OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Sept. 07, 2016 – The Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project (ECP) today announced its first round of funding with the selection of 15 application development proposals for full funding and seven proposals for seed funding, representing teams from 45 research and academic organizations. The ECP does not yet have a website – but one will be coming soon at www.ExascaleProject.org.

The awards, totaling $39.8 million, target advanced modeling and simulation solutions to specific challenges supporting key DOE missions in science, clean energy and national security, as well as collaborations such as the Precision Medicine Initiative with the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.

What is the Exascale Computing Project (ECP)?

The ECP is a collaborative effort of two US Department of Energy (DOE) organizations – the Office of Science (DOE-SC) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). As part of President Obama’s National Strategic Computing initiative, ECP was established to accelerate delivery of a capable exascale computing system that integrates hardware and software capability to deliver approximately 50 to 100 times more performance than today’s petaflop machines. ECP’s work encompasses applications, system software, hardware technologies and architectures, and workforce development to meet the scientific and national security mission needs of DOE.

The goal of ECP is to deliver breakthrough modeling and simulation solutions that analyze more data in less time, providing insights and answers to the most critical US challenges in scientific discovery, energy assurance, economic competitiveness, and national security.

DOE formalized this long-term strategic effort under the guidance of key leaders from six of the major DOE and NNSA national laboratories: Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia.

In addition to implementing the National Strategic Computing Initiative, the ECP plays an important role in driving US technological competitiveness amid the convergence of HPC, big data analytics and machine learning, topics that ECP-funded research and development efforts will impact across the spectrum of science and engineering domains and disciplines

It is important to note that the ECP is not just a project to build extremely fast, large capacity supercomputers. The ECP addresses hardware, software, applications, platforms, and workforce development critical to the effective use of exascale computing environments.

“The Exascale Computing Project offers a rare opportunity to advance all elements of the HPC ecosystem in unison,” ECP Director Paul Messina said. “Co-design and integration of hardware, software, applications and platforms, a strategic imperative of the ECP, is essential to deploying exascale-class systems that will meet the future requirements of the scientific communities these systems will serve.”

Funding Announcements

First-round funding (see list below) includes a broad set of modeling and simulation applications with a focus on portability, usability and scalability. A key consideration in the selection process was each team’s emphasis on co-design of the applications with the ECP’s ongoing development of hardware, software and computational capabilities, including physical models, algorithms, scalability and overall performance.

Projects will be funded in the following strategic areas: energy security, economic security, scientific discovery, climate and environmental science, and healthcare.

“These application development awards are a major first step toward achieving mission critical application readiness on the path to exascale,” said ECP director Paul Messina.

“A key element of the ECP’s mission is to deliver breakthrough HPC modeling and simulation solutions that confidently deliver insight and predict answers to the most critical U.S. problems and challenges in scientific discovery, energy assurance, economic competitiveness, and national security,” Messina said. “Application readiness is a strategic aspect of our project and foundational to the development of holistic, capable exascale computing environments.”

Leadership of the Exascale Computing Project comes from six DOE national laboratories: The Office of Science’s Oak Ridge, Argonne and Lawrence Berkeley national labs, and NNSA’s Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national labs.

The full list of application development awards follows:

Full Funding:

1. Computing the Sky at Extreme Scales, Salman Habib (ANL) with LANL, LBNL
2. Exascale Deep Learning and Simulation Enabled Precision Medicine for Cancer, Rick Stevens (ANL) with LANL, LLNL, ORNL, NIH/NCI
3. Exascale Lattice Gauge Theory Opportunities and Requirements for Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Paul Mackenzie (FNAL) with BNL, TJNAF, Boston University, Columbia University, University of Utah, Indiana University, UIUC, Stony Brook, College of William & Mary
4. Molecular Dynamics at the Exascale: Spanning the Accuracy, Length and Time Scales for Critical Problems in Materials Science, Arthur Voter (LANL) with SNL, University of Tennessee
5. Exascale Modeling of Advanced Particle Accelerators, Jean-Luc Vay (LBNL) with LLNL, SLAC
6. An Exascale Subsurface Simulator of Coupled Flow, Transport, Reactions and Mechanics, Carl Steefel (LBNL) with LLNL, NETL
7. Exascale Predictive Wind Plant Flow Physics Modeling, Steve Hammond (NREL) with SNL, ORNL, University of Texas Austin
8. QMCPACK: A Framework for Predictive and Systematically Improvable Quantum‐Mechanics Based Simulations of Materials, Paul Kent (ORNL) with ANL, LLNL, SNL, Stone Ridge Technology, Intel, Nvidia
9. Coupled Monte Carlo Neutronics and Fluid Flow Simulation of Small Modular Reactors, Thomas Evans (ORNL, PI) with ANL, INL, MIT
10. Transforming Additive Manufacturing through Exascale Simulation (TrAMEx), John Turner (ORNL) with LLNL, LANL, NIST
11. NWChemEx: Tackling Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Challenges in the Exascale Era, T. H. Dunning, Jr. (PNNL), with Ames, ANL, BNL, LBNL, ORNL, PNNL, Virginia Tech
12. High-Fidelity Whole Device Modeling of Magnetically Confined Fusion Plasma, Amitava Bhattacharjee (PPPL) with ANL, ORNL, LLNL, Rutgers, UCLA, University of Colorado
13. Data Analytics at the Exascale for Free Electron Lasers, Amedeo Perazzo (SLAC) with LANL, LBNL, Stanford
14. Transforming Combustion Science and Technology with Exascale Simulations, Jackie Chen (SNL) with LBNL, NREL, ORNL, University of Connecticut
15. Cloud-Resolving Climate Modeling of the Earth’s Water Cycle, Mark Taylor (SNL) with ANL, LANL, LLNL, ORNL, PNNL, UCI, CSU

Seed Funding

1. Enabling GAMESS for Exascale Computing in Chemistry & Materials, Mark Gordon (Ames) with ANL, ORNL, Iowa State University, Georgia Tech, Old Dominion University, Australian National University, EP Analytics, NVIDIA
2. Multiscale Coupled Urban Systems, Charlie Catlett (ANL) with LBNL, NREL, ORNL, PNNL
3. Exascale Models of Stellar Explosions: Quintessential Multi-Physics Simulation, Daniel Kasen (LBNL), with ANL, ORNL, Stony Brook, University of Chicago
4. Exascale Solutions for Microbiome Analysis, Kathy Yelick (LBNL) with LANL, Joint Genome Institute
5. High Performance, Multidisciplinary Simulations for Regional Scale Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessments, David McCallen (LBNL) with LLNL, UC Davis, UC Berkeley
6. Performance Prediction of Multiphase Energy Conversion Devices with Discrete Element, Particle-in-Cell, and Two-Fluid Models (MFIX-Exa), Madhava Syamlal (NETL) with LBNL, University of Colorado
7. Optimizing Stochastic Grid Dynamics at Exascale, Henry Huang (PNNL) with ANL, NREL

Why is ECP needed?

American leadership in HPC is being challenged as never before, and the stakes are high. The new computing technologies required to achieve exascale will eventually make their way into consumer products and the services that enhance US global economic competitiveness and improve our quality of life. The ECP provides a leadership team with HPC technology and complex project management expertise to ensure a coordinated, collaborative approach to defining and developing necessary future exascale ecosystems, maximizing the return on the nation’s investment in the computing that underpins scientific advancement, national security, and economic well-being.

How is the ECP funded?

DOE has a long history of supporting high-end computing system acquisitions at its national laboratories through the DOE ASCR (Advanced Scientific Computing Research) and NNSA ASC (Advanced Simulation and Computing) programs. With ECP, the DOE Office of Science and the DOE NNSA are jointly funding a coordinated multi-lab effort to avoid duplication, maximize efficiency and drive significant new efforts in terms of application readiness, hardware and software co-design, and workforce development.

What is ECP’s Relationship to the National Strategic Computing Initiative

DOE, along with the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation, co-leads the National Strategic Computing Initiative. Within DOE, the Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration execute the ECP, which is the primary DOE contribution to the NSCI.

How is the ECP structured?

The ECP is a 10-year project led by six DOE and NNSA laboratories[1] and executed in collaboration with academia and industry. The ECP leadership team has staff from the six labs, but additional staff from most of the 17 DOE national laboratories will participate in the project.

Will the ECP lead the procurement of the nation’s first exascale supercomputers?

The procurement of future exascale-class supercomputers for the DOE and NNSA laboratories will be handled under the same base facility programs in place today, a process familiar to most HPC system and software suppliers. Prior to the procurement phase, the ECP team will help to establish the design, performance and implementation requirements of these future systems. ECP will play a key role in determining the requirements for hardware, software, applications, and facilities that will be reflected in the exascale Request for Proposal (RFP) documents.

[1] Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories

About NNSA

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear explosive testing; works to reduce the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.

About the Office of Science

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.