Interdisciplinary Advanced Scientific Computing in Partnership with DOE: A Worthwhile Exercise in Herding Cats

Abstract

The Advanced Scientific Computing Academic Alliance Program created five university-based centers of excellence in simulation and high-performance computing in order to advance the state of the art, to further develop simulation science as an academic discipline, and to train students to work in government and industry to meet national needs.  The centers have overcome many challenges associated with bringing together a diverse group of faculty from different academic disciplines to work toward a common goal.  In the process we have created software architectures that ensure overall success while at the same time honoring individual areas of expertise and promoting compromise.  All five centers have developed strategies for creating simulation software that predicts behavior at the macro-scale based on underlying fundamental physics and chemistry at the micro-scale.  Verification and validation have become the watchwords for development of predictive capability of these codes.  Finally, our interactions with the mission-oriented NNSA labs have been an interesting mix of competition and collaboration as we have learned to navigate the shifting priorities of scientific politics in a rapidly changing world.