Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE)

Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE)
Name	Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE)
Established	2003
Country	United States
Discipline	High-performance computing
Host	Argonne National Laboratory
Administered by	United States Department of Energy

Contents

Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) is a United States Department of Energy initiative that provides large-scale computational resources to advance scientific discovery in fields ranging from materials science to climate modeling and nuclear physics. The program allocates time on leadership-class supercomputers at national laboratories to researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry, aiming to accelerate work linked to initiatives such as the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program, Exascale Computing Project, Materials Genome Initiative, Human Genome Project, and multinational collaborations like ITER. The program interfaces with infrastructure at Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and connects to policies shaped by the Office of Science (United States Department of Energy), Congress of the United States, and federal research strategies.

Overview

INCITE operates as a national competitive allocation program that grants compute hours, storage, and support on high-performance systems such as those at Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Proposals are evaluated by panels drawing on expertise from National Academy of Sciences, American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, National Institutes of Health, and international partners including CERN and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The program seeks to enable research tied to major projects like Large Hadron Collider, James Webb Space Telescope, Square Kilometre Array, and applications in energy domains reflected by Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy initiatives.

INCITE was launched in 2003 amid expansions in leadership computing capacity that involved laboratories such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory alongside machines like BlueGene/L, Cray XT, and later Summit (supercomputer). Early phases intersected with policy decisions by the United States Department of Energy and advisory input from groups like the High Performance Computing Modernization Program and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Over time, the program evolved to support projects connected to milestones such as the Human Genome Project, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the Climate Change Science Program while adapting peer-review mechanisms similar to those used by National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

The allocation process involves proposal solicitation, peer review, and advisory-panel recommendations administered by the Office of Science (United States Department of Energy) and implemented at host facilities including Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Governance includes scientific oversight from boards with representation from institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and national laboratories such as Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The program’s criteria mirror standards applied by National Science Foundation panels and incorporate strategic priorities related to initiatives by Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and commitments from United States Congress appropriations reviews.

INCITE-supported work has enabled simulations and analyses influencing discoveries linked to Materials Genome Initiative goals, predictive models for Hurricane Katrina, insights complementing experiments at Large Hadron Collider, and modeling relevant to ITER fusion research. Projects span domains including computational chemistry supporting Nobel Prize in Chemistry–relevant advances, climate projections used by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and astrophysics simulations informing studies associated with Hubble Space Telescope observations and James Webb Space Telescope programs. Collaborations often include investigators from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and universities such as University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Resources allocated through INCITE have included access to leadership systems such as Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, Summit (supercomputer), Fugaku, and architectures from vendors like Cray Inc., IBM, and NVIDIA. The program emphasizes software stacks and workflows involving packages and frameworks used in projects alongside tools developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's NERSC, Argonne National Laboratory's Theta (supercomputer), and code bases tied to communities around LAMMPS, GROMACS, Quantum ESPRESSO, and Sierra Toolkit. INCITE allocations have driven optimization efforts related to MPI, OpenMP, and novel co-design partnerships linked to the Exascale Computing Project.

Funding and partnerships for INCITE involve the United States Department of Energy, host facilities such as Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and collaborations with universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and University of California, Los Angeles. Industrial partners and consortia from companies like Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, AMD, and Microsoft have engaged in co-design or support roles, alongside international cooperation with agencies such as Science and Technology Facilities Council and research bodies like Max Planck Society and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Budgetary and strategic oversight align with directives from the Office of Management and Budget and congressional appropriations.

Criticisms of INCITE have addressed allocation transparency, access for smaller institutions including concerns from faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and public universities like University of Texas at Austin, and the balance between strategic and investigator-driven science debated in venues such as National Academy of Sciences reports. Technical challenges include software scalability issues identified in collaborations with Cray Inc. and IBM and workforce development concerns raised by stakeholders including Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics and IEEE. Future directions emphasize integration with exascale deployments from the Exascale Computing Project, increased coordination with initiatives such as the Materials Genome Initiative and National Quantum Initiative, and sustained partnerships spanning national laboratories, industry leaders like Intel Corporation and NVIDIA, and academic centers such as Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.

Category:High performance computing