# Presentation: 314950

## DOE Office of Science

**  ****  **

**www.science.doe.gov/scidac**

**October 2003**

**SciDAC**
**Scientific Discovery through**
** ****Advanced Computing**
**Alan J. Laub**

## Introduction

**SciDAC is a $60+M/yr pilot program for a “new way of doing science”**
**first Federal program to support and enable “CSE” and (terascale) computational modeling and simulation as the third pillar of science (relevant to the DOE mission) along with theory and experiment**
**spans the entire Office of Science (ASCR, BES, BER, FES, HEP, NP)**
**involves all DOE labs and many universities**
**builds on 50 years of DOE leadership in computation and mathematical software (EISPACK, LINPACK, LAPACK, ScaLAPACK, etc.)**

## Addressing the Performance Gapthrough Software

**Addressing the Performance Gap****through Software**

**0.1**

**1**

**10**

**100**

**1,000**

**2000**

**2004**

**Teraflops**

**1996**

**Peak performance is skyrocketing**
**In 1990s, peak performance increased 100x; in 2000s, it will increase 1000x**
**But ...**
**Efficiency for many science applications declined from 40-50% on the vector supercomputers of 1990s to as little as 5-10% on parallel supercomputers of today**
**Need research on ...**
**Mathematical methods and algorithms that achieve high performance on a single processor and scale to thousands of processors**
**More efficient programming models for massively parallel supercomputers**

**Performance**
**Gap**

**Peak Performance**

**Real Performance**

## It’s Not Only Hardware!

- Updated version of chart appearing in “Grand Challenges: High performance computing and communications”, OSTP committee on physical, mathematical and Engineering Sciences, 1992.

## SciDAC Goals

**an INTEGRATED program to:**
**(1) create a new generation of scientific simulation codes that takes full advantage of the extraordinary capabilities of terascale computers**
**(2) create the mathematical and computing systems software to enable scientific simulation codes to effectively and efficiently use terascale computers**
**(3) create a collaboratory software environment to enable geographically distributed scientists to work effectively together as a *****team *****and to facilitate remote access, through appropriate hardware and middleware infrastructure, to facilities, data, and human resources**
**	****with the ultimate goal of advancing fundamental research in science central to the DOE mission**

## Initial Awards Focus on Software

**Scientific Applications**
- Climate Simulation
- Computational Chemistry
- Fusion – 5 projects
- High Energy/Nuclear Physics (incl. Astrophysics) – 5 projects
**Collaboratories**
- Four projects
**Middleware and Network Research**
- Six  projects

**Computer Science (4 ISICs)**
- Scalable Systems Software
- Common Component Architecture
- Performance Science and Engineering
- Scientific Data Management
**Applied Mathematics (3 ISICs)**
- PDE Solvers/Libraries
- Structured Grids / AMR
- Unstructured Grids

## Where Did the Money Go?

**In the first year, $57M was awarded (via 51 projects ranging from as little as $50K to as much as several million dollars ) in the following ways:**
**about one third each to ISICs, scientific applications, and collaboratories/middleware/networks**
**about one third to BES, BER, FES, HEP, NP and about two thirds to ASCR**
**slightly over one half of awards to DOE labs and the balance to universities and other research institutions**

## CSE is Team-Oriented

**successful CSE usually requires teams with members and/or expertise from at least mathematics, computer science, and (several) application areas**
**language and culture differences**
**usual reward structures focus on the individual**
**incompatible with traditional academia**
**SciDAC will help break down barriers and lead by example; DOE labs are a critical asset for early success**

## Organizational Benefits

**benefits of “team-based science” are both technical and sociological**
**synergistic benefits derived from interdisciplinary interactions; application scientists can now pursue more diverse and in-depth scientific explorations (e.g., Community Climate System Model)**
**SciDAC teams with membership across DOE labs and with academia have enhanced cooperation across labs thereby increasing overall performance of DOE/SC**

## Successful Launch of Program

**SciDAC under way for over two years**
**first PI meeting January 2002 in Washington, DC**
**theme: introduction to the integrated SciDAC program; initiation of team building**
**second annual PI meeting was held March 10-11, 2003 in Napa, Calif.**
**theme: assessing SciDAC progress**
**the SciDAC concept is working; a cultural change is emerging**
**new scientific results that would not otherwise have been possible**

## Examples of Early Success

**Steve Jardin (PPPL):  “... [SciDAC] is a significant factor in our productivity, comparable to that obtained by going to the next-generation computer.”**
**Tony Mezzacappa (ORNL):  “The SciDAC Program is making possible a whole new class of supernova simulations.  I could never go back to single-investigator research.”**
**Rob Ryne (LBNL):  SciDAC algorithmic advancements and visualization in accelerator design enable us to “... optimize designs to reduce costs and risks and help ensure project success.”**

## Updated Overview of SciDAC

**almost 80 “two-pagers” now available on SciDAC website:   **_**[www.science.doe.gov/scidac](http://www.science.doe.gov/scidac)**_**   or   **_**[www.osti.gov/scidac](http://www.osti.gov/scidac)**_
**divided into**
- Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- High-Energy and Nuclear Physics (HEP, NP)
- Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
- CS ISICs (Integrated Software Infrastructure Centers)
- Math ISICs
- Collaboratories
- Networking and Middleware

## Future SciDAC Issues

**additional high-end computing and network resources**
**initial SciDAC focus is on software, but new hardware is needed now**
**U.S. response to Japanese Earth Simulator?**
**potential synergistic partnerships leveraging off the success of the SciDAC model (e.g., ITER decision and FSP)**
**both capability and capacity computing needs are evolving rapidly**
**NSTC (OSTP) HEC Revitalization Task Force (HECRTF)**
**limited architectural options available in the U.S. today**
**science and engineering needs require architectural diversity**
**math and CS research will play a key role**
**topical or focused computing can be a cost-effective way of providing extra computing resources**
**expansion of SciDAC program**
**many important SC research areas (e.g., visualization, functional genomics/proteomics) are not yet formally included in SciDAC; computational nanoscience / materials science now included as part of Nanoscale Science Research Centers**