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Advanced Computing in Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences Environmental Sciences

ACESACES

Vanda Grubišić

Desert Research Institute

Division of Atmospheric Sciences

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ACES• State-wide research infrastructure development program

funded by the NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)

• $3.4M ($1M/yr) in support of computational science activities in environmental research

• A collaboration between environmental scientists, computer scientists, and applied mathematicians at all three NSHE research campuses

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Why environmental sciences?

• The area in which Nevada scientists have traditionally been the most competitive in securing funding

• Starting with an existing large community that supports excellent graduate level programs

• Environmental science disciplines are“data-intensive” (large observational data sets, intensive modeling application, need for advanced visualization tools)

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ACES Main Objectives

• To create a core of computational science expertise and capability in environmental science research

• Foster application of Information Technology (IT) advances in environmental scientific disciplines

• Stimulate new multidisciplinary research centered on computer modeling and scientific data visualization

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ACES Strategy

• Creation of the Nevada Environmental Computing Grid (NECG) - research infrastructure that is more than just a sum of individual components dispersed throughout the state

• Fostering scientific collaboration and growth of the Application Community at NSHE

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Funding Opportunities for the Application Community

• Competitive postdoctoral (5) and graduate fellowships (14) in AY 2003/4 and 2004/5 - Congratulations Glenn!

• Summer 2005 graduate research program (13 fellows) • Seed grants for development of new collaborative proposals and

course development (4) - Congratulations Laurel!• Matching funds for startup packages for new faculty in computer

science and applied mathematics• New faculty program for this fall

INFRASTRUCTURE Nevada Environmental Computing Grid (NECG)

• Three grid nodes (DRI, UNR, UNLV) with the main node and the core facility at DRI NNSC in Reno

• Utilizes the high-bandwidth network communication infrastructure of the Nevada Research Network (NRN) connected to Internet2

• Two parts of NECG:– Computational Grid– Collaboration Grid (Access Grid)

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ACES Web Portal • The main entry point to all ACES resources • Simple and unified access to technical documentation

and job submission (using Globus Toolkit and Sun Grid Engine)

• Equally accessible from within or outside of DRI • Expertise in using the grid portal future-proof• Beta testing started in December • ACES Survey questionnaire on the ACES web page!

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ACES Web Site and Grid Portalhttp://www.aces.dri.edu

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Grid Portal:Login

A grid certificate is required to login

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ACES High-performance Computer (ACE)

• SGI Altix 3000• 40 Itanium2 CPUS• 80 GigaBytes of RAM• 3 TeraBytes of fast disk

storage• 166.7 Gflops/sec (LINPACK)• Linux operating system

ACES CORE FACILITY• Located at DRI NNSC in Reno• Hardware investment only of more than $1M• Support personnel: System Administrator (Kathy Smith-

Miller) and Scientific Applications Programmer (Shulan Liu)• ACES Computing:

High-performance SMP computer (ACE) Linux-based high-end visualization cluster (VisCluster) • ACES Visualization:

State-of-the-art multi-use scientific visualization laboratory (VisLab) with an Access Grid node

ACES VisLabCollaborative Environment

• Tiled back-projection system with a 17’ x 4.5’ flat-wall screen and 3 DLP projectors for collaborative visualization (Panoram, Christie)

• Front-projection stereoscopic system with polarization multiplexing (Panoram, Christie)

• Access Grid node for group-to-group interaction over the Internet (inSORS)

ACES VisLab Computing Environment

• VisCluster: 10 64-bit Opteron processors, Myrinet interconnect, Framelock video synchronization

• OS X and Linux-based advanced graphics workstations supporting time multiplexing stereo for individual work and content preparation

ACES at DRI• Established a new thrust in scientific computing and

visualization at DRI• Brought DRI to a new level of competitiveness in

environmental modeling and scientific visualization • More than $6M in competitive proposals from DRI

since the beginning of this year that plan on using the ACES facilities

• Co-initiator of the new project for immersive visualization in the CAVETM environment

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ACES WEBSITE http://www.aces.dri.edu

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

VISLAB WEBSITE http://www.aces.dri.edu/vislab

CONTACT Dr. Vanda Grubišić ACES Coordinator and VisLab Director

Vanda.Grubisic@dri.edu

State-Of-The-Art

Visualization Laboratory • Tiled back-projection system utilizing 17’ x

4.5’ flat-wall screen

• 3D front-projection stereoscopic system

• Numerous video sources from the Linux-based 10-processor VisCluster, Mac OS X and Windows XP computers

• Individual Linux and Mac OS X workstations for content preparation

Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences

AG Node in SessionFlat-Wall Back-Projection

3D StereoscopicProjection

Access Grid Node•World-wide collaborative network with 6 nodes in Nevada

•Group-to-group interaction and real-time collaboration utilizing Internet2 resources

Located at DRI NNSC

Contactgrubisic@dri.edu

More Infohttp://www.aces.dri.edu/vislab