LLNL Computing’s ground-breaking research and development activities, innovative technologies, and world-class staff are often featured in various media outlets.

map of lower 48 states covered with grid points, plus an inset of Frontier


Source: LLNL News

Team reaches milestone in power grid optimization on world’s first exascale supercomputer

As part of the Exascale Computing Project’s ExaSGD project, a team including LLNL researchers ran HiOp, an open source optimization solver, on 9,000 nodes of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier exascale supercomputer.

Computational Science | Critical Infrastructure | Cyber Security | Exascale | Open-Source Software

students and mentors strike casual poses in the UCLCC meeting room


Source: LLNL News

Data Science Challenge tackles ML-assisted heart modeling

The event brought together 35 University of California students—ranging from undergraduates to graduate-level students from a diversity of majors—to work in groups to solve four key tasks, using actual electrocardiogram data to predict heart health.

AI/ML | Biology/Biomedicine | Computational Science | Data Science | Students

Real scanning electron microscope image of TATB powder, alongside a hypothetical scanning electron microscope image of TATB powder made to optimize its peak stress. The hypothetical image is made of smaller grains.


Source: LLNL Computing

Explainable artificial intelligence can enhance scientific workflows

Using explainable artificial intelligence techniques can help increase the reach of machine learning applications in materials science, making the process of designing new materials much more efficient.

AI/ML | Computational Science | Data Science | Materials Science | ML Theory | Scientific ML | Scientific Visualization

rainbow-colored Mercator-like map of the world with red zones near the equator and blue zones near the poles


Source: LLNL Computing

VisIt project team adds color usability improvements

The Lab’s workhorse visualization tool provides expanded color map features, including for visually impaired users.

Data Science | Open-Source Software | Scientific Visualization | Software Engineering

brightly multi-colored circle on a dark blue background


Source: LLNL Computing

CASC Newsletter | Vol 13 | July 2023

This issue highlights some of CASC’s contributions to making controlled laboratory fusion possible at the National Ignition Facility.

Collaborations | Computational Math | Data Science | Lasers and Optics | Scientific ML | Scientific Visualization | Transport

stock photo of people studying and learning at a laptop


Source: software.llnl.gov

AWS tutorials are returning in August

Learn how to use LLNL software in the cloud. Throughout August, join our tutorials on how to install and use several projects on AWS EC2 instances. No previous experience necessary.

Education | Events | HPC Systems and Software | Open-Source Software | Outreach | Scientific Cloud Computing | Software Engineering | Software Libraries

Developer Day attendees are looking down into a Sierra supercomputer cluster node.


Source: LLNL Computing

Developer Day returns, in person and squeakier than ever

2023’s Developer Day was a two-day event for the first time, balancing an all-virtual technical program with a fully in-person networking day.

Careers | Events | Open-Source Software | Software Applications | Software Engineering

inset of Kathryn's photo overlaid on photo of three people standing in front of Frontier


Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

UnifyFS team wins IPDPS award for open-source software

A research team from Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore national labs won the first IPDPS Best Open-Source Contribution Award for the paper “UnifyFS: A User-level Shared File System for Unified Access to Distributed Local Storage.”

Awards | Collaborations | HPC Systems and Software | Open-Source Software | Storage, File Systems, and I/O

Scattered fluffy clouds in the sky.


Source: LLNL Computing

Improving models of clouds and atmospheric turbulence

With simple mathematical modifications to a common model of clouds and turbulence, LLNL scientists and their collaborators helped minimize nonphysical results.

Climate | Collaborations | Computational Math | Computational Science

Sierra supercomputer and National Ignition Facility photos combined with abstract graphic representing experimental data and simulations


Source: LLNL News

HPC, AI, and CogSim helped LLNL conquer fusion ignition

The “crystal ball” that provided increased pre-shot confidence in LLNL's fusion ignition breakthrough involved a combination of detailed HPC design and a suite of methods combining physics-based simulation with machine learning—called cognitive simulation, or CogSim.

AI/ML | Data Science | Scientific ML

abstract blue cover image of the report with its title in text overlay


Source: LLNL News

Visionary report unveils ambitious roadmap to harness the power of AI in scientific discovery

The report lays out a comprehensive vision for the DOE Office of Science and NNSA to expand their work in scientific use of AI by building on existing strengths in world-leading high performance computing systems and data infrastructure.

AI/ML | CogSim/AI/ML Hardware | Data Science | Emerging Architectures | Scientific ML

El Capitan rendering


Source: The Next Platform

Talking novel architectures and El Capitan with Lawrence Livermore

LLNL CTO Bronis de Supinski talks about how the Lab deploys novel architecture AI machines and provides an update on El Capitan.

CogSim/AI/ML Hardware | Emerging Architectures | Exascale | HPC Architectures | HPC Systems and Software | Hybrid/Heterogeneous

Jacob Wahlgren is on stage accepting the Research Poster Award certificate


Source: LLNL Computing

Investigation of disaggregated memory systems wins poster award

Splitting memory resources in high performance computing between local nodes and a larger shared remote pool can help better support diverse applications.

Awards | Data Movement and Memory | HPC Systems and Software | Hybrid/Heterogeneous

Lori standing next to the ECP logo with text overlay of her name and new role


Source: LLNL News

LLNL’s Diachin takes helm of DOE’s Exascale Computing Project

Lori Diachin will take over as director of the DOE’s Exascale Computing Project on June 1, guiding the successful, multi-institutional high performance computing effort through its final stages.

Careers | Collaborations | Exascale | HPC Systems and Software

ECP logo


Source: Exascale Computing Project

Podcast: Siting the El Capitan exascale supercomputer

Livermore CTO Bronis de Supinski joins the Let's Talk Exascale podcast to discuss the details of LLNL's upcoming exascale supercomputer.

Emerging Architectures | Exascale | HPC Architectures | HPC Systems and Software | Multimedia

orange and blue bully simulation with text overlay "zfp: Compressed Floating-Point and Integer Arrays"


Source: YouTube

Video: Data compression for modern supercomputing applications

Unique among data compressors, zfp is designed to be a compact number format for storing data arrays in-memory in compressed form while still supporting high-speed random access.

Data Compression | Data Science | Multimedia | Open-Source Software

Variorum team standing outside B453 with text overlay "enabling energy efficiency in HPC"


Source: YouTube

Video: Vendor-agnostic power management

Variorum provides robust, portable interfaces that allow us to measure and optimize computation at the physical level: temperature, cycles, energy, and power. With that foundation, we can get the best possible use of our world-class computing resources.

HPC Systems and Software | Multimedia | Open-Source Software | Performance, Portability, and Productivity | Power Management

Brian and Bronis in front of the SambaNova hardware


Source: LLNL News

LLNL and SambaNova Systems announce additional AI hardware to support Lab’s cognitive simulation efforts

The addition of the spatial data flow accelerator into LLNL’s Livermore Computing Center is part of an effort to upgrade the Lab’s cognitive simulation (CogSim) program.

Co-Design | CogSim/AI/ML Hardware | Data Science | Emerging Architectures | HPC Systems and Software | Scientific ML

Ignacio Laguna and colleagues standing with the ISC 2023 Hans Meuer Award certificate.


Source: LLNL Computing

Best paper winner finds the sources of calculation inconsistencies

Updating a compiler can affect how code runs, leading to inconsistencies in outputs and creating problems for scientists. A new tool automatically finds the sources of these inconsistencies.

Awards | Compiler Technology | HPC Systems and Software | Open-Source Software

LLNL's supercomputing building


Source: Elastic

National lab uses Elastic to optimize performance of projected world's fastest supercomputer

The Lab was already using Elastic components to gather data from its HPC clusters, then investigated whether Elasticsearch and Kibana could be applied to all scanning and logging activities across the board.

Emerging Architectures | HPC Architectures | HPC Systems and Software | Hybrid/Heterogeneous | Information Technology | Software Engineering

A group of young people work with pen and paper to solve a problem while adult helpers look on


Source: LLNL News

Girls Who Code ‘Altamont Connection’ brings students from Livermore and Tracy to the Lab

High school students from Livermore and Tracy visited LLNL on May 5 for a first-of-its kind event bringing the two cities’ Girls Who Code (GWC) programs and others together on-site.

Education | Outreach

fireworks exploding over a city at night


Source: Data Science Institute

Celebrating the DSI’s first five years

Since 2018, the Lab has seen tremendous growth in its data science community and has invested heavily in related research. Five years later, the Data Science Institute has found its stride.

Collaborations | Data Science | Education | Outreach | Students

cartoon of a person at a computer with a dog nearby


Source: Better Scientific Software

Surveys to understand developer health and happiness

Computer scientist Vanessa Sochat talks to BSSw about a recent effort to survey software developer needs at LLNL.

Computational Science | Open-Source Software | Software Engineering

two workers in reflective vests look at a power plant under a sunset


Source: LLNL Computing