Supercomputing Research Center
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| Supercomputing Research Center | |
|---|---|
| Name | Supercomputing Research Center |
| Type | Research institute |
| Established | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Maryland, United States |
| Leader title | Director |
Supercomputing Research Center is an independent research institute focused on high-performance computing, computational science, and data-intensive research. It provides advanced computing resources and interdisciplinary programs that support scientific modeling, engineering simulation, and artificial intelligence development. The Center serves as a hub connecting national laboratories, universities, and industry to accelerate innovation in simulation, algorithms, and software systems.
Overview and Mission
The Center's mission emphasizes advancing exascale computing, modeling of complex systems, and scalable software frameworks, aligning with initiatives such as Exascale Computing Project, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It pursues goals in performance optimization, numerical methods, and fault tolerance, interacting with programs like Argonne National Laboratory collaborations, PASC workshops, and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Strategic priorities include partnerships with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to advance compiler technology, parallel file systems, and machine learning at scale.
History and Development
Founded in the early 1990s amid a surge in parallel computing and distributed systems, the Center grew alongside milestones such as the deployment of Cray-2, the rise of MPI, and the adoption of Linux clusters in research. Early collaborations involved Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and corporate partners like Cray Inc. and IBM. During the 2000s it expanded following trends set by TOP500 rankings, engagements with National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and contributions to projects related to Blue Gene and Titan (supercomputer). The Center later pivoted toward exascale readiness in coordination with NERSC, Purdue University, and international programs such as PRACE and EuroHPC.
Facilities and Infrastructure
The Center operates petascale clusters, GPU-accelerated systems, and specialized testbeds for algorithm benchmarking, integrating technologies from vendors like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. Its data centers implement high-speed fabrics including InfiniBand and optical interconnects, and support storage systems such as Lustre (file system), GPFS, and object stores used in Data Intensive Research. Facility design references standards from ASHRAE and collaborations with firms like Schneider Electric for power and cooling. Instrumentation includes FPGA prototyping boards, quantum simulators in partnership with IBM Quantum, and visualization labs modeled after those at Argonne Leadership Computing Facility and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility.
Research Programs and Projects
Active programs span computational fluid dynamics with links to NASA, climate modeling interfacing with NOAA and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and computational biology tied to National Institutes of Health initiatives and projects at Broad Institute. Software engineering efforts include contributions to OpenMP, CUDA, TensorFlow, and libraries such as PETSc and FFTW. Numerical research engages with solvers used in ANSYS workflows and multiscale modeling associated with Human Brain Project-style work. Projects include co-development with Microsoft Research on distributed machine learning, collaborations with Google DeepMind on optimization, and partnerships with Amazon Web Services for cloud bursting and hybrid HPC workflows.
Collaborations and Partnerships
The Center maintains formal alliances with national laboratories like Brookhaven National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, academic consortia including Big Ten Academic Alliance and Association of American Universities, and industrial partners such as Intel Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Oracle Corporation. International ties include research exchanges with CERN, Riken, Tsinghua University, ETH Zurich, and Max Planck Society. It participates in multi-institution initiatives such as XSEDE, HPC-Europa3, and contributes to standards efforts at The Open Group and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Education, Training, and Outreach
Educational activities feature graduate fellowships in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology, summer programs modeled on REU sites, and professional workshops with ACM and SIAM. Training covers parallel programming, performance tuning, and data stewardship aligned with curricula at University of Texas at Austin, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London. Outreach includes public seminars with speakers from National Academies, hackathons sponsored with GitHub, and policy briefings engaging stakeholders such as Congressional Research Service and think tanks like Brookings Institution.
Governance and Funding
Governance combines a board drawn from partner institutions including Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, and Princeton University, with scientific advisory panels comprising researchers from Caltech, Yale University, and Columbia University. Funding sources include competitive grants from National Science Foundation, procurement contracts with Department of Energy, cooperative agreements with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and sponsored research from corporations like NVIDIA Corporation and Rolls-Royce plc. Financial oversight follows practices common to organizations audited under Government Accountability Office guidelines and nonprofit statutes such as those administered by Internal Revenue Service for research entities.