National Center for Computational Sciences

The University of Tennessee is one of four finalists to receive $200 million in federal money to build the world’s fastest computer — one able to perform a quadrillion calculations per second.

The power of such a supercomputer could unlock a better understand of global warming and the origins of the universe, officials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory said.

Dr. Jeff Nichols, director of Oak Ridge’s computer science and mathematics division, said if UT is awarded the National Science Foundation grant to build a petascale computer at Oak Ridge by 2011, the economic impact statewide would be huge.

It would be the equivalent of Tennessee landing a major new automotive manufacturing plant, he said.

But Dr. Nichols said that, instead of employing blue-collar workers, these high-tech computer jobs would require a doctorate, and various institutions with a need for computational science would sprout up across the state.

“There (are) going to be a load of people who come here to be a part of this deal,” he said.

The time frame for awarding the first $50 million of the National Science Foundation grant could hit a snag since Congress did not finalize major spending bills before adjourning last year, officials said.

Dana Topousis, a public affairs specialist with the National Science Foundation, said the award almost certainly will be delayed for at least a year if federal spending is frozen at last year’s levels.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., last week sent a letter to leaders of the Senate’s Energy Appropriations Subcommittee urging them to increase the Department of Energy’s science budget for fiscal year 2007 from $3.6 million to $4.1 million.

“Even during times of tight budgets, we need to make this pro-growth investment in scientific research to grow new jobs and keep them from being shipped overseas,” Sen. Alexander said in a statement.

Dr. Nichols said UT is pursuing the National Science Foundation grant as if everything is a go.

Representatives from the National Science Foundation in March are scheduled for an on-site visit to Oak Ridge to tour the facility, he said.

UT is up against the University of California system, the University of Illinois and a joint effort between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in the race to receive the $200 million grant, officials said.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is home to the world’s current fastest computer, which in November was listed at capable of 280 trillion calculations per second.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month announced he will include $5 million in his proposed state budget to enhance the state’s bid for the National Science Foundation grant, according to a news release.

Jack Dongarra, director of UT’s Innovative Computing Laboratory, said UT has an edge over the competition because it already has the infrastructure in place at Oak Ridge — the space, cooling, networks, security, power and resident computational scientists — to build the petascale computer.

Dr. Dongarra, who compiles a semiannual list of the world’s 500 fastest computers, said Oak Ridge’s current “Jaguar” supercomputer was ranked in November as No. 10, capable of 43.48 trillion calculations per second.

Scientific researchers, research organizations and industry compete to use the supercomputer though an annual call for proposals. Companies awarded computing time this year include Boeing and Dreamworks, officials said.

Dr. Dongarra said UT would have the leverage to attract top faculty members and students if it secures the National Science Foundation grant.

David Keffer, co-leader of UT’s Computational Materials Research Group, said the group now uses Oak Ridge’s supercomputer in its work for the Department of Energy to develop better fuel cells.

But he said his research is limited in terms of how long a simulation can run and how large a model can be.

Dr. Keffer said he only can imagine how having the world’s fastest computer in his backyard would affect his research if his group was awarded time to use it.

“I believe this is going to be the path to make fuel cells a viable solution to power automobiles,” he said.

Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
By: Angie Herrington