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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

The NERSC Center

--From A DOE Program Manager’s Perspective--

A Presentation to the

NERSC Users Group

Walter M. PolanskyActing Program Manager for NERSC

LBNL

February 22, 2001

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

Presentation Topics

• MICS

• NERSC Center

• Budgets

• The Greenbook

• Challenges/Opportunities

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

Need for Information Technology R&D

• Vendors cannot meet requirements for high-performance computing because DOE science programs

require computing capabilities 10 to 100 times greater than typically available in commercial systems.

move hundreds to thousands of gigabytes of data between only a few locations.

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

• Many scientific questions important to DOE involve the integration of many scientific disciplines with characteristic lengths and times that range over many orders of magnitude (e.g. combustion).

• Computer simulation is the only practical way to study some systems (e.g. fusion plasma, climate, genome).

• Computer simulation can complement data and provide insight into the behavior of systems.

• High performance networks are critical to harness distributed resources for the analysis of experimental data (millions of gigabytes/year) and to support distributed simulations.

High Performance Computers and Networks -- Importance to DOE Science --

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

• Applications, e.g. • Materials Sciences • Chemical Sciences • Combustion Modeling • Accelerator Science • High Energy Physics • Nuclear Physics • Fusion Energy • Global Climate • … • ...

FundamentalResearch

Underlying Technologies

• Hardware

• Software

• Networking

R&D forApplications

ScientificComputing

ASCR

Disciplinary Science and Engineering

External to SC

Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)

Advanced Computing Research Facilities

National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Faci

litie

s

Testbeds

• Access to Facilities• Link Researchers

• Applied Mathematics• Computer Science

• Advanced Computing Software Tools

• Scientific Application Pilots

• Networking • Collaboratory Tools • Collaboratory Pilots

BES,BER,FES,HEP,NP

• Enabling Technology CentersGroups of mathematicians, computer scientists, application scientists, and software engineers

MICS is an INTEGRATEDINTEGRATED Program Research --> Users

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

MICS Budget History

0

50

100

150

200

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Fiscal Year

$ (in

Mill

ions

)

Research

Facilities (NERSC+ACRFs+ESnet)

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center

-- Goal --

To provide state of the art, high performance computing capability resources and professional user friendly services to a broadly based user community of computational scientists in support of the missions of the Office of Science.

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

NERSC-Enabled Research Accomplishments

• Magnetic materials

• Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Complex Geometries

• Accelerator design

• Stellerator optimization

• Predicting Protein Structure

• Microstructural Pattern Formation in Directional Solidification

• Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere System

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

Advancing Computational Science of Scale- Producing Real Results

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

Budget History- NERSC, ACRF and ESnet at LBNL-

0

10

20

30

40

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Fiscal Year

$ (

in M

illio

ns

)

NERSC ACRF ESnet

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

• Greenbook objective- Make a compelling case, based on the science, for upgrading NERSC resources (hardware + services).–Quality of science enabled by current NERSC. –Existing and planned research opportunities unmet with present

resources.

• Target Audience- Office of Science program managers.

• Other interested parties- OMB, OSTP, Congress, IG and GAO.

• Attributes- –Cognizance of plans and initiatives (e.g. Flagship-Topical Center

concept, nanotechnology, SciDAC).–Good scientific and technical content; but readable by non-

scientists.–An Executive Summary that (1) provides a concise overview of the

document; (2) and coaxes the reader to continue.

Thoughts on the Greenbook

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

The Greenbook- Foundation of a Strategy

Objective Instrument Lead Organization

Establish scientific basis Greenbook NERSC Users Group

Identify SC program needs

--- SC Program Offices

Propose resources needed to meet needs

--- NERSC

Prioritize high-performance computing needs

Budget request; Approved Plans

Office of Science

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

• Increase awareness of NERSC-enabled contributions to the Office of Science mission.

• Remain engaged in NERSC planning and operations.

• Share information and experiences with user groups at other computing centers.

• Identify recent major scientific accomplishments and researcher recognition directly influenced by NERSC.

• View NERSC as an SC resource and asset.

Challenges/Opportunities

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OFFICE OFADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH

Personal Areas of Responsibility

•Program Manager for NERSC, Acting•Program Manager for ACRFs, Acting•Program Manager for Scientific Applications Pilot Projects, Acting•Director, Technology Research Division

-Laboratory Technology Research Program-SBIR and STTR Programs