Lunch
1:00	-	2:00		Panel Discussion:  Closing the "Performance Gap" Led by David Bailey (LBNL), Bill Gropp (ANL), Thom Dunning (UTK/ORNL), Steve Jardin (PPPL)
2:00	-	3:00		Panel Discussion:  Future SC Computing/Infrastructure Needs Led by Dave Bader (PNNL), Don Batchelor (ORNL), Rick Stevens (ANL), Bob Sugar (UCSB)
3:00	-	3:30		Break
3:30	-	4:00		Summary and Wrap-up		Alan Laub, SciDAC Director
4:00				Meeting adjourns

Meeting Registration

Attendance at the 2003 DOE SciDAC PI Meeting is by invitation only. Consult your DOE SciDAC Program Manager or the SciDAC Director. Upon receiving your invitation, please go to the Registration Web Page to register. There is no registration fee but the registration information is needed to establish an accurate headcount for hotel planning purposes.

Hotel Information

The 2003 DOE SciDAC Meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites Napa Valley. Directions to the hotel and airport transportation are given below.

A block of rooms is available at the Embassy Suites Napa Valley.

Room rate:  $125 per night for single or double occupancy, and $145 per night for triple occupancy.

Reservations can be made by contacting the Embassy Suites Napa Valley and citing "Lawrence Berkeley Lab".

The SciDAC room block will expire on February 9, 2003, at which point reservations will be subject to availability and the prevailing room rates.  To limit the liability of the meeting organizers, a limited number of rooms has been reserved.  The participants are therefore strongly encouraged to make their reservations as soon as possible to ensure a room at the negotiated rate.

Contact information for the Embassy Suites:

Embassy Suites Napa Valley
1075 California Blvd.
Napa, California 94559
Phone:	1-707-253-9540
Fax:	1-707-253-9202
E-Mail:	info@embassynapa.com
URL:	http://www.embassynapa.com/

Information on other hotels in the Napa Valley is available below.

Directions to Hotel

From San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge:

Take Highway 101 north to Highway 37 east.  Continue on Highway 37 until you reach Sears Point Raceway.  Turn left at the intersection onto Highway 121 north.  Continue on 121 north to Highway 29 north.  Turn left onto Highway 29 north and continue until the "First Street/Downtown Napa" exit.  Turn right at the stop sign off the exit and turn left at first stop light onto California Boulevard.  The hotel is on the left (you can see it from the exit).

From San Francisco across the San Francisco Bay Bridge:

Take Highway 80 east to Highway 37 west, passing Six Flags Marine World USA.  Continue on Highway 37 to Highway 29 north and exit at "First Street".  Turn right at the stop sign off the exit and turn left at the first stop light onto California Boulevard.  The hotel is on the left (you can see it from the exit).

Directions from Sacramento:

Take Highway 80 west to Highway 12 west.  Turn right at second light onto Highway 29.  Stay left at fork in the highway toward Calistoga and exit at "First Street".  Turn right at the stop sign off the exit and then left at the first stop light onto California Boulevard.  The hotel is on the left (you can see it from the exit).

Airport Transportation

Shuttle transportation from San Francisco International Airport and Oakland Airport to the Embassy Suites Napa Valley is provided by Evans Inc.  Their contact information and shuttle schedule can be found at the Evans Inc Web Site.

Evans also provides transportation from the hotel back to the airport, upon request.

If you plan to rent a car, you might consider using the Sacramento International Airport. It is only an hour drive from Napa and avoids the Bay Area traffic.

Area Hotels

For those who prefer to stay elsewhere, additional lodging information can be found at the Napa Valley Lodging Web Site.

Attendees Registered

The list is available from the Participant's Web Page.

Local Weather

Weather information for Napa, California, can be found at weather.com, cnn.com, or weather underground.

Other Information

DOE Technical Contact:

Dr. Alan Laub, SciDAC Program Director (alan.laub@science.doe.gov)

Local Contact:

Esmond G. Ng, LBNL (EGNg@lbl.gov)

Conference Coordinator:

Yeen F. Mankin, LBNL (YFMankin@lbl.gov)

Official SciDAC Web Site:

http://www.osti.gov/scidac

Other Relevant Web Sites:

DOE (http://www.energy.gov)
DOE Office of Science (http://www.science.doe.gov)

Page last updated on Monday, 20-Feb-2006 09:55:00 PST.