ACADEMIA

Ambassador Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); Ray Orbach, director of the Department of Energy Office of Science; Nicholas Donofrio, executive vice-president for Innovation and Technology, IBM; and Michael Anastasio, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), will celebrate the 10th anniversary of NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Program and unveil the world’s fastest supercomputer at a Ceremony on Thursday. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) uses the world’s fastest supercomputers to conduct 3D simulations of complex weapons performance processes needed to ensure the safety and security of nuclear weapons in the absence of underground testing. Once completed, BlueGene/L and ASC Purple will provide the three national weapons labs (LLNL, Los Alamos and Sandia) with half a PETAFLOP (1,000 trillion operations per second) of computing power – more than any other computing facility in the world. BlueGene/L supercomputer being installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The 10th anniversary celebration will include: * An announcement by Ambassador Brooks of important early results of BlueGene/L performance at full configuration. * A tour of the state-of-the-art computer rooms housing BlueGene/L and Purple. * Researchers demonstrating materials science simulations of unprecedented resolution from BlueGene/L in the Terascale Simulation Facility’s visualization theater and discussing why these are important to the science of stockpile stewardship. Computer scientists from Livermore and IBM will be available to answer questions. Background: BlueGene/L, currently number one on the Top500 list of supercomputers, and Purple, a 100 teraflop (trillion operations per second) machine, serve NNSA’s effort to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent in the absence of underground testing. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program is a cornerstone of NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program. Supercomputing has an ever-growing number of applications: from protecting against natural catastrophes such earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes, to simulations of terrorist attacks on metropolitan areas that provide guidance on prevention and protection against such attacks.