A SciDAC Institute for Computer Science and Data

The Department of Energy (DOE) has led the world in enabling large-scale high-performance computing as an indispensable tool for scientific discovery in a broad range of disciplines.  Our newest generation of systems is not simply larger than past systems — it brings distinct and novel challenges.  These challenges arise from ever-increasing core counts on nodes; the deepening of the memory hierarchy and inclusion of fast, nonvolatile storage within the High Performance Computing system.  The data produced by these simulations on these high-end systems has also increased by orders of magnitude in size and complexity.  This continuing explosion of data mandates constant attention and improvement to the tools and techniques used to manage and analyze this data.  In response to these challenges, we propose RAPIDS: a SciDAC Institute for Resource and Application Productivity through computation, Information, and Data Science. The objective of RAPIDS is to assist Office of Science (SC) application teams in overcoming computer science and data challenges in the use of DOE supercomputing resources to achieve science breakthroughs.