Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences ACES

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Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences ACES

• Vanda Grubišic
• 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
  aredata-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

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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 Portal
http//www.aces.dri.edu
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Grid PortalLogin
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

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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

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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)

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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

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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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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
ACES WEBSITE http//www.aces.dri.edu

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

CONTACT Dr. Vanda Grubišic ACES
Coordinator and VisLab Director
Vanda.Grubisic_at_dri.edu
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Advanced Computing in Environmental Sciences

• 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

3D Stereoscopic Projection
Located at DRI NNSC Contact grubisic_at_dri.edu Mo
re Info
AG Node in Session
Flat-Wall Back-Projection

• Access Grid Node
• World-wide collaborative network with 6 nodes in
  Nevada
• Group-to-group interaction and real-time
  collaboration utilizing Internet2 resources

http//www.aces.dri.edu/vislab