National Center for Computational Sciences

On April 14 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it was accepting proposals for the 2011 Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program. Aimed at advancing high-impact science via powerful supercomputers located at DOE-supported national laboratories, INCITE helps large-scale, computationally intensive projects address pressing problems in science and engineering.

Through INCITE, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee is currently providing 45 research teams with approximately 950 million processor hours on the Cray XT5 known as Jaguar—the fastest supercomputer in the world with a peak performance speed of 2.33 petaflops (2.33 thousand trillion calculations per second). With 470 million hours allocated in 2009, the 2010 INCITE allocations represent nearly a 50 percent increase in processor hours provided at the OLCF. Research teams use the petascale computing resources as well as expert support and extraordinary infrastructures to explore a variety of scientific topics, such as the limits of climate prediction and the nature of dark matter. The INCITE program is jointly managed by the OLCF and the Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory.

“The INCITE program aims to accelerate discovery and innovation by awarding computing time at the DOE Leadership Computing Facilities to researchers whose projects tackle grand challenges in science,” said James J. Hack, director of the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) which houses the OLCF at ORNL. “The program not only gives researchers the processor hours they need, it also provides them with world-class support. OLCF computational scientists participate actively in each project, aiding in code development and optimization, streamlining workflow, and troubleshooting unforeseen problems.”

Each INCITE project is typically awarded millions of hours of processor time, allowing scientists to explore intricate problems with unparalleled resolution and drastically decrease the time to solution. When dealing with problems of global concern, getting answers in days rather than decades is vital.

Current INCITE projects at OLCF span the range of topics and use Jaguar to develop cleaner nuclear technologies, investigate the molecular structure of solar cells, and study energy storage in carbon nanotubes. Jaguar has enabled climate scientists to create models at unprecedented resolutions, making it possible for projects like CHiMES—led by Venkatramani Balaji of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—to model the behavior of tropical storms in a warming warm and explore the possibility of climate prediction on a decadal scale. A group led by Jeremy Smith of the University of Tennessee and ORNL is using computer models to study the atomic structure and enzymatic breakdown of lignocellulosic biomass—plant matter that holds promise of becoming a commercially viable biofuel. Madhava Syamlal of the National Energy Technology Laboratory and colleagues are using large-scale simulations to study coal gasification processes that will aid in the development of near-zero-emission plants. ORNL’s Thomas Evans and colleagues created the largest known simulation of the interior of a nuclear reactor, making it possible to study the energies and movements of individual neutrons, a critical step in designing next-generation nuclear reactors.

INCITE applicants can request allocations for one to three years, and current DOE sponsorship is not required for the program. Researchers may submit proposals until June 30. Recipients are expected to be announced in November.

For help with a proposal for an INCITE allocation at OLCF, please contact help@nccs.gov.