SPOTLIGHT: Scientific Computing Magazine Article

Scientific Computing Magazine Features SciDAC Outreach Center

An article on the role and successes of the SciDAC Outreach Center, which is run by NERSC researcher David Skinner appeared in a recent issue of Scientific Computing magazine.;

David Skinner

SciDAC (Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing)  is a DOE Office of Science program that supports the development of software tools for tackling research using terascale computers. The Outreach Center, launched last year, serves as a clearinghouse for software tools and information for scientists who use or conduct research on high-performance systems. It also facilitates exchanges between various SciDAC research centers and the rest of the scientific community. 

For example, the Outreach Center has helped the Applied Partial Differential Equation Center (APDEC) to promote and distribute its software. The tools developed by APDEC are being used in areas such as fusion energy, combustion, astrophysics, and oceanography.  

In another instance, the Outreach Center worked with a database equipment company that wanted to know more about how their technology could benefit the research community. The Outreach Center connected the company with scientists who might be interested in using the technology.  

“Whether it is bringing new talent to HPC (high performance computing), delivering HPC resources to new audiences, or incorporating new technologies into DOE’s HPC portfolio, the SciDAC Outreach Center is there as a broker between  resources and needs to help get computing done,” wrote Skinner in the article,  titled “Reaching Out to the Next Generation of HPC Users.” Skinner also heads the Open Software and Programming Group at NERSC.  

Read the article to learn more about the Outreach Center.

Storage Keynote

Bill Kramer

NERSC General  Manager Bill Kramer will be a keynote speaker at the Storage  Networking World  Conference next month in Florida, presenting the technology and services provided by  NERSC for archiving scientific data. Computerworld, a technology magazine and website, is hosting the conference.

In his talk, titled “NERSC —  Extreme Storage and Computation for  Science,” Kramer will discuss the storage, networking, and computational requirements for the computer center. He will describe the current and future deployments of the NERSC Global  Filesystem, a key component in the center’s strategy to provide an integrated set of systems and services for handling petabytes of data in a highly parallel environment. 

The conference features a diverse set of speakers, including Jim Swartz,  Chief Information Officer at Sybase,  and Laura Campbell, Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives at the  Library of Congress.  

The conference will take place in Orlando from April 7 to 10. Kramer will speak on April 9, and you can learn more by checking out the conference agenda.

SCIDAC OUTREACH WORKSHOP ON GENOMICS

The SciDAC Outreach Center, headed by NERSC’s David Skinner, presented talks about high performance computing tools in a workshop sponsored by the  DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) and the Interagency Working Group on Metabolic  Engineering.  

The four-day workshop in February was  called “Joint Genomics: GTL Awardee  Workshop VI and Metabolic Engineering  2008 and USDA-DOE Plant Feedstock  Genomics for Bioenergy Awardee  Workshop 2008.” DOE’s Genomics: GTL  research program aims to understand the abilities of plants and microbes that enable clean energy generation, toxic waste cleanup, and other environmental benefits.

Scientific Computing Magazine Article

The SciDAC Outreach Center organized a half-day workshop for identifying computational resources that would benefit researchers in the new bioenergy research centers, announced last year by DOE Secretary of Energy Sameul Bodman and administered by BER. Berkeley Lab is one of the six organizations that will run the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), which is one of the three bioenergy research centers and is expected to receive  $125 million in funding over five years.  

Skinner, head of NERSC’s Open  Software and Programming Group,  spoke about “Grid-Based Management  and Parallel Molecular Dynamics Simulations.” Kathy Yelick, director of  NERSC, discussed “NERSC Systems  and Services.” Wes Bethel, head of the  NERSC’s Analytics Team and the SciDAC  Visualization and Analytic Center for  Enabling Technologies, presented  “Analysis of 3D Gene Expression Data.”  

In addition, Nagiza Samatova from  the SciDAC Scientific Data Management  Center talked about “Scientific Data  Management: Technologies and  Applications.” Ruth Pordes from the  Open Science Grid (OSG) gave a talk about the OSG.