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August
14, 2001
DOE Announces
First Awards in Scientific Discovery through Advanced
Computing Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Energy (DOE)
today announced its first awards under the new
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing
(SciDAC) program. Fifty-one projects will receive
a total of $57 million this fiscal year to advance
fundamental research in several areas related
to the department's missions, including: climate
modeling, fusion energy sciences, chemical sciences,
nuclear astrophysics, high energy physics and
high performance computing.
SciDAC is an integrated program that will help
create a new generation of scientific simulation
codes. The codes will take full advantage of the
extraordinary computing capabilities of terascale
computers (computers capable of doing trillions
of calculations per second) to address ever larger,
more complex problems. The program also includes
research on improved mathematical and computing
systems software that will allow these codes to
use modern parallel computers effectively and
efficiently. Additionally, the program will develop
"collaboratory" software to enable geographically
separated scientists to effectively work together
as a team, to control scientific instruments remotely
and to share data more readily.
"This innovative program will help us to
find new energy sources for the future, understand
the effect of energy production on our environment
and learn more about the fundamental nature of
energy and matter," said Secretary of Energy
Spencer Abraham. "A major strength of many
of the projects is a partnership between scientists
at the Energy Department's national laboratories
and universities."
Selected from over 150 proposals, the SciDAC activities
include 23 large projects that will each receive
$500,000 to $4 million per year for three to five
years, and 27 smaller projects, each with funding
of up to $500,000 per year for three years.
"These projects represent a significant change
in the way we do computational research, with
greater emphasis on integrated teams," said
James Decker, acting director of the department's
Office of Science. "Our strategy is to support
coordinated efforts by the scientists working
to solve complex problems in physics, chemistry
and biology, and the applied mathematicians and
computer scientists working to develop the computational
tools required for that research." Success
of the SciDAC program requires multi-disciplinary
teams from universities and laboratories to work
in close partnership.
Thirty-three projects are in the biological, chemical
and physical sciences. Specifically, 14 university
projects will advance the science of climate simulation
and prediction. These projects involve both novel
methods and computationally efficient approaches
for simulating components of the climate system
and work on the integrated "climate model
of the future." Ten projects will address
the areas of quantum chemistry and fluid dynamics,
which are critical for modeling energy-related
chemical transformations such as combustion, catalysis
and photochemical energy conversion. The scientists
involved in these activities will develop new
theoretical methods and efficient computational
algorithms to predict complex molecular structures
and reaction rates with unprecedented accuracy.
Five projects are focused on developing and improving
the physics models needed for integrated simulations
of plasma systems to advance fusion energy science.
These projects will focus on such fundamental
phenomena as electromagnetic wave-plasma interactions,
plasma turbulence and macroscopic stability of
magnetically confined plasmas. Four projects in
high energy and nuclear physics will significantly
extend our exploration of the fundamental processes
of nature. The projects include the search for
the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae,
development of a new generation of accelerator
simulation codes and simulations of quantum chromodynamics
(QCD).
Seventeen projects are to develop the software
infrastructure to support research collaboration
using distributed resources and scientific simulation
on terascale computers. Three Applied Mathematics
Integrated Software Infrastructure Centers will
take on the challenge of providing scalable numerical
libraries. Four Computer Science Integrated Software
Infrastructure Centers will address critical issues
in high performance component software technology,
large scale scientific data management, understanding
application/architecture relationships for improved
sustained performance, and scalable system software
tools for improved management and utility of systems
with thousands of processors. Four national collaboratory,
two middleware, and four network research projects
will have general applicability and will seek
to research, develop, deploy and refine the underpinning
software environment that will enable innovative
approaches to scientific computing through secure
remote access to shared distributed resources,
large-scale transfers over high-speed networks
and integration of collaborative tools with the
researcher's desktop.
The projects involve collaborations among 13 DOE
laboratories and more than 50 colleges, universities
and companies. DOE laboratories receiving funds
are: Ames Laboratory; Argonne National Laboratory;
Brookhaven National Laboratory; Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory; Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;
Los Alamos National Laboratory; Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory;
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Sandia National
Laboratories; Stanford Linear Accelerator Center;
and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
Universities and companies receiving funds are:
Auburn University; Boston University; California
Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University;
Clemson University; Colorado State University;
Florida Atlantic University; Georgia Institute
of Technology; Indiana University; Iowa State
University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Michigan State University; New York University;
North Carolina State University; Northwestern
University; Ohio State University; Oklahoma State
University; Old Dominion University; Princeton
University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;
Rice University; Rollins College; Rutgers University;
Scripps Institute (UCSD); Stanford University;
State University New York at Stony Brook; Stevens
Institute of Technology; University Corporation
for Atmospheric Research; University of Arizona;
University of California-Berkeley; University
of California-Davis; University of California-San
Diego; University of California-Santa Barbara;
University of California-Santa Cruz; University
of California-Los Angeles; University of Chicago;
University of Colorado; University of Delaware;
University of Georgia; University of Illinois;
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; University
of Iowa; University of Maryland; University of
Michigan; University of North Carolina; University
of Quebec (Canada); University of Southern California;
University of Tennessee; University of Texas at
Austin; University of Utah; University of Washington;
University of Wisconsin-Madison; Utah State University;
Wellesley College; General Atomics; Comp X; Lodestar;
and Tech X.
For a complete list of SciDAC awards, principal
investigators and project descriptions, see the
SciDAC website at www.science.doe.gov/scidac/.
Media Contact: Jeff Sherwood, 202/586-5806
Number: R-01-143
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