Computing technology is evolving at light speed, as are the computing needs of the Lab’s research community. 5G and artificial intelligence, for example, are already redefining how research is conducted in some fields. As well, the deep collaborations between computational scientists, technology providers, and scientific staff, have continued to raise the bar for our technology needs.
To better prepare the Lab to meet these evolving needs, the Lab has convened the Future Berkeley Lab Computing Working Group. The group will develop a vision for how to best provide computational resources and expertise in support of the Lab’s diverse research portfolio.
This vision will cover a broad range of computing needs, including midrange computing, scientific servers, storage, backups, data management, application development, and related cloud services, as well as training and consulting. It will also consider how to apply emerging technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence/machine learning to both scientific and operational challenges, and how to maximize synergies among our Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) user facilities, IT services, Divisions, and key partners.
The group will consider what portfolio of services the Laboratory should provide, how to prioritize investments in this portfolio, and what types of funding models should be used to support it. It will also consider how the Lab should organize itself to plan and provide these services.
“Our aim is to position the Laboratory’s computational capabilities as a key part of the Lab’s value proposition to DOE and other funders, as well as to accelerate our scientific efforts across the Laboratory,” said Jonathan Carter, who chairs the working group.
Other members of the working group include:
- Biosciences: Kjiersten Fagnan
- Computing Sciences: Lavanya Ramakrishnan
- Earth and Environmental Sciences: Bill Collins
- Energy Sciences: David Prendergast
- Energy Technologies: Anubhav Jain and Tianzhen Hong
- Physical Sciences: Ben Nachman
- IT: Adam Stone
- Committee Support: Andrew Wiedlea (ESnet), Gary Jung (IT)
The group kicked off in February this year and will sunset after six months, at which time it will hand off its high-level recommendations and direction to other Lab organizations to flesh out and implement.
Having defined its goals during its initial meetings, the group is now beginning to gather high-level data on current and future computing needs and requirements from across the entire Lab. “We want to ensure that we gather requirements that are truly representative of the Lab’s current and projected needs,” said Adam Stone, the Lab’s Interim Chief Information Officer, who is working closely with Jonathan Carter to coordinate the group’s efforts.
Updates on the committee’s work will be provided to Scientific Division Directors throughout the summer, and the final report of the committee will be available to the Laboratory in late summer.
Contact any member of the working group with any questions.
