Scientists Win Top Prize for Breakthrough Earth Modeling Simulation

A team of researchers led by Johann Rudi from the University of Texas at Austin has been awarded the 2015 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for their innovative approach to modeling Earth’s geological processes. The team, which includes representatives from IBM Corporation, California Institute of Technology, and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, developed an extreme-scale implicit solver that can process complex partial differential equations to predict activity in the Earth’s mantle.

This breakthrough enables scientists to better understand the dynamics that produce earthquakes and related natural disasters. The team’s solver can scale up to half a million cores, making it possible to model geological processes at an unprecedented level of detail.

Key individuals involved in this work include Costas Bekas and Alessandro Curioni from IBM, Michael Gurnis from California Institute of Technology, and Georg Stadler from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. This achievement has far-reaching implications for many areas of science and society, including weather forecasting, economic modeling, and pharmaceutical development.

Trailblazing Approach to Modeling Earth’s Geological Processes Wins Gordon Bell Prize

A team of 10 researchers led by Johann Rudi from the University of Texas at Austin has been awarded the 2015 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for their groundbreaking work on modeling Earth’s geological processes. Their submission, “An Extreme-Scale Implicit Solver for Complex PDEs: Highly Heterogeneous Flow in Earth’s Mantle,” demonstrates that implicit solvers can be designed to enable efficient global convection modeling of the Earth’s interior. This achievement allows researchers to gain new insights into our planet’s geological evolution.

The team’s solver can process complex partial differential equations (PDEs) at an extreme scale, scaling up to half a million cores. By effectively modeling these processes, scientists can better understand the dynamics that produce earthquakes and related natural disasters. This innovation has significant implications for various fields, including geology, astronomy, nuclear energy research, economic forecasting, and pharmaceutical development.

Record-Shattering Supercomputing Performance Wins ACM Gordon Bell Prize at SC13

In 2013, a team of scientists from Switzerland, Germany, and the US set a new supercomputing simulation record in fluid dynamics, reaching an astonishing 14.4 Petaflops of sustained performance to win the ACM Gordon Bell Prize. This achievement represents a 150-fold improvement over current state-of-the-art performance levels for this type of application.

The simulation has potential utility for improving the design of high-pressure fuel injectors and propellers, shattering kidney stones, and therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment. The research was conducted by scientists at ETH Zurich and IBM Research, in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

These two stories highlight the significant impact of advanced scientific computing on various areas of science and society. The annual SC conference brings together scientists, engineers, and researchers from around the world to share their latest research and innovations in high-performance computing.

As a science journalist, I’m excited to continue covering these breakthroughs and exploring their implications for our understanding of the universe and improving human lives.

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Quantum News

As the Official Quantum Dog (or hound) by role is to dig out the latest nuggets of quantum goodness. There is so much happening right now in the field of technology, whether AI or the march of robots. But Quantum occupies a special space. Quite literally a special space. A Hilbert space infact, haha! Here I try to provide some of the news that might be considered breaking news in the Quantum Computing space.

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