insideHPC » National and Legislative Action

Podcast: American Science Struggles through Budget Cuts

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 30 May 2013 17:37:35 +0000

In this NPR podcast, Tom Ashbrook looks at how the sequester and budget cuts are affecting American science and research.

American leadership in science has been a given for most of the last century. About a third of science research and development in this country has been supported by the federal government. Funding for about 60 percent of basic research in science comes from Washington. We’ve celebrated the results, from moon shots to the Internet. Now Washington’s cutting back, and it’s hitting American science — just when competitor nations are plowing more cash into the science frontier.

Alexandra Witze, correspondent for Nature
Paul Alivisatos, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He’s also a professor of chemistry and materials science at the University of California Berkeley
Ann Bonham, chief scientific officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges and professor of pharmacology and internal medicine at the University of California Davis
Barney Keller, communications director of the Club for Growth, a 501(c)(4) organization that promotes reining in government spending

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Rick Stevens Makes the Case for Exascale

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:09:07 +0000

Over at the ScaleOut Blog, Rob Mitchum writes that Argonne’s Rick Stevens made a great case for Exascale at the recent hearing on Capital Hill.

We have identified five major hurdles that must be overcome if we are to achieve our goal of pushing the computing performance frontier to the Exascale by the end of the decade:

We must reduce system power consumption by at least a factor of 50.

We must improve memory performance and lower cost by a factor of 100.

We must improve our ability to program systems with dramatically increased levels of parallelism.

We must increase the parallelism of our applications software, math librareis and operating systems by at least a factor of 1,000.

We must improve systems reliability by at least a factor of 10.

These are not simple tasks. But all of us who are working in this community believe that Exascale supercomputing will be a reality by the end of this decade. It will happen first in the U.S. if we can get the investment needed. This bill is a great start to that commitment. Ultimately, this is a race, not against our international competitors, but rather it’s a race for us. Exascale computing is necessary to the achievement of our most urgent goals in energy, in medicine, in science and in the environment. And it will have a profound impact on industry competitiveness and national security. I believe we have a duty to move as swiftly as we can.

Read the Full Story.

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Video: House Hearing on the Exascale Challenge

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:06:57 +0000

In this video, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy holds a May 22 hearing to examine HPC research and development challenges and opportunities, specifically as they relate to exascale computing.

Testifying before the Subcommittee were Dr. Roscoe Giles, Chairman of the Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee; Dr. Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing, Environment and Life Sciences at Argonne National Laboratory; Ms. Dona Crawford, Associate Director for Computation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and Dr. Daniel Reed, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of Iowa.

Exascale computing will be an important part of a larger effort to improve the U.S.’s overall high-end computing capability to address a broad range of academic, industrial, and national security needs. While research in next generation computing architecture and software continues to require strategic government investments, Members also explored the significant economic benefits that can arise from full utilization of existing high performance computing capabilities in ongoing scientific research.

Read the Full Story or check out the hearing charter.

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Proposed Legislation is How Not to Do Science

Ralph — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:36:47 +0000

Over at the ISC Blog, Michael Feldman from Intersect360 Research writes that the proposed High Quality Research Act under consideration in Congress would severely restrict the types of research that could be funded.

Think of digital computers, the Internet, lasers, and genome sequencing, all of which are underpinned by basic science, and all of which received federal funding in their early stages. The silliest part of the proposed legislation is that it mandates that the research be “ground breaking,” an attribute that is impossible to predict. It’s like saying unless the research will win a Noble Prize, it’s not worth doing. Such wording reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how science works.

Read the Full Story or check out the Full Committee Hearing – A Review of the President’s FY 2014 Budget Request for Science Agencies.

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Roadmap Update Published for HPC Research in Europe

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:56:10 +0000

The good folks at the PlanetHPC project have published an update to their report: “A Strategy for Research and Innovation through High Performance Computing.” The report makes the case for investment in HPC at the European level, and suggests a strategy for HPC research, development, and innovation.

High Performance Computing (in common with the computing domain in general) is at a cross roads; technological challenges threaten to disrupt three decades of continuous exponential growth in the computational power of HPC systems. Europe must act to counter this threat. HPC is a proven technology for delivering economic and societal benefits, and many developed and emerging economies outside the European Union are investing heavily in it. Many countries have recognised that to out-compute is to out-compete.

Download the Report (PDF).

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Obama Budget Plan Doesn’t Include Exascale

Ralph — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:32:22 +0000

Over at Computerworld, Patrick Thibodeau writes that President Barack Obama’s federal budget plan released this week calls for increases in federal R&D spending, but does not set a goal for building Exascale systems.

Every decade, compute power has double in alignment with Moore’s Law. The power of supercomputing has followed a similar path. Following that target, an exascale system might have been possible in the 2018 timeframe. The petaflop barrier was broken in 2008. Exascale development, however, poses unique challenges because of the enormous amount power such a system would likely need. That challenge is driving a re-thinking of all aspects of systems development. But because of funding uncertainty, federal officials have said that an exascale system may not be developed in the U.S. until 2022.

Read the Full Story.

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Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Illinois Research Labs

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:00:14 +0000

Over at Crain’s Blogs, Joe Cahill writes that the current Federal budget impasse imperils cutting-edge work at the Chicago area’s biggest scientific centers including Fermilab, Argonne National Laboratory and NCSA in Champaign-Urbana.

Funding cuts to DOE’s basic science mission would be severe,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned earlier this month in a letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D.-Md., who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee. Mr. Chu said sequestration would squeeze research funding, delay construction projects and generally curtail operations at DOE facilities around the country, including the national laboratories. That would come on top of cuts Fermilab already has made as a result of President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal 2013 budget, which would reduce the lab’s funding by 8 percent. In response, the lab eliminated 49 jobs, or about 3 percent of its staff.

Read the Full Story.

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Video: TACC’s Dr. Kelly Gaither Testifies at House Subcommittee on Research

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:49 +0000

There is no doubt that the Sequester is putting extreme pressure on critical R&D in this country. As members of the HPC community, how can we help to ensure that we continue to fund important supercomputing research?

In this video from February 15, 2013, the House Subcommittee on Research holds a hearing on Applications for Information Technology Research & Development.

Witnesses:

Dr. Kelly Gaither, Director, Visualization Lab, Texas Advanced Computing Center, University of Texas, Austin
Dr. Kathryn McKinley, Principal Researcher, Microsoft
Dr. Ed Lazowska, Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington

The topic of this afternoon’s hearing, Applications for Information Research & Development, is important to our national security, global competitiveness and technological innovation. This hearing will provide us with examples of practical applications and the benefits of Federal investment in networking and information technology R&D. The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development program, or NITRD, was originally authorized in 1991 in the High Performance and Computing Act. It coordinates the networking and information R&D efforts of 15 Federal member agencies, including DHS, NASA, NIH, EPA and the Department of Energy. The program is the main R&D investment portfolio of member agencies in networking, computing, software, cyber security and related information technologies totaling over $3.7 billion in FY2013.

On behalf of insideHPC, I just want to say, “Great job, Kelly!” Read the Full Story.

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Why the U.S. Must Invest in What’s Next

Ralph — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:56:57 +0000

Over at the Washington Post, Shirley Ann Jackson from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute writes that the United States is at an interesting inflexion point where Big Data, HPC, and Web science could drive our economy for generations–but only if we continue fund the science.

But looming, deep federal cuts in scientific research and development funding could do significant damage. These cuts stand to dramatically slow the pace of economic growth in the U.S., undermine our national security, hinder our competitiveness, and reverse any recent gains we have made in developing the human capital — the young scientists and engineers – so essential for innovation.

Read the Full Story.

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Video: Argonne to Lead Energy Storage Hub for 5X Better Batteries

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:49:23 +0000

Our Video Sunday feature continues with this press conference by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announcing that Argonne National Laboratory has been selected for an award of up to $120 million over five years to establish a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub. The Hub, to be known as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, will combine the R&D firepower of five DOE national laboratories, five universities, and four private firms in an effort aimed at achieving revolutionary advances in battery performance.

The goal of this effort is to deliver battery technology with 5X more capacity and efficiency in five years. Imagine a Nissan Leaf vehicle with a range of 500 miles on a charge or a solar-powered battery backup for your home for less than $10K.

This is a partnership between world leading scientists and world leading companies, committed to ensuring that the advanced battery technologies the world needs will be invented and built right here in America,” said Secretary Chu. “Based on the tremendous advances that have been made in the past few years, there are very good reasons to believe that advanced battery technologies can and will play an increasingly valuable role in strengthening America’s energy and economic security by reducing our oil dependence, upgrading our aging power grid, and allowing us to take greater advantage of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.”

Advancing next generation battery and energy storage technologies for electric and hybrid cars and the electricity grid are a critical part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil and lower energy costs for U.S. consumers. And HPC will make it possible. Amazing. Read the Full Story.

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e-IRG Posts Policy Paper on European Scientific Software Strategy

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:33:48 +0000

A new policy paper from the e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) proposes a new European scientific software strategy for research and development.

The report proposes as its main recommendation that to address the software crisis, the EC and the member states should provide support and funding for the establishment of Centres of Excellence for Scientific Software (CESS), currently focusing on scientific software on the application layer using a holistic approach and building up and retaining the necessary competence of future European software developers.

Download the e-IRG policy paper (PDF).

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Exascale Report: What’s at stake for HPC in the U.S. Presidential Election?

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:50:34 +0000

Over at The Exascale Report, Mike Bernhardt writes that supercomputing has a lot at stake with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election.

Politicians on both sides of the fence say they support HPC, but it appears to be nothing more than lip service. We are just not seeing the commitment to the kind of long term strategy needed to drive exascale – or for that matter, even advanced HPC research. We are all at the mercy of what the hardware vendors can build – what they believe will drive product sales in the near term. HPC innovation and exascale development require strong, unified Federal funding, and this goes hand in hand with economic recovery. And, without adequate funding and a strong commitment to technology leadership, I fear the U.S. may not even finish in this world-changing race.”

Download the Full Story (PDF) or subscribe to The Exascale Report.

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Report Lays Out the Big Data Road Map for Government

Rich Brueckner — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:22:43 +0000

Over at the New York Times, Steve Lohr writes that a road map for rolling out Big Data projects in government was released today. The 39-page paper, “Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide to Transforming the Business of Government” was produced by the TechAmerica Foundation in consultation with technology experts in the White House, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies.

The report sketches out the opportunity — the power of knowing more — to improve health care and reduce costs, put more cars on the road with less congestion, and produce more accurate weather predictions to lessen storm-related property damage and save lives, among other benefits.

Read the Full Story or Download the Report (PDF).

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Four DoE Booths Canceled at SC12 After New Travel Restrictions

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:00:57 +0000

The SC12 exhibit floor is going to look a lot different this year as a result of new Department of Energy travel restrictions. The SC12 committee has confirmed that four DoE organizations have already cancelled their booth requests: Brookhaven, Los Alamos, NNSA, and Sandia. And while all four organizations plan to send personnel to Salt Lake in November, this is certainly a setback for the conference.

As reported here, the new DoE restrictions come in the wake of the GSA travel scandal that had lawmakers in an uproar this past Spring. The new policies severely limit conference spending and the number of DoE staffers allowed to travel to any given show.

One official we talked to described the changes as an overreaction: “the type of response one would expect from government, especially in an election year.” But this is just the beginning. A proposed bill that would severely limit travel, called the Government Spending Accountability Act of 2012 is now making its way through Congress. And while the overall fallout of the GSA scandal continues to unfold, the industry reaction to these changes has been swift; a number of trade shows focused on the federal space have already been cancelled this year.

As for what will happen with the other DoE booths at SC12, the jury is still out.

While there is uncertainty stemming from new restrictions on federal government participation in conferences, DOE has not yet made a decision on how those rules will affect the labs and their attendance at SC12,” said Ian MacConnell, SC12 Communications Co-Chair. “We have made contingency plans, but are waiting on decision before moving forward.”

The HPC community has been abuzz with rumors that other federal agencies such as NASA and DoD will be pulling back on travel as well. According to MacConnell, no official word has come down to that effect and SC12 show management anticipates continued participation by those organizations.

So the question remains; what will happen this year at SC12? According to MacConnell, the conference is looking stronger than ever, with a record number of papers accepted this year. “The committee is focusing our efforts on SC12 and are looking forward to a vibrant conference with a great technical program,” he said.

In what may be a silver lining to this story, insideHPC knows of several vendors who are interested in purchasing the SC12 exhibit space being vacated by the labs. Like they say, The show must go on.

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New DoE Travel Restrictions Could Affect SC12 and Beyond

Rich Brueckner — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:15:35 +0000

New conference travel and event-spending restrictions at the Department of Energy could have a profound effect on the research booths your see and the number of DoE people you meet at SC12 this November. While conference officials are downplaying the overall impact of these changes, it will be extremely challenging for the National Labs and other DoE exhibitors to pull off their research exhibits under these guidelines.

As outlined in a memo by Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel B. Poneman on July 6, 2012, the guidelines take effect immediately and will be also be part of the FY 2013 budget process:

Departmental spending exceeding $100K on a single event requires Deputy Secretary approval.
Overall DoE spending on a single conference is now limited to $500K. A waiver process is in place.
No more than 15 individuals can travel to an event from a single department.

The new policies come in the wake of the GSA travel scandal that had lawmakers in an uproar this past Spring. As the federal government’s real estate and supply agency, the GSA was highly criticized for spending $823,000 on a Las Vegas conference in October 2010. Further probes revealed a history of excessive spending and misconduct.

So where does this leave SC12? While most our questions to conference organizers were summarily directed to DoE, Communications Co-Chair Ian MacConnell said that no conference decisions around this issue have been made yet.

While the SC12 Committee is investigating contingency plans based on some level of reduced DOE participation, we anticipate that this will have minimal impact on the conference as a whole and on the overall attendee experience.

As for the potential impact on SC12 attendance numbers, MacConnell pointed out that U.S. federal agencies (DoE, DoD, NOAA, NASA etc.) represent less than 10 percent of participation in SC as a whole. While that may be true, you can be sure that the vendors who pay the bills for the conference with their large exhibits will be watching closely as this story continues to unfold.

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Survey: Help Map the Future of Digital Infrastructure in the UK

Rich Brueckner — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:39:53 +0000

Clipped from: www.digital-science.com (share this clip)

The UK’s newly formed e-Infrastructure Leadership Council is conducting a survey to help plan future activities and investments. The ELC oversees investment and coordination for the government-funded UK e-Infrastructure, especially HPC, including a recently-announced £158m investment.

This is your chance to directly influence not only how this funding is divvied up, but also affect how the UK views data-intensive science, business, and digital technologies for years to come.

The survey is targeted at UK businesses & SMEs in particular, but all respondents are welcome. Read the Full Story.

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NSF to Lead Federal Efforts In Big Data

Ralph — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:44:29 +0000

Clipped from: www.nsf.gov (share this clip)

At a White House event yesterday, NSF Director Subra Suresh announced a new Big Data solicitation including a $10 million Expeditions in Computing award and awards in cyberinfrastructure, geosciences, and training.

Data are motivating a profound transformation in the culture and conduct of scientific research in every field of science and engineering,” Suresh said. “American scientists must rise to the challenges and seize the opportunities afforded by this new, data-driven revolution. The work we do today will lay the groundwork for new enterprises and fortify the foundations for U.S. competitiveness for decades to come.”

NSF released a solicitation, “Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering,” or “Big Data,” jointly with NIH. This program aims to extract and use knowledge from collections of large data sets in order to accelerate progress in science and engineering research. Specifically, it will fund research to develop and evaluate new algorithms, statistical methods, technologies, and tools for improved data collection and management, data analytics and e-science collaboration environments.

Read the Full Story.

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Exaflop Research Receives Full Funding from Senate Appropriators

Ralph — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:25:38 +0000

An Energy Department effort to create an exascale computer will receive $126 million during the coming federal fiscal year under a Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the DOE spending bill. In a report accompanying the bill, Senate appropriators say Energy plans to deploy the first exascale system in 2018, despite challenges.

An exascale system made from today’s technology “would probably cost $100,000,000,000, require $100,000,000 a year to operate, need its own dedicated power plant to power the computing system, and be very unreliable,” the report states. A computer capable of executing an exaflop would be able to conduct one million trillion calculations per second.

Read the Full Story.

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Europe Launches PROSPECT Technology Platform for HPC

Rich Brueckner — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:01:28 +0000

Clipped from: www.prospect-hpc.eu (share this clip)

After taking some lumps in the trade press recently, the EU is stepping up with a new initiative called PROSPECT, an open European association of leading suppliers and users of supercomputers from industry and academia. As a Technology Platform for HPC, PROSPECT’s aim is to help Europe realize the potential benefits of High Performance Computing for science and industry.

The European Technology Platform on HPC will substantially contribute to increasing European competitiveness in the development and ownership of novel and independent HPC technologies,” said Francesc Subirada, Chairman of the PROSPECT Executive board. “PROSPECT acts according to democratic principles and remains open to any organization that might want to join us in supporting European industry, science and society.”

Read the Full Story.

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Video: Patent Reform Needed for Job Creation

Rich Brueckner — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:38:31 +0000

In this video, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explains the President’s plan to reform the patent system so that great technology ideas can be turned into the jobs. According to Goolsbee, the Patent Office now has a backlog of over 700,000 applications, with an average wait time of over three years.

I believe that these efforts are important to our nation’s ability to compete, and I would also applaud any effort to streamline the patent dispute process, which can drag on for years as well.

And as a side note, I’m wondering who on Earth writes on a white board with a seriph font?

Ed Note: Slashdot reports: “The US Senate is congratulating itself for passing a ‘landmark’ piece of patent reform legislation. Some key elements are ‘first to file’ instead of first to invent, and ending fee diversion, which means fees paid to the Patent Office will actually fund the Patent Office. Curiously, this practice has resulted in a backlog of 700,000 patent applications. The House is reportedly working on a similar bill, and soon harmony and rationality will triumph.”

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